We have finally arrived at the home stretch of Masahiro Sakurai's excellent YouTube channel uploads and today's penultimate video is all about the late, great Satoru Iwata.
Over the past two years, we've seen Sakurai get personal on the channel, opening up about his time in the industry with surprising honesty. But today's release might be the most personal of the bunch as the legendary game designer runs through his cherished memories with one of Nintendo's most fondly-remembered faces.
The video covers the full span of the pair's friendship, from when Sakurai first met Iwata at his initial HAL Laboratory interview to their final get-together in early 2015.
It's an emotional one at points, of course, but the video is full of touching moments, like Sakurai's confession that "when taking notes, listening, or even just talking, [Iwata would] always have the most carefree smile on his face".
It's also peppered with some neat facts too. Did you know that Iwata is partly responsible for Super Smash Bros' iconic name? We didn't.
It's a heartfelt send-off to the legendary CEO and a sweet way to round out Sakurai's wonderful YouTube series. The final regular video is set to release next week on 15th October, with a "special finale episode" scheduled for later on.
What do you make of this touching penultimate video? Let us know in the comments.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 29
Didn't know Iwata was essentially the original Smash Bros programmer. Makes me like him even more now.
Like I posted on the video, literally 2 days ago I was wonder if the personality Iwata presented in public was legit, so I'm glad Sakurai himself answered that question.
Makes me miss him even more. His famous quote cannot be understated, especially with the current state of the industry.
"Get the tissues ready" I didn't think they could put those kinds of videos on YouTube...nope...never mind, I get it now.
@HammerGalladeBro right? Iwata seemed too perfect to be true, and yet it seems like every single person who met him, regardless of how close they were or how important this other person was, had nothing but the utmost respect for him both humanly and professionnally. Even years after his death there is no crack in this facade.
Of all the monuments in the video game industry very few come close.
Unfortunately don't have time to watch it now (definitely will when I can), how nice of Sakurai!
This was sweet.
Very fitting that he chose to talk about Iwata and his legacy.👍This was a heartfelt one.🥹
What a great video Sakurai-San, thanks! It makes me really happy to see people get along so well. The part about the Super Smash Bros. title really shows what a friendly and considerate person Iwata-San was.
I didn't really get too involved with Nintendo Directs and such until around 2013/14, so I didn't have nearly as much familiarity with Iwata as the majority of fans here. But man, the times I did, it felt just so...warm and genuine. Like, there was just something about the man that felt so unique, so cool. Even if I could never put my finger on it. We miss you every day Iwata-san. I hope, wherever you are, you can see just how much of an impact your legacy left on us. <3
That was really nice. At the time of Iwata's passing, it was fairly clear that Sakurai was affected, so this bit of closure felt very welcome.
A very heartwarming finale.
Wasn't sure how that was going to end, at one point it was looking like Sakurai was going to say he'd driven Iwata to his death, but it was just the airport. That was a close one.
Lovely reflections on a blessed relationship.
I hope Sakurai’s channel will stay up after the final video gets uploaded.
its so amazing how much the folks at Nintendo CLEARLY admired their CEO. He has been passed now for almost 9 years, and his colleagues still talk about him. He still gets referenced in video games too, and people like Sakurai, one of the all-time great game designers, speaks about him with fondness and admiration. THATS the kind of impact you want to leave on the world.
You can tell they were close friends. Sakurai looks sad the entire time he's speaking. It almost looks like there are tears in his eyes at some points
I admit I haven't really been checking out Sakurai's channel, but I'm going to definitely check this one out. Guess this means that Sakurai will be on board for Super Smash Bros. going forward, in some shape or fashion, until further notice.
I didn't know Iwata had a son. I wish Iwata was still around, he was truly special.
That was an amazing tribute, you could see him welling up at the end, nice he chose to pay respects to an old friend in such a touching way.
Without Iwata and Sakurai...Nintendo wouldn't be the Nintendo as we know it today. No disrespect to Miyamoto-san but these two truly brought Nintendo into the Modern era (post N64)
TL;DW: "I owe Iwata my entire industry career"
I miss Iwata. Nintendo hasn't seemed nearly as fun without him.
Iwata made me fall in love with Nintendo all over again. Same goes for Sakurai.
Here's to Satoru Iwata; the last CEO anyone will ever mourn the passsing of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgbX_lK-0tA
I wrote an article for another video game news site many years ago, about Mr. Iwata's contributions to debugging Super Smash Bros. Melee, so I was somewhat familiar with that story, but I apparently got some of the details wrong. What a great video, and a fitting tribute to one of gaming's best contributors.
Nintendo is doing fine these days, but something is different from the Iwata days. Maybe It's because It seems the Company is being run by cold executives and not someone who has the heart of a gamer who really loves the job, the Company and the fans. Maybe It's on purpose to not have a strong and charismatic figurehead. And two of my favorite Nintendo systems are from the Iwata era: the GBA (released under Yamauchi though the SP and Micro were from Iwata) and the Wii.
Nintendo without Iwata is like the Switch without themes and background music.
It feels like Nintendolife post an article about his last video every once in awhile. Maybe it was announced a long time ago and brought up when a new article was posted about him. 🤷🏾♂️
@SpaceboyScreams
So the Switch has more in common with other most iconic era of Nintendo that under Yamauchi made it a pop culture juggernaut?
@Paulo
Well you don’t have to worry because the execs aren’t the ones developing these games, Yamauchi didn’t have the heart of a gamer either and did that matter at all?
@SalvorHardin I am not worried, at least not in the short term. Yamauchi didn't have the heart of a gamer, but owned the Company and was the one who made It all possíble and had good instincts including making the right choice of appointing Iwata, but It must nit have been easy for Nintendo and its staff to lose Yamauchi in 2013 and Iwata so soon in 2015.
@SalvorHardin What's the other most iconic? Wii had theme music, Gamecube, 3DS, all pretty iconic. WiiU failed hard but had personality. Switch is successful but has no personality.
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...