foreverlastingpeace:

We should take the time today to remember how Satoru Iwata changed the course of Nintendo.

He became President in 2002, and began showing his vision with the Wii, released six years later. You all remember, right? Everybody, everybody was shitstorming the Wii. Why? Because it wasn’t as flashy or powerful. But soon the numbers came in, and everybody saw the true genius behind the scenes. Iwata wanted a Nintendo for everyone. He was proud that children and adults alike were picking up the system, even if for niche reasons. Nintendo was giving everybody a reason to game.

Eventually, he decided to break away from the model altogether. No big flashy E3 showing, just a digital event that still did its job and did it well. He was aware of the internet’s vast collection of memes and jokes. Not only did he recognize them, he made a few just by being off the wall. This is a man who stood on camera, dapper as you please, with a Luigi cap on while Shiggy Miyamoto waved a vacuum around behind him. Hell, this was the man who deemed to dedicate a year to one of their characters. This was the man who staged a battle with memetastic President Fils-aime to support Smash. THis is the man who let the team behind the Muppets work on last year’s E3, and the Robot Chicken team the year before that. This is the man who decided to open up a stream holding a banana bunch pensively for literally no reason other than to hold a banana bunch pensively. This is the man who brought back the Nintendo World Championship.

The cat suits, the come-out-of-nowhere moves, the fun. The pure and simple fun that he brought back to Nintendo. The Big N no longer exists as part of the petty console wars; it stands above to simply be itself and nothing else.

We cannot ask for Miyamoto, Reggie and Takeda to try and be him. Nobody can last long in forcing themselves to be in another’s box. We can only hope they stay mindful of his vision in the Nintendo they create from here.

Thank you, Satoru Iwata. Thank you for all the laughs, thank you for all the hype, thank you for all the fun and, above all else, thank you for following your dreams no matter what the media ever said. You are truly one of the greatest minds and most earnest souls gaming has ever known.