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[bernardobri]

Gunpei Yokoi (September 10, 1941 – October 4, 1997), sometimes spelled Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese video game designer. He was a long-time Nintendo employee, creator of the Game Boy and Game & Watch handheld systems, and producer of several long-running and critically acclaimed video game franchises.

In short, this guy created this million seller toy, back in the day when Nintendo was making hanafuda/playing cards.

Later he was the mentor of this guy that developed that one game with the plumber and the giant monkey during the 80s

Then he produced these:

But before that, in early 1980, after watching a guy messing around with his lcd calculator in the train, he was inspired to create this.

Which led to create this motherfucker along with the "pocket" version a few years later.

However, he was also the face behind this atrocity.

After retiring from Nintendo, he made this under Bandai:

Sadly, he passed away in 1997 due a car accident.

On October 4, 1997, while driving on the Hokuriku Expressway with his associate Etsuo Kiso, Yokoi rear-ended a truck driven by Takashi Okushima. After the two men had left the car to inspect the damage, Yokoi was hit and fatally injured by two passing cars. Contrary to urban legends of foul play, the driver of one of the passenger cars that hit Yokoi in the second accident was Gen Tsushima, a member of the tourism industry. Yokoi was pronounced dead two hours later.

So yeah, Yokoi was the man. I still remember the christmas that I got a Gameboy Pocket along with Pokemon Red, and it's all because of that guy.

 

[Kokonoe]

Gameboy forever.

 

[Saroyan]

I remember Christmas 1989 when I got a Gameboy along with Mario Land and Castlevania. I had been begging my parents to get me one, but I never thought they would actually get it, that was pretty awesome.

 

[IrishNinja]

happy birthday & R.I.P to a legend, i wish Nintendo did more to celebrate his contributions.

i'm really looking forward to Pix N' Love's book on him later this year, but damn i wish they had better prices or showed up on amazon.

 

[drtomoe123]

Respect the legend.

 

[CronoShot]

.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

R.I.P.

When you died, a piece of Metroid died with you.

 

[The Boat]

One of the most important people in the history of videogames. Massive respect.

 

[JustAnotherOtaku]

Absolute legend. Simple as.

 

[Juice]

One anecdote I heard a long time ago, and I'd love if someone can find a source (because it's been long enough that I might be dreaming this):

It was that Nintendo's management felt shame & responsibility following Yokoi's death because they pushed him out of the company, and his new job required him to commute further down that stretch of highway than he had when working at Nintendo—and that it was in that additional stretch of highway that he ultimately died.

I don't know if shame explains why he never gets a mention, but to my American ears it's shameful Nintendo has done so little to promote and celebrate his memory as a great innovator in the industry.

 

[Diprosalic]

one of the most underrated guys in this industry.

 

[Vampirolol]

This man saved part of my childhood. I really love every piece of his work.

 

[MrChocolate]

bigbosssalute.jpg

You'll be remembered.

PD: F*ck you Nintendo Ninjas.

 

[ScreenSplitter]

Kid Icarus & Metroid are two of my favourite games, and of course the Game Boy is a treasure. So much respect for this man.

 

[onQ123]

So he is the guy who saw the Atari handheld & made the Game Boy & released it before Atari could release their handheld?



(no I don't believe that's how it happened but that's the old story that I heard but I doubt if Nintendo could have moved that fast without already having the Game Boy planned.)



Happy Birthday.

 

[bjork]

Definitely one of the more interesting people in those eras of gaming. It's a shame he passed on so early, I'm sure he still had lots of neat ideas in his head.

On October 4, 1997, while driving on the Hokuriku Expressway with his associate Etsuo Kiso, Yokoi rear-ended a truck driven by Takashi Okushima. After the two men had left the car to inspect the damage, Yokoi was hit and fatally injured by two passing cars. Contrary to urban legends of foul play, the driver of one of the passenger cars that hit Yokoi in the second accident was Gen Tsushima, a member of the tourism industry. Yokoi was pronounced dead two hours later.

How does knowing one of the driver's names somehow disqualify the theory about Yamauchi's hit squad?

 

[BigDug13]

He did some awesome stuff.

Your thread title made it seem like he was born today. Like he will grow up and take a DeLorean into the past to invent the gameboy.

