News

Nintendo fans pay tribute to Satoru Iwata

Fans of Nintendo's many successful video games paid tribute to Satoru Iwata after the Japanese company announced today that its longtime president had died.

Iwata, 55, died Saturday after battling bile duct tumour

Fans of Nintendo's many successful video games paid tribute to Satoru Iwata after the Japanese company announced today that its longtime president had died.

Iwata was named聽president of Nintendo in聽2002, leading聽its development of聽the hit Wii console and DS handheld,聽but before that, he was an accomplished聽game programmer.聽

The company said he died Saturday in a Kyoto University hospital聽after battling a bile duct tumour.

This quote of his聽from the Game Developers聽Conference in 2005 was widely shared on Twitter on Monday.聽

Iwata has been a favourite among Nintendo fans for his whimsical appearances in promotional videos at gaming conferences such as GDC and E3.聽

Although Iwata聽didn't appear in person at the most recent E3 because of his failing health, he was represented,聽along with other Nintendo executives, in Muppet聽form.聽

Among the most popular images shared about聽Iwata聽were screen shots of posts about his programming accomplishments before and after taking over as president.聽

Many gamers were moved to create fan art to mark Iwata's聽death, using some of Nintendo's聽most recognizable characters, such a Mario, Link, Kirby and characters from Pok茅mon.聽

This image was created by Tumblr聽user peachbunni.聽