Rejected Nintendo applicant says the company doesn't need to filter out candidates by education because the very first test is so brutal almost no one gets through

Nintendo is extremely selective and deliberate about how it makes games, so it's no surprise that its employees go through a proportionately rigorous hiring process before joining the team. Still, it's fascinating to hear from a rejected applicant about just how challenging even the initial steps apparently are.

Automaton translated an enlightening X thread from Murahashi Kuriki, a blogger and professor who applied to work for Nintendo back in 2015 but was ultimately rejected after failing what he said was an incredibly difficult test.

For some context: It's common in big Japanese companies to automatically filter out applicants based on where they went to college, although it seems Nintendo doesn't do that. According to Kuriki, a filter like this would be completely unnecessary anyway because the company's initial screening tests are difficult enough to filter out pretty much everyone.

"I'd heard that Nintendo doesn't use any kind of academic background filter when hiring new graduates," said Kuriki. "But when I actually took Nintendo's recruitment exam, the very first web test was extremely difficult, and I remember thinking: Makes sense, no need for a filter when this alone sifts out the candidates." 

Kuriki said he made it through the first aptitude test but failed at the technical interview, which tested applicants for programming know-how and was monitored in person as it happened. "This is not the kind of test where a vague understanding will get you through, you really have to think through the program (algorithm) properly. That, too, was really difficult… (and also where I failed)."

Kuriki's tweets garnered enough attention that Motoi Okamoto, a former Nintendo veteran of 10 years who worked on Pikmin, Super Mario, and Legend of Zelda, chimed in, writing via Automaton's translation:

"Of course, it's not just about superficial academic credentials. I get the impression that Nintendo is increasing the number of people who are innately intelligent and have a strong passion for making games entertaining, which is also a result of their brand image."

While this is all entirely on brand for Nintendo, the company's innerworkings are an eternal mystery and I'll always enjoy when we can get a peak behind the curtain. Over the summer, another Nintendo veteran, Takaya Imamura, said Shigeru Miyamoto's industrial design education caused him to view his games as "products" instead of "works of art", and that's why they're "more closely aligned" with players.

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