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[SuperInuit]

Seeing his name at the end of every Nintendo credits, seeing him in the directs, watching Nintendo reveal the Wii.

He just had this presence I always respected, never arrogant and always humble.

 

[Stereogatari]

PLUSKEY Switch!

 

[CassSept]

E3 2005 was the first one I followed so it has to go to Revolution reveal. X360 and PS3 were monstrously big and Iwata just pulled Revolution out of his pocket like it was nothing.

 

[Dunkley]

Kanto in Gold/Silver, really.

 

[narton]

One of the first things I wanted to watch after I heard the news was the interview and little skit Miyamoto did with Iwata to promote Luigi's Mansion 2. With Iwata in his cute Luigi hat and Miyamoto with his Poltergeist vaccuum.

 

[Lingitiz]

To me, the single most impressive thing he did was to defend the developers during the times of bad financial result a few years ago. He fought against the shareholders, saying that no developer should be fired from Nintendo to save costs.

"It is true that our business has its ups and downs every few years, and of course, our ideal situation is to make a profit even in the low periods, return these profits to investors and maintain a high share price. I believe we should continue working toward this ideal. If we reduce the number of employees for better short-term financial results, however, employee morale will decrease, and I sincerely doubt employees who fear that they may be laid off will be able to develop software titles that could impress people around the world.

I believe we can become profitable with the current business structure in consideration of exchange rate trends and popularization of our platforms in the future. We should of course cut unnecessary costs and pursue efficient business operations. I also know that some employers publicize their restructuring plan to improve their financial performance by letting a number of their employees go, but at Nintendo, employees make valuable contributions in their respective fields, so I believe that laying off a group of employees will not help to strengthen Nintendo's business in the long run. Our current policy is to achieve favorable results by continuously cutting unnecessary expenses and increasing business efficiency."

This was really one of the most his most admirable traits. Even in the face of overwhelming external pressure, he stayed dedicated to an emphasis on fostering a business centered around creating great games and ensuring the people making them were happy.

 

[Chittagong]

A couple of old Iwata pictures I had saved from GAF years ago:

The first one in particular, seems like it used to come up every year around E3, and I would always hope for it to come true. The later plays off of the bomb idea, and it probably struck me enough to save just since I love Zelda.

Oh man, the memories. I did that first gif. It dates back to Spring 2006, before Wii became a thing, and Nintendo was doomed. Then, Iwata.

 

[69wpm]

He took a pay-cut so he wouldn't have to fire people and demoralize the rest of the stuff. This right there is character.

 

[dc89]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECqpc6Ses4s

smiled when he put on gloves.

also love the gif where they reverse it so it looks like he's packing the wii U away forever.

I have to see this GIF. I have to.

I didn't make the original photoshop, but i did make the It Prints Money gif way back in 2006.

I never seriously thought (pretty much anyone at Nintendo) would be the kind of person to be swimming around in a pit of money, much less Iwata.

The only reason something like this gets created is because i'm here, because of them, because i'm grateful for the enjoyment they bought and continue to bring. When you realise that their reach extends far beyond the actual games themselves, you understand what kind of an impact they have on the lives of people

I'm sure he would have seen it and hope it bought a smile to his face, knowing it stood for how much we're all indebted to his and Nintendo's efforts. A great man who will be missed by all, rest in peace.

:O the GIF. *bows*

 

[random25]

His GDC speech was my best memory of him. He really shows the knowledge and at the same time the passion for the industry. That's the kind of boss I really admire.

 

[cyba89]

Kanto in Gold/Silver blew my mind as a kid and it blew my mind again when I learned Iwata was responsible for this. One of my most memorable videogame experiences.

Also his presence in the Directs was always so nice. I don't know any big company that puts its CEO so up and center like Nintendo. He played a big role in the special connection Nintendo has to its younger and older fans. That's not solely nostalgia-driven, but also because of their company image today strongly influenced by people like Iwata and Miyamoto. All these tributes and fanarts today are a testament of that.
Even though he's gone now his legacy will fill people with joy for years to come.

