We all know that Nintendo president Satoru Iwata started out as a promising video game programmer before he became the company’s president. Interestingly, the last game he helped to create was Super Smash Bros Melee on the GameCube. In a recent interview with 4Gamer Iwata revealed that he helped get the GameCube hit to market on time by tinkering around with the code.
“Aaah, I wonder if it’s alright to admit this? Well, I guess the proverbial statute of limitations is up, so I’ll tell you, but my actual last work on programming happened when I was working as the General Manager of Corporate Planning at Nintendo. Something happened and the Gamecube version of Super Smash Brothers didn’t look like it was going to make its release date so I sort of did a code review for it (Wry Laugh).”
“At the time, I went to HAL Labs in Yamanashi and was the acting head of debugging. So, I did the code review, fixed some bugs, read the code and fixed more bugs, read the long bug report from Nintendo, figured out where the problem was and got people to fix those…all in all I spent about three weeks like that. And, because of that, the game made it out on time.”
“And that was the last time that I worked as an engineer ‘in the field’. I was right there, sitting by programmers, in the trenches, reading code together, finding the bugs, and fixing them together.”
Thanks, Kino
Inb4 melee fans blame Iwata for casual games
Iwata is smarter than people give him credit for. He is not just another suit. He has earned his position, and deserves it.
He just needs to change some aspects of the company’s image so that the same underaged or falsely adulterated morons who criticize Nintendo for being “childish” by also playing the king of casual rehash COD and postinf dumb shit troll comments about another console.
Actually I think the people with more problems are the ones that quickly label a game that doesn’t primarily have the entire brown color spectrum as “childish” due to vibrant palettes and characters. They label a game as kiddy because its facade may seem cartoonish or silly, when in fact the ultimate irony lies within those that think so and play “mature” games as a way to vent their insecurity are essentially the essence of immaturity.
I’m not saying Nintendo doesn’t have problems, it’s just that the overwhelming mindset of those morons you described are too fucking insecure to talk about anything else besides your standard FPS/ sports game in fear of being labeled childish by their friends and peers. I literally saw this every day in high school whenever kids would talk about video games, where the person that would always get shat on (with no legitimate reason whatsoever) was the one that brought up a mario game.
Interestingly, in my high school people play both COD and Pokemon. Don’t see where you’re coming from
With all due respect the reason why you don’t see where I’m coming from is because most likely you never attended my high school :p
Different people, settings and backgrounds. It’s just what I saw for the most part where I’m from.
He may get tons of crap but Iwata is a damn good programmer
Damn right
http://youtu.be/CFg6amMLd-o
Great job Iwata on getting that gem out on time.
Who knew Iwata did something useful.
Satoru Iwata never really gets credited for how godly his programming skills are
he was able to compress Gold/Silver so that there was room for Kanto
and was able to port the original pokemon stadium games and was able to localize them
also was able to program the script language for the dialogue boxes and cutscenes in earthbound
and he saved Earthbound :)
Indeed, he is an asset to Nintendo…
An asset, not a leader
Your world must be crumbling right now :/
He’s an awesome dude, i hope if someday he stepped down, he keep working at Nintendo as Lead Programmer or something. He deserves a lot of credits.
As human he makes mistakes, hope he do a good job with the QoL device and the New Nintendo Super WiiU Plus Alpha Recon Duty. ;)
*Shield for Iwata hate comments* Those that post those hate comments should be ashamed of yourselves. So far, the 8 comments above have been happily positive. Long live Iwata…
that is amazing and yes he gets his fair share of hate from people but without him (and many others) nintendo wont be where they are now and yes the wii u isnt selling like what nintendo wants the figures to be but they are making progress, slowly. anyways its good that iwata did what he did otherwise melee would have been delayed and people would be upset about the delay.
I had no idea Iwata did more for the company than just being in charge of a few systems. Smash Bros. Melee, PKMN Gold/Silver, he help did it all.
Then you’re an un-informed Nintendo prick
Well that surely sets the mood of your so called intelligent debate. :/ Is this all you got?
Ha, the guy that gets a lot of unnecessary hate from a lot of people, is one of the people responsible for one of Nintendo fans favourite games, Smash Bros. Melee, being released on time. Choke on that, haters…
trolls
hellow
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Reblogged this on CURIOSIDADES NA INTERNET .COM.
I’ve always respected Iwata, and never understood the hate some people have towards him.
This, he might mess up on stuff but he’s a obvious good guy that does what he believes in. The Wii U is still a really good system. He might have messed up on a few departments of it like power and selling it, but the core is still great, the games are really great, and Nintendo’s support of it is getting better and better every year. Instead of quitting on it what would be the easy thing they turned/are turning it from a more casual console to a console for the fans. We should be happy with him instead of wanting him to gtfo of Nintendo….
He’s got the skills.
IWATA disrupted the WHOLE INDUSTRY
wii took 99% of all profits in its gen and was the most profitabke consile IN HISTORY
ds was the most profitable handheld in history
iwata took to the stage in 2005 2006 and stated WE SHALL DISRUPT THE WHOLE INDUSTRY
WII AND DS PROFITED BETTER THAN ANY OTHER SYSTEMS IN HISTORY AND UTTERLY DESTROYED SONY WHO ARE NOW GOING BANKRUPT
wii remote is the most innovitive controller in history
nintendo made more clear profit in that gen than in there history
HATERS ARE UNEDUCATED I TURNED 35K UL POUNDS INTO 250 UK POUNDS INVESTING IN NINTENDO SHARES I PURCHASED MY SHARES IN 2005 I SOLD THEM IN 2008
I NOW LIVE LIFE LIKE A MILLIONARE I OWN A FIESTA ST A HOUSE A BOAT
THANK U IWATA
..and I make 20k a week with this one simple trick I learned. Buy my book and just watch the money roll right in. Only $19.99. Wait, Theres more… Order now and you will recieve a lucky penny that will triple your investments in a week! Don’t Hesitate, Order Now!
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Iwata is still president? I though he was going to resign? With the state that Nintendo Network is in while nearing the end of 2014, I would assume he would have been forcefully removed. You guys don’t seem to get it, Nintendo is many years behind.
I couldn’t agree more
Awwww cute story.
I bet its fun working for nintendo
And this is why our Almighty Supreme Commander is my leader…
Hate meelefags
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