[[quoteright:258:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yoshiaki_koizumi_e3.png]]

->''"If you think about games only as a thing that you interact with, you're missing the possibility of immersion. The inspirations that I tend to draw on for that all come from real life itself. Hiking on a mountain and seeing a cave and thinking about what's inside – it's that sense of wonder and excitement I want players to feel."''

Yoshiaki Koizumi (born April 29, 1968) is a Japanese video game designer, director and producer, who has been working for Creator/{{Nintendo}} since 1991.

A [[TheApprentice protégé]] of Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto, Koizumi has had a considerable influence on both the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' and ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' franchises.

He originally started working on ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games:

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' -- while originally hired just to provide art and story-text for the manual, Koizumi ended up conceiving much of what became the series' backstory, such as the idea of the three Goddesses and the star sign associated with them.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' -- storyline and characters
* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaOcarinaofTime Ocarina of Time]]'' -- character design, animation and camera. He was in a [[https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-The-Legend-of-Zelda-Ocarina-of-Time-3D/Vol-2-Original-Development-Staff-Part-1/3-Let-s-Go-to-Toei-Kyoto-Studio-Park-/3-Let-s-Go-to-Toei-Kyoto-Studio-Park--231680.html team of people who invented]] [[CameraLockOn Z-targeting system]], which is now a standard for all 3D action games, and it was his idea to change the system's marker from a simple upside-down triangle marker into a full fledged FairyCompanion, which eventually became Navi, ''the'' TropeCodifier for {{Exposition Fair|y}}ies.
* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' -- characters, storyline and 3-day system
* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' -- assistant director

He was also working on ''Mario'' games, focusing on them full-time after he moved from the ''Zelda'' team in late 2002. Every single 3D Mario since ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' has him as either director or producer. Most notably, he was the director of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' where he snuck in Rosalina's story despite Miyamoto's objection to stories in ''Mario'' games. He eventually took over from him as main producer overlooking the mainline 3D ''Mario'' series.

He also directed ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJungleBeat'', and had a small input in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns''.

Starting from the Platform/NintendoSwitch reveal presentation, he took a more prominent role as a face of Nintendo, becoming the host of [[WebVideo/NintendoDirect Nintendo Directs]].
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