Satoru Iwata
- “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
Satoru Iwata (岩田聡) was the fourth president of Nintendo, and the first Nintendo president not related to the previous presidents by blood or marriage. He had done a lot of work with the GameCube and was responsible for its success. He was also the executive producer of many games and a previous employee of HAL Laboratory. In April 2013, he replaced Tatsumi Kimishima as CEO of Nintendo of America.[1]
He makes cameos in a number of Nintendo games, but the most notable appearances are in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, where he appears on Wario's TV, and in WarioWare: Smooth Moves, where he (under the name Shop Manager Iwata) is the owner of a video game store and sold 18-Volt a Game & Watch for 9-Volt. Whenever the player wins a microgame in 9-Volt and 18-Volt's set, he is happy, and if the player loses a microgame, he becomes slightly frustrated and a customer leaves the store (which are the life counters).
He passed away on July 11, 2015 of a bile duct growth[2].
List of games
Since Satoru Iwata was automatically credited as "Executive Producer" on every Nintendo game released following his promotion to president, the following list cover only credits given before said promotion.
- Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally - Programmer
- NES Open Tournament Golf - Main Program
- Super Smash Bros. Melee - Special Thanks
Gallery
Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto together, holding their Wii Remotes.
Satoru's cameo in WarioWare: Smooth Moves.
Satoru Iwata (left) along with Shigeru Miyamoto (right) running away from Bowser in the promotional trailer of the Nintendo 3DS at E3 2010.
Satoru Iwata holding the prototype of the Wii U GamePad.
Names in other languages
References
- ^ Satoru Iwata named Nintendo of America CEO
- ^ Notification of Death and Personnel Change of a Representative Director(President) (July 13, 2015). Nintendo.jp. Retrieved July 13, 2-15.
