Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Kirby and Super Smash Bros, is bringing his YouTube channel to a close, and with that, the final “Grab Bag” episode has been dedicated to former Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata, who passed away in 2015 due to complications from cancer.
Going over the time and experiences he shared with Iwata, Sakurai says that it wouldn’t be right to end his channel without a video like this. The full video can be seen at the bottom of this article, but readers can stick around to see some highlights and anecdotes from it:
Speaking about his first meeting with Iwata, Sakurai immediately noticed his smile, describing it as “carefree” and a “true expression of joy.”
Later on, as Sakurai was busy working on Dragon King: The Fighting Game, the prototype for what would become Super Smash Bros, Iwata jumped in to help out with the project despite being extremely busy himself- going so far as to use his days off to assist him.
When Iwata became CEO of Nintendo, Sakurai described it as being a “surprise” at the time, given the role traditionally being given to members of the Yamauchi family and Iwata having only been with Nintendo for two years at that point, but that it had “certainly felt like the right pick” from his point of view.
And in Iwata’s final days, when he seemed to be healing from his complications, Sakurai drove him to Narita International Airport, sharing some stories and laughs along the way, not knowing it would be their last time together.
Sakurai ended off by saying that “Mr. Iwata was truly the person who understood me best,” crediting him for putting him down the path that he’s now on, and commending him for always being “full of virtue” and “committed to service.”
On my business card, I’m a corporate president. In my mind, I’m a game developer, but in my heart, I’m a gamer.
R.I.P Satoru Iwata. (1959 – 2015)
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beautiful video. i miss iwata a lot. early nintendo directs were so full of character.
I know right?
I recommend the book Ask Iwata.
He really seemed like a precious man and a good friend. Those who knew him were quite lucky.
I’m,, 🥹
He’s literally one of my heroes… I hope one day I can accomplish great things like Iwata-san. I hope he’s resting in peace. He brought so many wonderful memories to me when I was younger. One of the best to ever do it 🥹🥺
This was a heartfelt episode.😊
He was a gentle giant.
Almost a decade late for that, but anything for good publicity I guess (especially if you’re going to stick to creative direction you yourself feel fondly about, but the fans won’t). At least he respects Iwata’s legacy.
I respect Iwata’s legacy too. Now no one can ever say I’m the worst person on the internet.
But seriously, this just feels like a late choice for a final episode.
First of all this is not the final episode of his channel and second of all you clearly haven’t watched the episode, if you did you would understand that iwata was very important to sakurai, so your bullshit about “making a tribute” for fame is beyond stupid
I was there in 2015. Literally nothing else happened that week. Also:
“Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Kirby and Super Smash Bros, is bringing his YouTube channel to a close”
How i wish he never died, there were no rumours tricks in lies, because he kept everyone uptodate with Directs and hardware all applied. This new ceo is a coward to show anything anytime.
Will you stop with the dumb rhymes already?
A true champion of the people o7 Iwata is still missed, and his memory will forever echo in ours hearts.