Fans and developers alike have flooded the internet with affection for Satoru Iwata, after news broke this morning of the Nintendo CEO's passing from bile duct cancer.
While Iwata made his name with beloved titles like Kirby and Earthbound, much of the praise has centred on his affable personality and friendly demeanour as the firm's President, qualities which shone through in his memorable presentations and 'Iwata Asks' developer interviews. Journalists and industry veterans have taken to Twitter to relay their meetings and chance encounters, while in one heartfelt comment, a flight attendant shared the story of recovering his phone from the mechanism of his reclining seat. The exec was so delighted that he took their picture and emailed it to the attendant during the flight, with an extra note of thanks.
I had the pleasure of meeting Iwata-San in E3 2010. Talked for ten minutes about gaming and @nintendo in the Middle East. Extremely humble.
— Malek Teffaha (@malekawt) July 13, 2015
.@Harada_TEKKEN I'll never forget Iwata-san's smile from a meeting in which he blurted out, "I'm sorry, that picture," (of me diving...
— Cheesemeister (@Cheesemeister3k) July 13, 2015
.@Harada_TEKKEN ...from a window right next to a bowl of katsu-don (pork on rice) on my desk), no longer able to keep a straight face.
— Cheesemeister (@Cheesemeister3k) July 13, 2015
I had the great honor of meeting Mr. Iwata a few times. Remember his patience, his humor, his passion for gaming. #RIPIwata #ThankYouIwata
— Larry Frum (@lfrum) July 13, 2015
At 18 I brashly knocked on the door of Iwata's E3 meeting room. He wouldn't let me leave - wanted to know all my thoughts. Such a nice guy
— Andy Robinson (@Espio1) July 13, 2015
First time I met Mr. Iwata, I was on a visit to NCL, he was this crazy excited young guy who ran HAL. Super nice, and a great dev. I'm sad:(
— Ken Lobb (@RealKLobb) July 13, 2015
Someone in the Yahoo comments had this awesome story about Iwata: pic.twitter.com/hwA83oClGr
— Blake Rochkind (@BlakeRochkind) July 13, 2015
Satoru Iwata joined Nintendo in 2000, having worked closely with the company in his two decades as programmer and President at HAL Laboratory. He was named CEO in 2002, overseeing the company's turnaround from the mediocre sales of the Gamecube through the launch of the DS and Wii. When the 3DS and Wii U struggled he cut his salary in half, and refused to sack any employees, citing the damage it would do to morale.
His illness had been known about for some time, but was presumed to be in remission. Having missed last year's E3 conference, he returned late in 2014 after a period of recovery, jokingly slimming down his Mii avatar to reflect his condition. Iwata attended the company's shareholder meeting only three weeks ago, expressing his gratitude that Nintendo's most recent title Splatoon had sold far better than expected. He was 55.