Have you ever played a Mario, Pokémon, or Zelda game? Have you ever owned a Gameboy or Wii? If so, Mr. Hiroshi Yamauchi touched your life. On Thursday, September 19th, former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi died at age eighty-five of pneumonia. Yamauchi was Nintendo’s visionary leader, and his brilliant mind made Nintendo, Inc. a leader in the video game industry.
In 1943, Nintendo was born as a playing card manufacturer. But, because of Yamauchi’s work, Nintendo eventually became the video game giant it is today. Responsible for providing people across the globe with hours of fun, Yamauchi served as president from 1949 to 2002. He was the executive adviser until the time of his death.
Nintendo’s games and game consoles have played an immense role in our generation’s development.
Senior Mary Butgereit, proud recipient of a plethora of writing awards, explained, “Nintendo has definitely impacted me. I wasn’t allowed to play Pokémon games when I was really little, so my friend used to sneak me Pokémon cards, and we would spend all of recess pretending we were traveling through portals to visit the Pokémon world. These Pokémon games inspired me to create my own characters for my stories.”
Even National Merit Semifinalist, David Gunther said, “The first Nintendo game I played was Super Mario Adventure 4 on my blue Gameboy Advance. I wish I still had the time to play it.”
We spent our early years arguing with our siblings over who got the next turn on the Gameboy Color. In the waning hours of the night, we played Mario games until the second we fell asleep. Nintendo has grown with us, and Hiroshi Yamauchi will forever be remembered as Nintendo’s great innovator. NBC Reuters honors Mr. Yamauchi as “a proud businessman who forever changed the face of Nintendo.” He will be dearly missed.
