Iwata delivered many major speeches as President of Nintendo

The President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata has died .

Iwata was the President of the video game studio HAL Laboratories before he took the role of President and CEO of the Nintendo . Iwata was a game developer and helped with several notable Nintendo games before his time as President and CEO of the Nintendo .

Iwata helped to finalize the code for the Super Nintendo game Earthbound , The GAMECUBE game Super Smash Smash brothers Melee , and more .

Iwata was a major factor in helping fix the code to make Super Smash Brothers Melee launch on time

Iwata was appointed director of Nintendo in 2000, and was later appointed President of Nintendo in 2002. In 2013 he became CEO of Nintendo of America.

Iwata showing off the original Nintendo DS

Iwata talking about the home console the Wii U

As leader of Nintendo Iwata helped guide the company to make the touch screen handhelds (DS, DSi , 3DS) and motion control home consoles (Wii , Wii U).

Iwata in a direct presentation with Mario and Luigi

Iwata looking at bananas in a funny skit promoting a Donkey Kong game

Iwata was in many Nintendo video presentations over the years and was known to be a kind and gentle man.

A permanent successor has yet to be chosen and Nintendo confirmed his death was due to a bile duct growth . Iwata was only 55 years old at the time of his death.

Source: Nintendo statement

My thoughts

This news is truly sad and totally unexpected. His health problems were common knowledge but I don't think anyone expected this. I will definitely miss his presence in the Nintendo video presentations and I hope the best for his family , friends and colleagues during this difficult time.