Reggie Fils-Aimé Recalls Touching Advice He Received From The Late Satoru Iwata

My copy of the book just came in today, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. I feel like Nintendo Life is spoiling me already with all these headlines. I wish they'd just compile it all into one article with a title that doesn't give away all the contents of the book, but I know that would mean less clicks.

The more I see yall write about this book the more I feel like it may be a good book on healthy leadership. It's pretty worrying that so many people have looked up to Steve Jobs leadership considering all the ways he manipulated people. Hopefully we will see more humble leader like this in the future.

I still plan on getting the book eventually but at this rate you guys might as well read (or spoil) us the whole darn thing.

Reggie and Iwata were a great tag team leaders during Nintendo's Y2K era up til the final Wii U days. Never will Nintendo ever had leaders like them ever again. Say what you will about how horrible the marketing for Wii U was, at least they both try to make it fun and interesting throughout that short run. While the Switch generation is interesting in its own right it seems all the leaders that move it are in their own little bubble now unlike the Wii and Wii U days.

@Cheez Steve Jobs is overrated and yes he was not the boss you would want to have.

@Specter_of-the_OLED I still love my Wii U. Every once in a while I boot it up and play everything I can in there.

I feel like I've read this book already at this point.

Nintendo was a more fun company when Iwata and Reggie were there, no question. It seems to have gotten more "corporate" as of late and while I love the Switch, a lot of the specialness that made Nintendo Nintendo seems to have disappeared.

Nintendo lost so much of its heart when Iwata passed and Reggie left.
Are they still putting out good games? For the most part, yes.
But they've lost so much transparency, they've lost so much personality, and the public face of the company has started taking itself a bit too seriously.
I don't know if, in my lifetime, I'll see a Nintendo as engaging and vibrant as the Iwata/Reggie era again

@6ch6ris6

Everyone dreaded the “elevator talk.”

When Jobs wanted to “talk” to you about something displeasing, he’d take you to one of the elevators in the building. That’s how employees knew they were fixing to get the ass chewing of their life.

@Zyph

I regret not buying one in some ways.

But overall I felt like I made the right call to skip it. It felt like a corpse just a year in. I had to make a choice between the PS4 and the Wii U.

To this day, I still feel like I made the right call. My PS4 gave me thousands upon thousands of hours of enjoyment. And I never had to wait for games; after 2014 there was always something exciting dropping on PS4 every month.

That’s why I’m glad Nintendo has brought over much of the big hitter Wii U titles to Switch. It’s given me a chance to catch up on what I missed out on by skipping the Wii U.

So um..... kinda getting tired of the constant articles about Reggie. Like the guy is awesome, but most of this is just filler.

Iwata was a very wise man, and that is good advice. The best leaders don't surround themselves with yes-men, but with those who will offer different perspectives. Even when not followed, these perspectives are important to be considered.

Sounds like Iwata has read the Tao te Ching. That explains a lot, actually.

I love Reggie as much as the next person, but did NintendoLife change to ReggieLife over the weekend, or what?!

ReggieLife could work.

@dartmonkey I get you and hey it's the business of a running website to get the clicks. But "avoiding" is something very difficult to do if your headlines (or at least the sub-headline/subtitle) are the spoilers themselves which contains excerpts. You're suggesting to avoid these articles but that also means we have no choice but to avoid the entire website as well for this very reason. How can we follow the site, but not follow it at the same time just to avoid those spoilery article titles?

In this case (this article), the headline is perfectly fine. But adding an excerpt below : "You have very good ideas. But you won't always be right." Uhh....

"And rest assured that the book contains plenty of good stuff that we're not highlighting." Oh no doubt. Still problematic though IMO.

@Zyph So do I! Booted up Xenoblade Chronicles X after over 1 year break . I even started playing a couple of Wii games on there recently - Red Steel 2, (about to restart FFCC the Crystal Bearer)....

@JHardin1112 XCX is my #1 game on Wii U and still playing it today!

