Home » Hiroshi Yamauchi: 1927 – 2013

Hiroshi Yamauchi: 1927 – 2013

It was announced earlier today that Hiroshi Yamauchi, former president of Nintendo, tragically passed away today whilst receiving treatment in hospital for pneumonia. He was 85.

Yamauchi took over as president of Nintendo after his grandfather retired in 1949, and proceeded to run the company until 2002 when he himself stepped down and made way for Satoru Iwata.

Over his 53 years leading Nintendo, Yamauchi took Nintendo from strength to strength. He introduced western playing cards to the mainstream, which at the time were something of a novelty in Japan due to their association with gambling which was largely outlawed at the time, but it was a licensing deal with Disney in 1959 that allowed Nintendo to use Disney characters on their playing cards, which in turn allowed them to create new games aimed at children, paving the way for things to come.

The 1960’s saw the creation of Nintendo’s ‘Games’ department, which was tasked with creating toys and games for children. In 1966 Yamauchi showed his eye for excellence while on a visit to a hanafuda factory and noticed a young worker playing with an extendable arm. Ordering the arm be made as a toy and mass produced for the Christmas rush, giving Nintendo their first number one toy.

The toy that started it all. The Ultra Hand!

The toy that started it all. The Ultra Hand!

The employee in question was named Gunpei Yokoi, whom you may recognise as the eventual creator of the Game & Watch, and Game Boy systems.

Noticing the reduced cost, and thusly the potential of electronics being implemented into other entertainment products, Yamauchi negotiated a deal with Magnavox to sell its own games on the Magnavox Odyssey; the world’s first games console, before releasing Nintendo’s own console; the Color TV-Game 6 in 1977.

After expanding to America, where their games didn’t see much success, Yamauchi approached a young game designer and tasked him with creating a new arcade game. That designer was Shigeru Miyamoto, and the game he created was Donkey Kong, which was released in 1981 to great success.

Following the success of Nintendo’s arcade games, Nintendo began work on a home console system. After the original design was rejected by Yamauchi, the console was redesigned, and on July 15th 1983 the world said hello to the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom), or as we in the west came to know it two years later, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

Famicom

Famicom

A lot has changed since those days, but there is no denying that the Yamauchi led Nintendo continued to innovate at every turn, and still does today under the watchful eye of Satoru Iwata.

It’s strange to think that if it wasn’t for Hiroshi Yamauchi seeing the potential in people such as Yokoi and Miyamoto way back when, we wouldn’t have the characters and consoles that we take for granted today. Similarly, if he had shied away from innovation and electronics, chances are we in the west wouldn’t even know the name Nintendo.

Today gaming as we know it lost one of its forefathers, and no matter which side of the console war you are currently fighting on you cannot deny that he didn’t just shape Nintendo into what it is today, but modern gaming as we know it.

I believe I speak for everyone here at Big Red Barrel when I say our hearts and thoughts go out to his family on this terrible day, and I’d like to extend our thanks for not only helping to create our hobby, but our lifestyle.

Hiroshi Yamauchi: 1927 – 2013. Rest in Peace.

Hiroshi Yamauchi: 1927 – 2013. Rest in Peace.

 

2 Comments

  1. I could have sworn that the name of the Game & Watch creator was Gumpey Yokoi. I could be wrong.

    Either way, I hope that Mr. Yamauchi and Mr. Yokoi are sharing a nice bottle of sake.

    Reply
  2. Yep gunpei yokoi created the game and watch, the d pad and I’m pretty sure the wonderswan as well even though it wasn’t released here it was still pretty awesome, sad that the ex president of nintendos dead but he lived a long fulfilling life r.i.p

    Reply

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