is a Japanese video game programmer and the president of Systems Research and Development (SRD), a programming studio that has worked on Nintendo titles for nearly four decades. He is best known as the lead programmer of the original Super Mario Bros. (1985) and The Legend of Zelda (1986) for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Career SRD was founded in 1979 and initially specialised in computer-aided design (CAD) software. The studio began working with Nintendo in 1983, when it helped port the arcade game Donkey Kong to the company's Famicom/NES platform, drawing on its expertise with the 6502 microprocessor.
After working on the Donkey Kong ports, Nakago and SRD collaborated with designer Shigeru Miyamoto on Excitebike, their first original Famicom title. Nakago went on to serve as lead programmer for Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, working alongside Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. Former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata described the three as a long-standing creative core within the company.
Over subsequent decades Nakago's role evolved from programmer to programming director, supervisor and adviser across numerous Mario and Zelda titles, while remaining president of SRD rather than a direct Nintendo employee.
On 1 April 2022, Nintendo acquired SRD, making it a wholly owned subsidiary; Nakago continued to lead the studio. SRD ultimately contributed to roughly one hundred Nintendo games, including most of The Legend of Zelda series and the Super Mario and Animal Crossing franchises.
Selected works Year Title Role 1983 Donkey Kong (NES) Programmer 1984 Excitebike Programmer 1985 Super Mario Bros. Programmer 1986 The Legend of Zelda Programmer 1990 Super Mario World Programming director 1991 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Programming director 2000 The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Programming director 2006 New Super Mario Bros. Programming director2011 The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Supervisor2012 New Super Mario Bros. 2 Level design advisorNew Super Mario Bros. U2013 The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Supervisor 2017 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild2019 Super Mario Maker 2 Special advisorRing Fit Adventure 2020 Animal Crossing: New Horizons Associate producer 2023 Super Mario Bros. Wonder Special level design adviser
References