On July 11, Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, passed away at the age of 55, a victim of cancer. The following days have been full of mourning for one of the most influential people in the video game industry. Despite the fact that many had probably never even met the man in person, his accomplishments have touched the hearts of fans and industry figures alike, with many people the world over celebrating his great legacy.
Satoru Iwata started as a designer at HAL Laboratory, a studio that has been closely associated with Nintendo since HAL’s inception. Despite not working under Nintendo directly, Iwata was considered a “Super Programmer” by his peers. According to Iwata himself, he could write better code than Nintendo’s own engineers. He played large part at HAL in creating projects that would become beloved franchises for the company that still stand the test of time today, including titles like Kirby’s Dream Land, Balloon Fight, Earthbound, and Super Smash Bros.
In 1993, Iwata became president of HAL. In addition to his executive duties, he continued flex his programming muscles, with one notable example being his work at independently porting the original Pokémon battle system to the Nintendo 64 in only one week for Pokémon Stadium.
In 2000, Iwata joined Nintendo proper as the General Manager of Corporate Planning. Even in his new management position, he assisted with game development in unofficial capacity. Originally the title Super Smash Bros. Melee had trouble meeting its intended 2001 release date, but Iwata took it upon himself to code and debug parts of the game himself in order to complete the project on time. Melee is still actively being played in the competitive “e-sports” scene to this day (there’s even a big international tournament coming up this weekend at Evo 2015), and many have Iwata to thank for that!
Iwata succeeded Hiroshi Yamauchi as President of Nintendo in 2002. Iwata was the fourth president of the company and the first president outside of the founding Yamauchi family. It was under Iwata’s leadership that the company enjoyed the phenomenal successes that were the Nintendo DS and Wii. Thanks to Nintendo’s new focus on less complex game systems to target non-gaming audiences, Nintendo dominated that generation of video game consoles, with the Wii selling more than 101 million units.
In an effort to better connect with fans, Iwata started “Iwata Asks,” a series of interviews in which Iwata would speak with different developers working on Nintendo games. The series provided great insight on the mind of some of the worlds most talented designers, even sharing some of Iwata’s own design experiences in Nintendo’s history. It was a wonderful feature, inspiring both game fans and creators.
Iwata continued to become the face of the company through “Nintendo Directs,” a series of online videos started in 2011 that would announce and highlight upcoming products directly towards fans through online video services such as YouTube and Twitch. While Nintendo Direct started off a little awkward, with scenes of Iwata staring at a bunch of bananas for no reason, Iwata would later double-down on this quirkiness much to the delight of fans across the world. The words “Please understand” started off in jest of Iwata’s constant politeness in these videos, but it eventually would become a phrase of endearment to reflect his strangely charming personality. Whether he was getting into faux fistfights with Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime to promote the latest Smash Bros. or posing as a digital avatar to showcase the features of Tomodachi Life, Iwata became an entertaining character in the hearts and minds of fans all across the globe. The last fans would see of Iwata would be a comical puppet version of himself and other Nintendo executives in a collaboration with Jim Henson Studios at E3 2015.
In the wake of Iwata’s death, fans have poured their hearts out online through social media, celebrating his legacy. The love spread into player interaction within Nintendo’s games themselves, as booting up a game of Splatoon would have you meeting a somber in-game plaza, with many using Miiverse, Nintendo’s online message board service, to post artful messages and drawings to mourn Iwata’s passing.
Even corporate rivalries have been briefly put on hold as prominent figures of the video game industry, including some from Nintendo’s competitors, share in mourning this great in the following quotes.
Reggie Fils-Aime, President of Nintendo of America:
“Mr. Iwata is gone, but it will be years before his impact on both Nintendo and the full video game industry will be fully appreciated. He was a strong leader for our company, and his attributes were clear to most everyone: Intelligence, creativity, curiosity and sense of humor. But for those of use fortunate enough to work closely with him, what will be remembered most were his mentorship and, especially, his friendship. He was a wonderful man. He always challenged us to push forward…to try the new…to upset paradigms—and most of all, to engage, excite and endear our fans. That work will continue uninterrupted.”
Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox via Twitter
“Sad day for Iwata-san’s family, friends, and gamers everywhere. His passion, creativity & leadership elevated our industry.”
Adam Boyes, VP of Publisher & Developer Relations at PlayStation via Twitter
“Really sad to hear about Iwata-san’s passing today. As a fan of Nintendo since the NES, my heart goes out to his family, friends, & fans.”
Markus Persson, Creator of Minecraft via Twitter
“Please, I don’t understand. #ThankYouIwata”
Ken Lobb, Creative Director at Microsoft Studios via Twitter
“A very sad day, RIP Iwata-san. First time I meat Mr. Iwata was a visit to NCL, he was this crazy exciting young guy who ran HAL. Super nice, and a great dev. I’m sad.”
Ken Kutaragi, Former Head of Sony Computer Entertainment
“I am at a loss for words. I pay my respects to the extraordinary leadership of President Iwata, who truly loved games and powerfully showed the way for our industry.”
I’ll end this article with a quote from Satoru Iwata himself that summarizes the philosophy that shaped his career, from his 2005 Game Developer’s Conference Keynote: “On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.”
By Alfredo Dizon, eParisExtra