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Satoru Iwata Has Passed Away

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sntstbn

Neo Member
It has been mentioned before, but these words from Shigesato Itoi about Earthbound and hoping for "a lively wake" are very beautiful and fitting.

I was already a grown-up at the time I was making Earthbound,
but now that thirty years have been added to my life, I’ve grown up even more.
I think about things that I didn’t back then.

Things like, “what kind of a person do I want to be when I die?”
I already know the answer to this one.
It’s “someone with a lively wake*.”

The person who passed away has to be in all sorts of different people’s memories.
What they’ve done, how stupid they were, what kind of things they did for fun,
and how kind that person was sometimes.

All the people who are still alive are laughing,
wanting to be the first one to bring up those things to everyone around them.
The life I want to live is something that can be concluded with that kind of a party-like wake.

Fame and fortune, setting records and accomplishments are all meaningless.
That person is inside those stories that are told,
where people talk about their episodes, casually and sincerely.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Pachter is one of, if not the most annoying, self appreciating scumbags connected with this industry. Iwata, whose first love wasn't even business, was a far better businessman than Pachter could ever be. And Pachter barely even likes games to begin with.

Pachter is just a personality and I wouldn't take anything he said too seriously, he's there to start debates so people talk about him. The dude is successful at doing what he does. He makes way more doing what he does in his day to day job than actually making gametrailer videos. Somebody like Arthur Gies on the other hand seems like there's bias there when there shouldn't be. That I don't like. Pachter will straight up tell you what he likes and doesn't and explains his reasons. I respect that even if a lot of his predictions are wrong.

Back to Iwata though. I haven't posted in here, but super sad to see him go. I don't like that the mainstream media did not pick up on this story but did when Steve Jobs passed away. Yeah I know computers are a mainstream product and gaming isn't. I hate that. Nintendo has been like my whole life, and everybody at some point in time has played a Nintendo game. My first Nintendo device was the red and white famicom. That thing was just so amazing. I was about 5 and was over at my cousin's. My aunt suggested that I stayed overnight, I had never done that before and didn't want to be away from my parents. The lure of Super Mario made me stay over 4 nights in the end. It was just awesome. We ended up getting our own Famicom with the disk player too about a year later. When we moved over to Australia, maybe because of the voltage differences or whatever, it no longer worked, so we ended up getting the grey NES with the front loading cartridge. We couldn't afford so many games, but most of the games we did get were very replayable. TMNT (we had no idea it was that hard), Kung Fu, Super Mario 1, Tennis, Mach Rider, Silent Service (my dad), Flintstones, Adventures of Lolo 3 (awesome but hard, HAL!), Zelda II (best game on the NES).

I know Iwata wasn't there for the NES, but Iwata = Nintendo and his work on the DS and the Wii shows that he's tried to maintain the original vision and identity of Nintendo from its very early beginnings. They may have had a dud in the Wii U in terms of Sales but their games are still amazing. Thanks Iwata.
 
Such a strange feeling reading this thread. Its not as if we haven't seen threads mourning others in the industry who have died, but there is a particular sting that comes with someone who is so presently active within the industry. Someone we are always excited to see.

It makes me sad to know we will see more and more prominent industry veterans pass in the future, especially at Nintendo where there are many developers/producers/prominent staff that I think will be active in the industry their whole lives.

Iwata was passionate. It is a sad day for the industry when that kind of energy leaves us.
 

CrazyHorse

Junior Member
Nintendo has always been the one constant in my life

This is so true. I have been thinking about this over the last couple of years. Others will let you down but with Nintendo you know that you can rely on them to provide something in your life without being disappointed.
 
And the first thing I will do, is pay my respects to Iwata-san.

It is such a great loss to not just Nintendo, but gaming as a whole. I will miss him dearly. :(
 
I think he was just being goofy.