 

[bernardobri]

happy birthday & R.I.P to a legend, i wish Nintendo did more to celebrate his contributions.

i'm really looking forward to Pix N' Love's book on him later this year, but damn i wish they had better prices or showed up on amazon.

I want that book so badly since it was published in Japan. :/

He did some awesome stuff.

Your thread title made it seem like he was born today. Like he will grow up and take a DeLorean into the past to invent the gameboy.

Now that's a movie that I'd like to watch.

(Sorry for the title )

 

[Dremark]

Out of everyone who has worked in the video game industry I admire him the most and I don't think anyone can argue he isn't one of the most influential people in the history of the medium.

RIP.

 

[Ydahs]

Oh shi- so was I! Knew I was special the day I was born.

 

[IrishNinja]

....i think im gonna go hunt down a (likely broken) R.O.B. unit on ebay in his honor.

 

[Tenki]

A true legend.

 

[-KRS-]

*Salutes*
Truly one of the most important people in the industry back then. I wonder how Metroid, or even Super Mario Bros. would've turned out were it not for him.

I don't know if shame explains why he never gets a mention, but to my American ears it's shameful Nintendo has done so little to promote and celebrate his memory as a great innovator in the industry.

Yeah it really is awful. Was he even mentioned when the GB had its 20 year anniversary? I can't remember. Actually I can't remember if they even celebrated the GB's 20th year anniversary at all. Overall I think the Game & Watch systems and games get more recognition by Nintendo than the Game Boy these days. Except for the 3DS VC of course, but that's a given.

 

[Damo Yoshi]

How does knowing one of the driver's names somehow disqualify the theory about Yamauchi's hit squad?

Careful friend, you never know which GAF mod might be one of Yamauchi's...