 

[dickgumshoe]

I really love all those funny and ridiculous moments in the Nintendo Directs that showed he never took himself too seriously. They highlighted that Nintendo is about having fun and making people smile.

 

[devonodev]

The way he would so calmly drop bombs during Nintendo Directs, he wasn't a hype man, he just wanted to make people smile and have fun.

 

[purdobol]

Iwata Asks. Such great interviews. Iwata passion for developing and knowledge is clearly seen there. And those little stories he shared in them. Like coding on programmable calculator...

 

[gingerbeardman]

Has to be the bananas.

#ThankYouIwata

 

[GamerJM]

His dedication to the company and ensuring that the consumers are happy. He put so much love and care into the work he did. You can see it in everything from written statements made by him to the videos he was in.

 

[StayDead]

I have so many memories about how Iwata-san and his work positively effected my life, but more recently it's certainly been the directs. I began importing my consoles about 5 years ago from Japan so I always watched and looked forward to the NCL directs. Every time a new one was announced I always got super excited to see what news they had for us and listening to Iwata speak was an absolute joy. He was the CEO of Nintendo, but whenever you watched him speak it always felt like he really was communicating directly with me as if I was in the room next to him and we were just having a friendly chat.

No other corporate figure or famous person who has passed away has ever had that much of a positive influence on my life and genuinly made me feel special as a fan of his products. He at heart was just like me. Someone who really and truely loved video games and found joy and happiness losing himself in different worlds and he shared his passion for games with the rest of the world.

I just sat and played Baloon Fight for a while and while it was never Nintendo's most popular game it's certainly one of their tightest to play and best made games on the NES and part of that was due to Iwata-sans programming. The same can be said about Earthbound and even Smash Bros Melee since in the end he debugged it himself despite being a "higherupper" in the company at the time.

Thankyou so much for the work you created and helped create Iwata-san. Your influence on the games industry will certainly be remembered and your impact on Nintendo will hopefully be felt and be used as the driving force moving forward.

Incase you've not seen it, please go and watch the Game Center CX where he played Baloon Trip with Arino. They laughed and joked together all while playing and Iwata looked so happy seeing the game he programmed continuing to make people happy more than 20 years after it was made.

 

[Oersted]

Who else would think this is a good idea and could actually pull it off?

 

[Nakayumi]

I'm sure many of us have never met him personally, but we've still been touched by him since he talked to us, the fans, on many occasions. I'm sure if he could, he would have spoken to all of us.

Personally for me, nothing comes close to this.

First time I see this, amazing speech. Humble yet confident, proud but dignified. When I see this I realize gaming lost one of it's greats.

Current day E3 presentations with their loud and arrogant sales pitches fall totally flat when seeing this. This is what out hobby, our passion is really about. He knew that, and he will be missed.

 

[sublimit]

I really loved the Iwata Asks and i will forever miss them.His questions were always interesting and to the point and ignited some very informing (and honest) discussions from the developers.Nothing like the PR bullshit you often see in most other "interviews".

At heart Iwata was still a developer and a gamer and wasn't afraid to ask the "tough" questions.

 

[protomouse]

Learning more about his work at HAL and Nintendo, through stories shared by him and the people whom he worked with, was something truly special. My favourite story is one he gave during an interview with 4gamer last year. In the time before the launch of GameCube, he was acting as General Manager of Corporate Planning at Nintendo. To help ensure Smash Bros. Melee would release on time, he stepped out into the trenches to debug code and fix bugs. That speaks volumes about his pedigree and passion for video game development. The higher-ups at companies I've worked for would never do such a thing. He wasn't a suit that came in from a management position at Wal-Mart or some such. He rose through the ranks as a brilliant game developer who spent part of his youth programming games on calculators and fawning over early home computers. Losing that kind of person, with such a different perspective, in such a central position within the industry is a huge loss. May he rest in peace.

