Last year, gamers and industry insiders alike were shocked when Nintendo President Satoru Iwata unexpectedly passed away from cancer at age 55. Iwata propelled Nintendo to new heights of success with the Wii and DS, but he wasn’t a mere stuffed shirt – before becoming Nintendo’s top man, Iwata spent decades involved in the nitty-gritty of game development. Many classic Nintendo games from Kirby to Pokémon to Super Smash Bros. owe him a huge debt.
Yesterday, the Game Developers Choice Awards were handed out San Francisco, and the awards show included a heartfelt animated tribute to Iwata created by artists Raber Umphenour, Shawne Benson and David Hellman (the guy behind the visual style of Braid) with some story help from writer Chris Kohler. The video shows Iwata dreaming up various ideas like the DS and Wii and setting them free into the world in balloons of imagination, a reference to Balloon Fight, one of the first games Iwata worked on for Nintendo.
All too often the creative minds behind our favorite games go unrecognized and uncelebrated, so it’s nice to see Iwata getting the respect he deserves. Thanks again for keeping me entertained all these years, Mr. Iwata.
(via Kotaku)