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Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata (December 6, 1959 – July 11, 2015) was the fourth President and CEO of Nintendo, promoted in 2000 by the previous President, Hiroshi Yamauchi, before his retirement the same year.[1] Iwata was known for his contributions to the Nintendo subsidiary, HAL Laboratory, Inc., and was attributed to the success of the Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS, and the latter console's launch title, Brain Age.[1][2][3]
While at HAL, Iwata worked on concept and design for the Earthbound and Kirby series of games, and eventually was promoted to President of the company in 1993. His work at HAL carried over to his career at Nintendo, contributing towards titles such as Super Mario Sunshine, Star Fox Adventures, Metroid Prime, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, 'Animal Crossing' and The Wind Waker.[1] Iwata currency discussed the Wii and future Nintendo plans in his portion of the Nintendo online site, Iwata Asks. [2]
Iwata made cameos in a number of Nintendo games, but the most notable appearances were in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! where he appeared on Wario's TV and in WarioWare: Smooth Moves, where he (under the name Shop Manager Iwata) was the owner of a video game store and sold 18-Volt a Game & Watch for 9-Volt.
On 11 July 2015, Iwata passed from a bile duct growth at age 55.[4]
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." - Satoru Iwata, speaking at GDC 2006
Trivia
- Satoru Iwata was the first Nintendo president not related to the previous presidents by blood or marriage.