 

[dh4niel]

This whole thing: https://youtu.be/u_vPtElrye4 really made me smile.

 

[Roders5]

Dropping the god damn bombs

 

[gingerbeardman]

Essential reading (or watching)... Satoru Iwata 2005 GDC Keynote

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2005/03/11/gdc-2005-iwata-keynote-transcript
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfF-zlMNYMd_F9uf-URKHoMzcbw2USpih

Fourth - and this never changes - software sells hardware. People buy games to play the games they love. I agree with Steve Jobs, the head of Apple, when he says, "Software is the user experience. Software is the driving technology not just of computers, but of all consumer electronics."

 

[xzeldax3]

This, simply amazing

Same for me. It's mind boggling how he just busted this out after other devs were struggling with the base game.

 

[Neverforget]

Iwata Ask and Nintendo Direct were always fantastic but there is that interview I saw of him, he talked about how he started programing and all his work and games he has done, he also played one of the game he created, maaan I wish I still had the link of that interview, he was so humble and genuine.

 

[Magnetic_North]

Iwata was like that crazy (good crazy) uncle that had some bonkers ideas (motion control controllers?!) but we always loved him

He just felt like he was always there excited to show you Nintendos new consoles/games

I always loved his Iwatas asks they were amazing plus his goofy antics like him v reggie in the smash bros trailer, the banana antics and many more

It's gonna be hard watching Nintendo unveil its new console without him....

 

[Neverforget]

from GameCenter CX - NC017 - Balloon Fight

OMG! This is the interview I was talking about on previous post, it's a must watch, honestly!

 

[nubbe]

Savior of Pokemans

Ishihara: I remember thinking that there just weren’t that many people out there who would be able to read the entire Game Boy source code, which was by no means written in a highly-refined programming language, and grasp how everything connected with everything else. So Iwata-san, you analysed the whole thing and reworked the code, decided on the way to localise Red and Green, got the battle system running on N64… I was gobsmacked that you managed all of that…

Iwata: I joined Nintendo in June 2000 and one of the first jobs I was involved in was the establishment of The Pokémon Company.

 

[Piers]

Beaten to the punch.

 

[thenexus6]

This whole thing: https://youtu.be/u_vPtElrye4 really made me smile.

Does anyone know the song played during the puppet opening of the direct?

 

[cacildo]

A couple of old Iwata pictures I had saved from GAF years ago:

The first one in particular, seems like it used to come up every year around E3, and I would always hope for it to come true. The later plays off of the bomb idea, and it probably struck me enough to save just since I love Zelda.

I found the little gif i made for E3... i think it was 2012...

 

[Seik]

I think this is when he managed to get the biggest laugh out of me.

Iwata always was so genuine....

 

[Magnetic_North]

I found the little gif i made for E3... i think it was 2012...

God I had completly forgot about Iwata dropping the bomb

Whenever I watched Nintendos E3 I'd always be like "Iwatas gonna drop the bomb"

This hurts guys...

 

[TheSlySoul]

Yeah, I always associate him with bananas.

 

[I'm Spartacus]

Definitely this:-

Please understand that this was the CEO of a multi-national, multi-billion dollar company...doing an E-Honda style flying headbutt. Fuck unicorns shooting rainbows or whatever; does it get any more awesome than this?

 

[ant1532]

"like all game creators, I was really cool too, don't you think"
Iwata at GDC 2005

<3

 

[peanutbutterlatte]

Definitely this:-

Please understand that this was the CEO of a multi-national, multi-billion dollar company...doing an E-Honda style flying headbutt. Fuck unicorns shooting rainbows or whatever; does it get any more awesome than this?

I bet Reggie's going to be absolutely inconsolable today. It seemed like he had such a genuine respect for the guy.

 

[Busaiku]

Seeing his name at the end of every Nintendo credits

Ugh, it's gonna feel so weird not seeing this in the future...
Just ugh...

 

[Qurupeke]

I know I'll miss Iwata Asks. Nintendo Directs will also certainly not be the same.

