Futoshi Shirai

Futoshi Shirai is an employee of Nintendo EAD Tokyo who started his work with video games with the Nintendo 64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Currently his job is to work on stage designs. Shirai has been playing video games since he was a kid, and distinctly remembers playing Super Mario Bros. while in the 4th grade. His goal in the video games he works on is to create a stage that causes the player to want to play it over and over again as he did with Super Mario Bros. way back when. He also likes to create a stage in which the goal is clear, though being able to finish the level won't be so easy. He also wishes to create a perfect balance so that while the game will be hard, it won't be too hard that the player will get annoyed and quit. He played the role of director (along with two others) on Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and assistant director on Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

List of games

 * The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Map data manager
 * Super Mario Sunshine - Map director
 * Mario Kart: Double Dash!! - Director
 * Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - Assistant director
 * Super Mario Galaxy - Level designer