On Monday the 13th July 2015, we learnt of the tragic news that Nintendo’s President and Nintendo of America CEO, Satoru Iwata, had passed away due to a bile duct tumour. He reigned over Nintendo as President from 2002-2015, and was the executive producer for hundreds of games. The sheer outpouring of grief from his colleagues and the community is testament to the impact he has had, not just on Nintendo products, but the video gaming community as a whole.
I’d like to pay my own tribute with a quick examination of the hand Iwata has had specifically with the Pokémon franchise. While few may not realise it, he had quite an impact on the early generation games. I’ve also opted to include a number of links, many which further expand on Iwata’s legacy.
It all began here…