If you are one of the many children who enjoyed playing a Nintendo game at some point in the past thirteen years, you have Mr. Satoru Iwata to thank for the pleasant memories you gained form them. Operating as President and CEO of Nintendo, Iwata passed away on July 11 from a bile duct tumor— a medical issue he had struggled with since early 2014. The news came a great shock to gaming fans across the globe, as the man was only 55 years old at the time of his death.
In his presentation at the 2005 Game Developer’s Conference, Iwata summarizes himself very succinctly in what is now one of his most famous quotes: “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.” With a major in computer science, he became a member of the Nintendo-affiliated HAL Laboratories, where he worked as programmer on many notable titles.These included entries in the Pokémon, Earthbound, Kirby, and Super Smash Bros. series.
It was in May 2002 that Iwata stepped up as president of Nintendo, and oversaw the development and marketing of both the Wii and DS consoles; the latter of which is Nintendo’s best selling console to date, second only to the PlayStation 2 in terms of best selling consoles of all time. At nearly 155 million units sold worldwide, the Nintendo DS remains the most purchased handheld gaming console to date. The Wii had similar success, with over 100 million units sold worldwide, leaving it as the fifth best selling game console to date.
Iwata’s success was not solely as a businessman, however. Issues arose during the production of Pokémon Gold and Silver, in which the developer Game Freak struggled with the size of the game fitting on the 2MB Game Boy Color cartridge. This was primarily due to the number of sprites needed for a Pokémon game, coupled with the console’s ability to have more detailed and full-colour sprites. It was Iwata himself who found a way to compress the data not only enough to complete the game’s projected development, but to include the additional entirety of the Kanto region featured in the previous game.
Even with all of his success as both CEO and programmer, much of the man’s popularity with fans comes from his focus on public relations, appearing in numerous instalments of the “Iwata Asks” and “Nintendo Direct” video series. By presenting information regarding the development and new releases of consoles in games in an entertaining and light-hearted way, he showcased himself as a down-to-earth, fun-loving person rather than just a businessman.
If that left any room for the man’s passion for the industry to be doubted, following the fiscal losses beginning in 2011 after the launch of the Nintendo 3DS, he voluntarily cut his own salary to apologize for the poor performances of the company. While this isn’t an entirely unseen practice in Japan, he still chose to cut his own salary by 50%, while other members of the Nintendo board only had pay cuts of 30% for representative directors and 20% for other directors. He did very same thing after the WiiU also reported losses in early 2014.
Regardless if you remember him for his success as President and CEO, for his skills as a programmer, for his funny antics in the various videos he appeared in, or just as the gamer he was at heart, I hope that you remember him fondly and thank him for all that he did for gaming as we know it. Rest in Peace, Iwata-san.
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