Gunpei Yokoi
Gunpei Yokoi (September 10, 1941 – October 4, 1997) was one of Nintendo's most famous developers, responsible for famous things such as the Game Boy, Game & Watch, and D-Pad. He also directed both Super Mario Land and Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins. Yokoi was also Shigeru Miyamoto's mentor.
History
Born on September 10, 1941, Yokoi was raised in Kyoto, Japan. He joined Nintendo in 1965, at the age of 24. He had just graduated from Doshisha University, and got his electronics degree. He wanted to test what he had learned, so joined Nintendo. Interestingly, his original job was the Janitor of Nintendo, not a very good start. However, in 1970, his life would change. While looking around the Nintendo Headquarters, Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo at the time, noticed an extending arm toy that Yokoi had made in his spare time. Interested in the product, he told Yokoi to mass-produce, and sell the product. The product sold very well, and Yokoi was upgraded to product developer. He continued his toy production, and he became one of the most well-known figures in Nintendo. In the 1980's, when Nintendo started making Video Games, Yamauchi wanted to make a handheld system from Nintendo, to make the company more well-known. He gave the project to Gunpei Yokoi, who spent a long time coming up with a console. He noticed a man in a train playing with the buttons on his calculator, and Yokoi got a brilliant idea. He made a small handheld console, with an LCD screen. He called it, the Game & Watch. It became a best-seller, and the games sold more than 40-Million worldwide. Gunpei Yokoi eventually became the head of the first-party company, R&D1, which was responsible for the game Mario Bros.. He eventually made the Game Boy, and he also made the entire line of Game Boy handhelds after that (excluding the Gameboy Advance), and he also created the character, Princess Daisy. He left Nintendo after the unsuccessful Virtual Boy console, and started working for Koto Laboratory. However, Yokoi died in a car accident on October 4, 1997. His death was broadcast worldwide. Many Video Game tributes have been made to Yokoi, which include Princess Daisy being re-introduced into the Mario series, Mr. Game & Watch being the hardest unlockable in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and the Game & Watch appearing in many games, including the WarioWare series, and Pikmin 2.