Spoiler

It's EatChildren.

~~~
Although I never understood the significance of Yokoi's death as a child, I have the privilege of having been a beneficiary of his brilliant mind and sense of creative joy. The platinum Game Boy Pocket is forever enshrined as one of my fondest Christmas memories ever so thanks Gunpei!!

Oh shi- so was I! Knew I was special the day I was born.

I have no idea who you are but HAPPY BIRTHDAY KID. Find one of Yokoi's Love Testers to celebrate!

 

[RumblingRosco]

How does knowing one of the driver's names somehow disqualify the theory about Yamauchi's hit squad?

Extremely shady logic there, yes.

"Car accident" my ass, Nintendo. Anyway, for real, RIP Mr. Yokoi. The products that your ideas contributed to gave/give me hours upon hours of entertainment and happiness.

 

[Blue Submarine No. 6]

So he is the guy who saw the Atari handheld & made the Game Boy & released it before Atari could release their handheld?



(no I don't believe that's how it happened but that's the old story that I heard but I doubt if Nintendo could have moved that fast without already having the Game Boy planned.)



Happy Birthday.

This is not even remotely close to what happened... RJ Mical and Dave Needle developed the Handy (what would eventually be the Atari Lynx) hardware while with Epyx (both had previously been a part of the Amiga development team). They were shopping the hardware around for a manufacturer and flew to Tokyo for a (by all reports disasterous) meeting with Nintendo where they were shown the final prototype of the Gameboy before being politely shown the door. They were eventually schmoozed by Atari and foolishly signed a deal that was so one-sided (biased against Epyx) that it very nearly destroyed the company (Epyx ultimately lost tons of money on the whole Lynx deal, despite developing the hardware and most of the best games for the system)...

Basically, the Gameboy and Handy were cases of parallel development (a very, very common occurence throughout human history, despite what the patent trolls lawyers would want you to believe).

re: Gunpei - I've always resented the way Nintendo put him aside after the Virtual Boy fiasco... Virtual Boy was an R&D project Gunpei's team was working on when Nintendo's brass decided they needed something to steal fire from the Playstation until the N64 was ready for release, so they decided to push the VB out... Gunpei protested that the concept was not ready for market but was basically told to shut up and get it ready for mass production by the deadline corporate had given him. He did as he was told (under protest), the system (predictably) flopped large, and then the company left him to fall on his sword... pricks...

The Wonderswan was a worthy swan-song however - a particularly elegant handheld that demonstrated Gunpei's design genius on many levels...

 

[JAYinHD]

Hey we share the same birthday. Nice!!!!

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Yokoi was the father of R&D1. One thing I liked about Yokoi over Miyamoto, is Yokoi gave his creative team freedom when it came to developing games. It might be because Yokoi was an engineer and inventor, and always focused more on creating hardware and peripherals. The only game Yokoi really designed was Dr. Mario. But all his creations, Ultra Series, Beam Gun Series, Laser Shooting System, Game & Watch, NES Digital Pad, NES Zapper, ROB The Robot, Game Boy and finally the Virtual Boy. Iconic and pertinent beyond measure.

 

[zephervack]

I met my best friend playing Tetris on my Gameboy over LAN with the link cable. Thank you so much Yokoi.

 

[LonelyGreyWolf]

The title doesn't make sense to me: he was born many years ago, as stated in the OP.

There's one thing that confuses me. Did he retire from Nintendo to work for Bandai? Why would he do that? Unless Bandai offered him an enormous amount of money, or unless he got mad at Nintendo for something. Massive respect to him, in either case.

 

[Canis lupus]

RIP Mr. Yokoi, hope Nintendo continue the Gameboy handheld in the future.

 

[Data West]

Very cool Gunpei retrospective on people who don't know much about him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5JeQwm9hds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxBzUNItJEE&feature=context-shows&list=SL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af6GHpku_D4&feature=BFa&list=EL6X4nwhrYG-g

 

[Shiggy]

Conspiracy-age has started again.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

I remember the day he died, the reactions from everyone at The Metroid Database message board..

..I remember reading up on as much as I could about Mr. Yokoi's life, and I remember I was astonished at how many of my still-developing childhood memories were owed to him.

In the weeks following his death, I would pick my Game Boy up off the shelf, slide in Metroid II, and listen to this music....and cry.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

The title doesn't make sense to me: he was born many years ago, as stated in the OP.

There's one thing that confuses me. Did he retire from Nintendo to work for Bandai? Why would he do that? Unless Bandai offered him an enormous amount of money, or unless he got mad at Nintendo for something. Massive respect to him, in either case.

Yokoi didn't work for Bandai. He started his own small R&D company called Koto Laboratory and actually had a lot of former R&D1 engineers join him. Bandai tagged on as the publisher of the Wonder Swan.

Nakagawa from R&D2 also left Nintendo and similarly took a lot of engineers to start a small company called SSD. Which developed small basic key chain games. R&D2 were the main hardware developers of the Color TV, and Famicom / NES. They also developed a bunch of games like F-1 Race, Golf, Baseball, etc.

Part of the reason I think most people left, was that technology was taking a huge leap and most of those engineers were basically being outshined by the new college grads who had a better handle of the new technology.

 

[meppi]

tasteless-age has started again.

Yep. idiots.

 

[bernardobri]

The title doesn't make sense to me: he was born many years ago, as stated in the OP.

