Hiroshi Yamauchi passes away at 85

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Nintendo gaming pioneer Hiroshi Yamauchi dies at 85 - Destructoid

Nintendo former president Hiroshi Yamauchi has died of pneumonia at age 85. Known as the man that took Nintendo into the NES era and beyond, Yamauchi ran the company for 53 years. He steered the ship from the earliest arcade games, through to the NES, SNES, N64 and Gamecube. Yamauchi hired Shigeru Miyamoto. Yamauchi shaped gaming as we know it today.


BBC reports that a funeral will take place this Sunday.


Thanks for everything, Yamauchi.

While he was a controversial figure at times, most would have to admit the man had a keen eye for business, employee potential and would decide which characters would go on to endure for many, many years to come. He saw talent in a college artist who had no programming experience and a rather inventive company janitor. One went on to create Mario, Zelda and Pikmin and the other helped inspire Metroid and created a handheld that reigned supreme for over a decade.

It is even arguable that without Yamauchi, we might not have had a console market today as it was Nintendo that largely brought the industry back to relevance after the crash of '83.

RIP.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Hiroshi Yamauchi passes away at 85

Why don't I ever hear about these people until after they die?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Hiroshi Yamauchi passes away at 85

Well, he was listed as Executive Producer in like every Nintendo game ever up to the Gamecube era. The guy had a pretty good eye for business amidst some of his stranger choices (like love motels).

He actually never played any of the video games his own company made. They'd just show him the works in progress and he'd be like "go this, can that." He also had a good eye for character design and likely largely responsible for the Disney-like image Nintendo characters have. Even back then though, it was kind of strange for the people he appointed to be even involved with games. Miyamoto was just some guy that liked to draw and play banjo before he signed on. Gunpei Yokoi goes from janitor to one of their big R&D guys.

He was also a bit of a bastard at times. Much of Nintendo's hubris in the N64 ere was his own, though to be fair had a certain project he greenlit never happened and fallen through with Sony, we'd probably have no Playstation today. He was also the kind of guy that would make Squaresoft look like the bad guy in public for skipping out on N64 while secretly making deals that secured SE GBA games and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

Still, he took a card company, used it to save the video game industry and now Mario and Link are houshold names. He's pretty much why many of us are gaming now.