When he died, I saw a plethora of people who knew Satoru Iwata but had no idea the impact that he had on the gaming industry. Hell, there's still some people I know who still don't fully understand the things he created and how he affected the gaming industry forever.
Iwata was a man who loved gaming so much he held about every role there was to hold in the profession. Sometimes he was the programmer, sometimes the project lead, and eventually the head of Nintendo. Just to give you an idea, here's some things that wouldn't exist without Iwata...
- Balloon Fight
- Earthbound
- Kirby
- Pokemon Gold And Silver
- Pokemon Stadium
- Super Smash Bros (N64 and Melee)
- Nintendo DS
- Nintendo Wii
He wasn't just a President who started out in development, he was still working on games even after getting the mantle. His vision of the DS and Wii singlehandedly brought Nintendo to record years of sales and spearheaded the motion control movement which others began to copy.
All this is covered in the video, which is absolutely worth listening to beginning to end if you want to hear the story of a man who LOVED and influenced gaming in great ways.
