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Yoshiyuki Oyama is a character and art designer who works for Nintendo, notorious for his work on the The Legend of Zelda and Wii Fit franchises.
He may be married to fellow Nintendo artist Aya Sumimoto, though this theory has neither been confirmed nor denied.
History[]
In his first projects at Nintendo EAD, Oyama worked as an assistant designer on various projects, including: Majora's Mask, where he created Mikau and Gabora; Pokémon Stadium 2, where he was involved in the mini-game mode; Luigi's Mansion, where he designed Professor E. Gadd and some of the ghosts; and The Wind Waker, where he came up with Salvatore.
With The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Oyama led the enemy designs, and he himself came up with the Bulblins and King Bulblin. This was followed by Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus as design director. He later returned to the Zelda series with Skyward Sword as lead object designer, which was followed by Breath of the Wild as senior lead artist on characters and items.
Games[]
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2000) - Character Design
- Pokémon Stadium 2 (2000) - 3-DCG Designer
- Luigi's Mansion (2001) - Character Design
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) - Character Design
- The Legend of Zelda: Navi Trackers (2004) - GC Character Design
- Pikmin 2 (2004) - Creature Design
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006) - Enemy Design Lead
- Wii Fit (2007) - Design Director
- Wii Sports Resort (2009) - Design Support
- Wii Fit Plus (2009) - Design Director
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011) - Design Lead/Object Design
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD (2013) - Design Support
- Wii Fit U (2013) - Design Supervisor
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) - Senior Lead Artist: Character/Item
- Expansion Pass (2017) - Lead Artist: Character
- Luigi's Mansion (3DS) (2018) - Character Supervisor
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (2020) - Nintendo Zelda Team
- Nintendo Switch Sports (2022) - Art Progress Management
- Metroid Prime Remastered (2023) - Art Progress Management
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023) - Art Team Support
Special Thanks[]
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) - Supervisor (Original Games)
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009)
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (2014) - Supervisor (Original Games)
- Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (2018)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) - Original Game Supervisor
- Super Mario Maker 2 (2019)
Interviews[]
- Nintendo Power: Inside Zelda: Twilight Princess (archived)
- Iwata Asks: Twilight Princess
- Iwata Asks: Wii Fit
- Iwata Asks: Skyward Sword
- Twilight Princess Retrospective
- CEDEC 2017: Breath of the Wild
Trivia[]
- Professor E. Gadd, one of the characters he designed, is known as "Professor Oyama" in Japanese as a reference to him.