I've decided (just because I like the idea) that he was alluding to Haiku master Basho and in one image attempting to show the viewer his own personal life and game-making philosophy in a DIRECT manner. He valued above all else the unique quality of the collective bunch - whether a bunch of ideas, employees, fans - and he sought to cultivate and share the fruit of that pursuit. Of course, he was also being goofy!

tumblr_m55sczoWQT1r3hcijo1_500.gif
 

KingBroly

Banned
My stomach dropped when I heard the news 2 days ago. It's stayed there ever since. There's just a sense of emptiness I have about this...I can't describe it.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
I'm currently watching the full heart of a gamer GDC video and I'm loving it. His talk on variety of graphics and art styles being important, but also becoming much harder as the industry has grown bigger. There are a lot of great quotes to pick from in this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMrj8gdUfCU&feature=youtu.be

EDIT: Lol, getting people on stage to play Mario Kart DS and Bill Trinen telling everyone to go after Mario then Iwata yell "ooh nooo!".
 

OmegaDL50

Member
I know Iwata wasn't there for the NES, but Iwata = Nintendo and his work on the DS and the Wii shows that he's tried to maintain the original vision and identity of Nintendo from its very early beginnings. They may have had a dud in the Wii U in terms of Sales but their games are still amazing. Thanks Iwata.

Actually Iwata was there during the NES and SNES years. Balloon Fight was one of the main games he developed. He also did development work for the Adventures of Lolo (Particularly Eggerland: Meikyū no Fukkatsu), as well as the Kirby games (In fact Iwata was heavily involved with Kirby's creation alongside Sakurai) during his programming years at HAL.

Other notable things he did was fixing Earthbound's really crazy code, the game would have probably been cancelled, if Iwata hadn't reprogrammed it.

When Pokemon Gold and Silver were in development the dev staff were having issues compressing the game to fit just the Johto region. Iwata got his hands on it and made a compression so effective that not only were they able to fit Johto but the entire Kanto region as well.

He also basically worked to the 11th hour on Smash Melee programming to get the game to reach it's deadline and not miss the release schedule.

Iwata isn't just notable as the CEO for Nintendo for the past 12 years, but had serious programming chops and has been working as programmer for nearly 20 years with HAL before he was hired as an executive at NCL.
 

Jintor

Member
the whole iwata asks section on the ninty website has its banner mourning his passing... it's really hard to read these with tears in my eyes, ninty...
 

AdanVC

Member
Lot's of people leaving flowers in NoA's building. It's sooo amazing :')

tumblr_nrgc970v2Y1qf510co1_540.jpg


source

Edit: ohhh that sign is actually done by someone from here on GAF if I remember correctly, right??

:')
 
I made something. I'm just going to quote the description I gave it on dA, because I put some time into making sure it got my feelings across.

thank_you__mr__iwata_by_quarksney-d91bb7l.png


I've never been this bothered by the death of someone I've never met, and I never expected it to be a corporate executive.

I grew up playing Nintendo games with my siblings and I have a lot of fond memories attached to those experiences. We still play together when we can. It wasn't until I was older that I realized how much of that was due to Nintendo's, and Iwata's, rather unique approach to the video game industry. The man, along with Miyamoto, seemed to personify Nintendo. You could tell in the videos where he addressed fans directly, in the interviews where he questioned developers about their processes, and in the personal stories other people have about him, that he genuinely cared about his employees and his fans, because he had been a developer himself.

Mr. Iwata remembered that the idea behind video games is, above all, to bring fun, not just profit. Because as long as they made sure their games were fun, the profit would take care of itself. It's rare to see that in someone in charge of such a large company, and I can only hope whoever succeeds him understands that even half as well as he did.

The overwhelming amount of support and tributes coming out of the video game community show just how well loved he was. I logged into Splatoon and every post in the plaza was in memoriam. The Earthbound Miiverse was flooded with similar posts. Many places around the Internet, directly or indirectly associated with video games, put up articles or tributes.

Thank you for helping bring so much joy to my childhood and even my life currently, Mr. Iwata. Thank you for everything.

You will be missed.

I can be a pretty emotional person, so reading this thread and seeing all the sorrow and heartfelt tributes kept making me tear up. Drawing this helped move me through that, into acceptance.

Thank you for your heartfelt dedication to bringing joy to people, Mr. Iwata.
 

Majestad

Banned
I bought Splatoon, played Smash Wii U and Mario Kart 8 today. It was so much fun!

This is Iwata's mission my dudes. He's right now in a better place.
 