There's one thing that confuses me. Did he retire from Nintendo to work for Bandai? Why would he do that? Unless Bandai offered him an enormous amount of money, or unless he got mad at Nintendo for something. Massive respect to him, in either case.

It was a mistake, I'm fine if a mod wants to fix it.

RE: his departure from Nintendo: I recall that Sakurai (or other heavyweight name in the company) said in an interview that Gunpei wanted to retire after the VirtualBoy or the Game Boy Pocket, and that the VB fiasco was just coincidental to his retirement (After all, the guy worked since the 60s in the company), but given the fact that he founded his own company and worked on the Wonderswan, it's kind of contradictory...

 

[Forkball]

If Miyamoto is Bruce Lee, Yokoi is Ip Man.

I never knew that Yokoi was actually a janitor for one of Nintendo's hanafuda factories until he invented that claw grabber thing.

 

[Jo Shishido's Cheeks]

EDIT: Didn't realise there were so many posts above me, too many open tabs.....

 

[Yka]

Thanks for all you did, Mr. Yokoi! I wonder what the history of the handheld gaming would be like without your input. D-pad alone is such a groundbreaking invention.

The only game Yokoi really designed was Dr. Mario.

No wonder I love that game! Gunpei's great design compined with Hirokazu Tanaka's catchy music.

Gunpei - I've always resented the way Nintendo put him aside after the Virtual Boy fiasco... Virtual Boy was an R&D project Gunpei's team was working on when Nintendo's brass decided they needed something to steal fire from the Playstation until the N64 was ready for release, so they decided to push the VB out... Gunpei protested that the concept was not ready for market but was basically told to shut up and get it ready for mass production by the deadline corporate had given him. He did as he was told (under protest), the system (predictably) flopped large, and then the company left him to fall on his sword... pricks...

Reading that makes my blood boil!

 

[ramine]

His never ending imagination and dedication to create something better have inspired me to pursue a career in games. He created such an elegant, simple, approachable device that hundreds of millions of people so many hours of joy.

Thank you Gunpei Yokoi. You're fondly remembered.

 

[cullenx]

This man got me into gaming. The Game Boy was the first console I owned and has subsequently led to my love for portable gaming. I wish the next handheld would be a modern resurgance of the Game Boy!

 

[Celine]

RE: his departure from Nintendo: I recall that Sakurai (or other heavyweight name in the company) said in an interview that Gunpei wanted to retire after the VirtualBoy or the Game Boy Pocket, and that the VB fiasco was just coincidental to his retirement (After all, the guy worked since the 60s in the company), but given the fact that he founded his own company and worked on the Wonderswan, it's kind of contradictory...

Not at all.
He wanted to retire at 50 (but he endured through 55) from the big company he worked for, to do what he liked most (making "toys") on his own without the pressure that working for Nintendo required.

 

[mr_toa]

Respect /bow

 

[@MUWANdo]

Yokoi was the father of R&D1. One thing I liked about Yokoi over Miyamoto, is Yokoi gave his creative team freedom when it came to developing games. It might be because Yokoi was an engineer and inventor, and always focused more on creating hardware and peripherals. The only game Yokoi really designed was Dr. Mario. But all his creations, Ultra Series, Beam Gun Series, Laser Shooting System, Game & Watch, NES Digital Pad, NES Zapper, ROB The Robot, Game Boy and finally the Virtual Boy. Iconic and pertinent beyond measure.

I was always intrigued by the difference in philosophy between Yokio and Miyamoto...

Yokoi believed that having his designers learn programming would inhibit their ideas; he wanted them to present their ideas without worrying about technical considerations, as that would push the programmers to learn new tricks and develop new skills in order to implement their "impossible" ideas, which would lead to better games in both the short- and long-term. (I guess that explains why so many of their games were co-developed with the likes of Intelligent Systems, TOSE, etc--they didn't have the chops to do anything in-house!)

Miyamoto, on the other hand, believes in being acutely aware of every possible limitation from the very beginning and at all points during development, as this method lets him easily determine which ideas to pursue and which to drop, and to identify the "fun core" of each concept.

I'd love to hear more about Yokio from some of the old guard who didn't mix with Miyamoto too much--Makoto Kanoh, Yoshio Sakamoto, etc--and to learn from firsthand sources how they differed, and how they complimented each other.

 

[VegaNine]

Today is the 15th anniversary of Yokoi's accident. I think that's enough for a new thread, but I only just realized the date, and could never put one together that's worthy of the man's legacy. Not on such short notice.


So I'm preparing now for the 20th.

Until then, let's remind ourselves of Gunpei Yokoi's career:

• Created the Game & Watch line of handhelds and designed countless popular toys
• Changed the way we play video games by inventing the D-Pad
• Changed the world with the Game Boy
• Supervised the creation of Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., and others
• Produced Kid Icarus and Metroid
• Prefigured the DS and 3DS with a dual-screen Game & Watch and the 3D Virtual Boy
• Created the Wonderswan
• Was a mentor and friend to Miyamoto and other icons
• Continues to influence Nintendo with his philosophy of design

Gunpei Yokoi on Wikipedia



A long remembrance blog



And an article from Electronic Gaming Monthly, after the accident:

God rest.

 

[bigboss370]

Joust was the best.

 

[IrishNinja]

i am perfectly okay with again paying tribute to a lesser-known industry legend, RIP gunpei.

 

[Aaron Strife]

Man, I never heard about the details of his death before (other than it was a car accident). He got hit by passerby cars while he was pulled over? That's fucked up.

RIP. I owe my 8th birthday to him.

 

[Resilient]

Always remember.