 

[j.rob]

Definitely this:-

Please understand that this was the CEO of a multi-national, multi-billion dollar company...doing an E-Honda style flying headbutt. Fuck unicorns shooting rainbows or whatever; does it get any more awesome than this?

Literally.

I can't imagine hoe busy he must have been running Nintendo, plus in the state he was in with his illness...but yet he was still humble, dedicated and always made sure that we as not just lovers of Nintendo, but video gaming as a whole were entertained.

I can't think of any one else this in a company in any industry that does anything like this apart from maybe Shuhei Yoshida, and this is only recently.

 

[Fat4all]

Iwata was such a humble man.

If he was ever angry or disappointed, he never let you see that side of him. He came across as a man that had nothing to do with cynicism, like a man that would never even entertain those thoughts.

To be perfectly honest, I was never really that familiar with Iwata the man while I was young. I was very familiar with his work, on the other hand.

Growing up I closely followed every and all video game news. I've watched every major event, and even go back and watch my favorites. I can still remember seeing Iwata at E3 for the first time. His career always intrigued me, as I always wondered how he could do it.

How could he avoid being petty in an industry that seemed to reward such things? During his run Sony and Microsoft threw a lot of barbs. At each other and at Nintendo. Iwata never retaliated. How did he avoid 'playing politics' in such a competitive industry?

I think it all boiled down to his nature, and his hope for gaming to be nothing but fun no matter who you are. Iwata, I never knew you personally, but you sure as hell made me feel like I did.

I appreciate everything you've done for video games, and I always will.

 

[Fat4all]

I bet Reggie's going to be absolutely inconsolable today. It seemed like he had such a genuine respect for the guy.

Fuck, I'm tearing up again. You could tell they had a true friendship.

;_;

 

[Sadist]

- DS presentation
- Wiimote presentation
- Hey Iwata, what did you do to help the populace after the earthquakes? "We did several things like giving away free DS'es and donating money. We just didn't want to go public with it".
- 3DS presentation
- Countless Nintendo Direct presentations

 

[Mexen]

Iwata Asks and the Reggie fight.

RIP.

 

[ShinMaruku]

Cutting his own salary and refusing to layoff anyone

A great gesture and if it raised Nintendo's stock price he gave himself a raise without hurting anybody. Truely brilliant.

 

[jdforge]

I'll remember his humble and whimsical nature. His sincere and infectious smile and his passion to use video games as a medium to bring people together and have fun.

What an absolute legend. RIP Iwata

 

[Misuta]

Iwata asks, the Directs, Gamecenter CX and his fight against Reggie.

I will miss his "directly to you". He was such a charming person.

 

[Moosehole]

Although there are so many funny anecdotes I could remember him by, or great games that he either made or helped make in some way, I think knowing what I know now, I will always remember how he cut his own salary in half so that other Nintendo employees would not suffer layoffs.

One would think that when facing great uncertainty or even death, one would try to make as much money as possible for family security. Not Mr. Iwata.

 

[Vena]

Never met Iwata, but I know some people who work for Nintendo. They always described a boss that fought for them, to ensure they were happy, that wanted an end goal of producing art that people loved.

Most people are never going to know the battles Iwata fought to make Nintendo less conservative. A lot of older people in Nintendo actually referred to him as a cowboy for having wild ideas like games with no retail option or working with Disney on major initiatives (one of which people should see relatively soon).

But I got the feeling from everyone that worked there is Iwata saw everyone in Nintendo as his family. People in Treehouse, people in warehouses, developers, accountants, everyone knew that Iwata would move heaven and earth to make sure his family was alright.

There's no one in the industry like Iwata.

I hope that whoever comes after him is a cowboy raised in the culture and environment that Iwata cultivated at the company. I know there will be a struggle for power from the old guard to "right the cowboy's wrongs" so to speak but I hope it doesn't happen and I hope that his successor is as equally forthcoming and genuine.