Majestad

Banned
Lot's of people leaving flowers in NoA's building. It's sooo amazing :')

tumblr_nrgc970v2Y1qf510co1_540.jpg


source

Edit: ohhh that sign is actually done by someone from here on GAF if I remember correctly, right??

:')

Yup. I wanted to represent GAF and since I am not too far from NOA HQ, it was my duty to go there and pay my respects.
 

sfried

Member
I really think that it was mostly Michael Pachter .
I think it was mostly NeoGAF.

Seriously, looking at the past week there were far more threads about the failures of Nintendo and Wii U, and how Nintendo should probably just call it quits. Though this hasn't always been expressed directly, its something I've been seeing this past month alone.

And now without Iwata's leadership, without anyone to step to his role of responsibilities, who does GAF think should turn up the mantle? A few weeks back, no one cared because "All I know he's made some questionable decisions and needs to step down." Now I feel those people need a Wall of Shame for even suggesting he'd step down.

RIP Mr. Iwata. I will be marathoning all of those Kirby games which inspired me to get into game development and illustration.
 
Another thing that will be sorely missed is his laughter. So often we used to post 'Iwata laughs' as a sort of tongue in cheek response - it become something of a meme here. The man brought us fun and laughter and he left us with fun and tears.

It is sad to not be able to read or see his laughter...until we meet again as Itoi wrote.

P.S. can anyone post a pic of the banner from iwata asks site in tribute to him that was mentioned above?
 

KingBroly

Banned
I think it was mostly NeoGAF.

Seriously, looking at the past week there were far more threads about the failures of Nintendo and Wii U, and how Nintendo should probably just call it quits. Though this hasn't always been expressed directly, its something I've been seeing this past month alone.

And now without Iwata's leadership, without anyone to step to his role of responsibilities, who does GAF think should turn up the mantle? A few weeks back, no one cared because "All I know he's made some questionable decisions and needs to step down." Now I feel those people need a Wall of Shame for even suggesting he'd step down.

I don't think now or ever is the time or place for something like that. Obviously people have said what they're going to say, but now they feel regret over what they said due to his passing. Leave it at that.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
I'm playing where I left off in Earthbound before all this happened and had just barely reached Saturn Valley Village, but I kind of want to go back to Threed. There was this billboard in town with graffiti on it that I want to take a screenshot of. It's a message from HAL Laboratory.
 

Calamari41

41 > 38
I don't think now or ever is the time or place for something like that. Obviously people have said what they're going to say, but now they feel regret over what they said due to his passing. Leave it at that.

Definitely.

I hope though that this episode will cause some of the more vitriolic, crass, and hate filled posters to re-evaluate their attitudes. The last three or four years have seen many Nintendo threads turn to shit due to them, and I hope we don't see that going forward.
 

Theorymon

Member
Another thing that will be sorely missed is his laughter. So often we used to post 'Iwata laughs' as a sort of tongue in cheek response - it become something of a meme here. The man brought us fun and laughter and he left us with fun and tears.

It is sad to not be able to read or see his laughter...until we meet again as Itoi wrote.

P.S. can anyone post a pic of the banner from iwata asks site in tribute to him that was mentioned above?

in-memoriam.jpg


Man I think I'm gonna try to read every Iwata Asks in time for his funeral, I loved those features and its so sad that we'll never see them again :(
 

KingBroly

Banned
Definitely.

I hope though that this episode will cause some of the more vitriolic, crass, and hate filled posters to re-evaluate their attitudes. The last three or four years have seen many Nintendo threads turn to shit due to them, and I hope we don't see that going forward.

Sadly, it will go back to the status quo at some point. I feel like some reprieve will happen because of Iwata's passing, because this is going to be a tough time for everyone to get over. It's probably going to pop up every now and again as well with moments where we think Iwata should be here, doing this or that. The next Nintendo Direct is going to be hell without him, in my opinion.
 
For a second this morning I was kind of looking forward to issues of Nintendo Power and ONM in tribute to Iwata. Then I remembered neither of those things exist anymore :( is it fair to expect something significant in print like a big feature from EDGE at some point, or anywhere else?
 
D

Deleted member 465307

Unconfirmed Member
For a second this morning I was kind of looking forward to issues of Nintendo Power and ONM in tribute to Iwata. Then I remembered neither of those things exist anymore :( is it fair to expect something significant in print like a big feature from EDGE at some point, or anywhere else?

