RIP Hiroshi Yamauchi

Today the video game world has lost a man that changed the industry and gave us many of the characters who shaped our childhoods. Ex-President of Nintendo Hiroshi Yamauchi died of pneumonia at a hospital in Japan earlier this morning.

Yamauchi was President of Nintendo from 1949 until 2002. He was president during the release of the NES, the SNES, the N64 and the Gamecube. These are arguably some of the most revolutionary systems of all time.

He took over Nintendo after his Grandfather passed away from a stroke while it was basically a trading card company. Seeing a hole in the industry he helped Nintendo become a video game juggernaut. He worked closely with Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the original Donkey Kong, to break into the US arcade market. Since then he helped introduce the world to such classic characters as Starfox, Link, and Mario, which all went on to become household names. In 2002 Yamauchi stepped down as president and in 2005 he completely retired from the company. After he left Nintendo continued to succeed using his characters.

I personally owe a good portion of my childhood memories to Hiroshi Yamauchi. So speaking for all video game fans, thank you Hiroshi, you are an icon and an inspiration to many of us, and you will be missed.

Source: BBC