Which Nintendo designer created Donkey Kong and Mario?

The Nintendo designer who created Donkey Kong and Mario was Shigeru Miyamoto.

Miyamoto designed the original Donkey Kong arcade game, released in 1981, after Nintendo needed a new project to repurpose unsold Radar Scope arcade cabinets. The game starred a jumping carpenter, later named Mario, who climbed a construction site to rescue Pauline from the giant ape Donkey Kong.

Mario was not originally planned as a standalone mascot. Miyamoto first imagined using characters from Popeye, including Popeye, Bluto, and Olive Oyl, but Nintendo could not secure the license at the time. Those roles evolved into Mario, Donkey Kong, and Pauline. Miyamoto also drew inspiration from King Kong and the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.

A common mix-up is crediting Gunpei Yokoi, who supervised Miyamoto during development and was an important Nintendo designer. Masahiro Sakurai created Kirby, while Satoru Iwata later became Nintendo’s president. Miyamoto’s work on Donkey Kong helped establish both Mario and Nintendo as major forces in video games.