Nintendo Force will almost certainly include something in their upcoming issue or the next one.
 

Bulbasaur

Banned
I cant help but think of when myself and others were vocally disapproving of Nintendo's E3 showing and when Iwata made that (non) apology, that he maybe did that from a hospital bed. Makes me feel shitty.

I never thought I'd be saddened by the loss of a corporate CEO. Its weird.
 
Well pachters first reaction to iwatas death on twitter was something like..

I dont think he is a good leader but... I guess he is dead so RIP


Its irrelevant to console wars. It has to do with the general disrespect pachter showed towards iwata.

It is and your post are proving it. And your disrepect towards the situation is just plain disgusting.
 
Man, I was just floored and shell-shocked when I first saw this thread right after it was posted and all this time later, when I see it again I still have that same feeling of seeing it for the first time and not believing it's true. The last time I had this weird feeling was when Robin Williams passed away almost 1 year ago. Just unbelievably sad. I can't even imagine how crushed I'll be when others like Miyamoto and Kojima pass away in hopefully a long time from now.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
I wrote this. https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkRRpuPPg


I didn't know you, we actually never met before, but you seemed to know me. The things you created, the things you shared and offered the world, they will be remembered for lifetimes. Though you are now gone, I will never forget you. Your charm, enthusiam, your humor, your passion. I won't forget.

Thank you, Satoru Iwata. For all the entertainment and happy memories you have given me. Thank you.

Also I just realized I made a typo with enthusiasm, dang :C. I read over it several times to make sure I didn't make a typo.
 

Guamu

Member
Just heard the newest Retronauts and Parish and company heard the bad news in the middle of the recording. I'm sure my reaction was just like theirs.

Just getting floored with the news and needing a quick break to try to let it sunk in.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
I don't think anyone should feel bad about being critical about Iwata's job performance before his death. It's the nature of the beast.

I absolutely agree, even if I wasn't all that critic against him

http://youtu.be/H9W08bfXtOg

Farewell to Iwata with Fi's theme

She did some singing for Tekken Wii U and for the Pokemon Symphony Concerts

and here I'm crying again...

in-memoriam.jpg


Man I think I'm gonna try to read every Iwata Asks in time for his funeral, I loved those features and its so sad that we'll never see them again :(

that banner is glorious

Another thing that will be sorely missed is his laughter. So often we used to post 'Iwata laughs' as a sort of tongue in cheek response - it become something of a meme here. The man brought us fun and laughter and he left us with fun and tears.

It is sad to not be able to read or see his laughter...until we meet again as Itoi wrote.

P.S. can anyone post a pic of the banner from iwata asks site in tribute to him that was mentioned above?

I really hope we (GAF) will continue to use his GIFS, and meme and everything. He explicity did what he did (Directs, meme, Asks) exactly for us (and himself), to create a link between he as a gamer and us as consumer, but always gamer.

I think he will be really happy in seeing us still using the "reverse coffin" gif for a sudden Wii U sales spike, his "Directly" poses for specific announcements and so on.

Man, this still hurts A LOT
 

Memory

Member
I cant help but think of when myself and others were vocally disapproving of Nintendo's E3 showing and when Iwata made that (non) apology, that he maybe did that from a hospital bed. Makes me feel shitty.

I never thought I'd be saddened by the loss of a corporate CEO. Its weird.

That's the thing though Iwata was an 'everyman' who climbed through the ranks to become the top dog. Then even though he was shackled by tradition and what was expected of him he still managed to inject some of his fun and geekyness into Nintendo and try to evolve the company.

People keep saying directs and Iwata asks are just PR. I'm pretty sure he sold them to the board as PR but in reality Iwata asks is all about giving the developers of games some spotlight since unlike western devs they get none at all. This man ensured that no studios closed or developers fired throughout his reign, even sacrificing half his salary to appease the board.

Same with the directs, Iwata wanted to connect directly with his true fans. That's why people who kept complaining that directs didn't reach a large audience were completely missing the point, directs were for the hardcore and the faithful not advertising for the whimsical casual audience who would never go out of their way to watch them.

We lost a truley great and humble man, the world is worse for it.
 
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