Oh god I really want a new Red Steel! One of the many highlights of the Wii era.

@CharlieGirl I think you nailed why Reggie was, and is, so popular with the fans. Nintendo's corporate image was so staid, secretive and serious compared to its products, and when this bombastic bloke appeared and started talking about kicking ass and taking names it was unlike anything we were used to. (Even hearing the word "ass" being used in an official Nintendo capacity was kind of a shock given Nintendo's then-stringent content policies.) And considering the previous face of Nintendo in the English-speaking world was Howard "the N64 will sell itself!" Lincoln, Reggie was exactly what they needed.

I do think we're seeing something of a revival of Yamauchi-era Nintendo in terms of corporate persona, for whatever reason. Reggie and Iwata really jelled with the colour and fun of Nintendo's most beloved games and I hope some new faces emerge from the company to recapture some of their very welcome changes post-Yamauchi.

@Zyph

This isn't the type of book where spoilers are no beuno. It's an autobiography/buisness book. Also Reggie has been promoting the book pretty sure most these articles are based on interviews and excerpts provided by him/his publisher.

You are being rather silly.

Love these insights into the behind-the-scenes workings of Nintendo.

This line is HUGE:

"I am trying to push Nintendo in a new way. Yet Mr. Miyamoto and others have been part of the company for a very long time."

Miyamoto is a genius and an eternal legend. But I've long suspected he may in part be responsible for a growing schism between "progress" and the Nintendo of old. This is the biggest official confirmation I've seen of that idea

@Pikachupwnage Thanks for pointing that out. I too think it's silly.

Pretty silly how reading business anecdotes can still be entertaining as reading story books.

@Zyph I struggle with XCX, but that's b/c it's not the type of game I typically play however, I still wanted to give it a shot. Uphill battle for me, but if I can ever complete it, I am sure I will appreciate it. Another Red Steel would be great - those of my kids who can play it have been so "wowed" by the motion controls - and the art style (plus no blood) - very good for kids (at least my 14 and 11 year old)

@JHardin1112 Goodluck on XCX. Once you're able to kill world bosses it'll be so satisfying!

My kid also loves Red Steel! Actually more so than any other motion controlled FPS even Metroid Prime since it uses gyro.

@CharlieGirl I'm glad you feel that way but up until the point that Reggie left, he was constantly getting sh** from people for being a "phony/disingenuous corporate drone" and both he and Iwata were regularly accused of being dishonest, out of touch, and driving Nintendo into the ground. I personally liked them both, but a lot of people had nothing but nasty things to say about them.

@blindsquarel couldn’t agree more, where’s the Sakurai likes a certain type of food articles etc, I would even take those at this point!

@Yodalovesu Then you'd be wrong because certain things like Star Fox Zero or The Nintendo Garage Programme that lead to Splatoon came about as initiatives Miyamoto supported at Iwata Request (a game that showcased all features if the WiiU) and a way to give opportunities to newer staff.

There's no way Iwata and Reggie would have made Nintendo as successful as they were after the GC if the "old guard" were in conflict with them.

I got the audiobook (with the extra interview). Looking forward to it in an upcoming car trip.

Loving the fascinating stuff coming from this book! Would love to read an autobiography written by Satoru Shibata as well!

NINTENDO LIFE YOU ARE SPOILING EVENTS THAT HAPPENED OVER HALF A DECADE AGO NEXT YOU’LL BE TELLING US THAT REGGIE WAS LITERALLY REPLACED BY SOMEONE CALLED BOWSER AND THAT THE WII U’S SUCCESSOR (CODENAME NX) TURNED OUT TO BE A HUGE COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

COOL IT WITH THE SPOILERS PLEASE

@Dr_Lugae What do you mean that certain things like Star Fox Zero and the Garage program lead to Splatoon? I am pretty sure that Splatoon released in 2015 while Star Fox Zero released in 2016 and the Garage Program is even a Switch game. So how can those games lead to Splatoon?