Ten years ago today, Gunpei Yokoi died

[8th lutz]

If you didn't believe me go to http://www.joystiq.com/2007/10/04/gunpei-y...ears-ago-today/

 

He died October 4, 1997. He was 56 years old.

 

You give a moment of silence for him today.

 

When he died, I was in my first semester at a technical college.

 

He was in the top 5 for impacting my generation in terms of gaming when my generation was growing up. He impacted gamers that were born in the late 60's to early 90's. He impacted games that were born in the late 1960's and the early 1970's by the release of Game & Watch in 1980. I was in 5th grade when the orginal Boy was released.

 

Gunpei also created many series on Gameboy including Super Mario Land. For portable gaming, he created Game & Watch. For Home console gaming, He created the Metroid series, started the Fire Emblem series, Kid Icarus. He helped bring nes to North America by creating R.O.B.

 

Everyone that played a portable game system or a series he created should be thankful what he did.

Edited October 4, 2007 by 8th lutz

[jboypacman]

He created the Virtual Boy and Wonderswan too if am correct.

[Scumdogg]

He created the Virtual Boy and Wonderswan too if am correct.

 

 

Yep. The Virtual Boy led to him being humiliated and sacked from Nintendo. Ahh, wacky, fun-loving Nintendo. Innovate, but do it right or we destroy your career.

 

Also, to the OP, you're spelling your hero's name wrong. It's Gunpei, not Genpei.

Edited October 4, 2007 by Scumdogg

[8th lutz]

He created the Virtual Boy and Wonderswan too if am correct.

Yep he did.

 

I didn't mention them because I was looking at sucess at things he did, not his failures. When I typed my thoughts about him on the topic I created, I was aware of the Wonderswan and the Virtual Boy. Booth systems were failures. The Wonderswan was best known having Square games on the system at a time when Square didn't publish or develop games for a nintendo system.

 

It has been 10 years since he died, and I thought it was best remember for the good things he did.

[Esplin]

The game and watch series is what got me interested in classic gaming in the first place. I owe this man so much! He was an amazing person and I will remember his contributions fondly.

[Jess Ragan]

I heard it was Gumpei, but whatever!

 

I fully believe that Gumpei Yokoi was more important to Nintendo's success than Shigeru Miyamoto. He created all of the early Nintendo systems, as well as the Game + Watch series which helped established the company as a hardware manufacturer in the United States. Finally, he led the team that created Metroid, which wasn't as important as Mario or Zelda but still ranks up there as one of Nintendo's three most enduring and profitable game franchises.

 

I also firmly believe that Shigeru did MORE damage to Nintendo with his insistence that the Nintendo 64 be CD-free than Gumpei had with the Virtual Boy. It was the decision to stick with cartridges that drove Square to a competitor which took almost total control of the video game industry. Yet Shigeru remains with Nintendo, and Gumpei was forced out and killed under mysterious circumstances shortly afterward. That's justice for you...

[jboypacman]

Understood.Looking at all the things that Gunpei did good or bad i feel the man was a genius and should be remebered in his role in Nintendo's success as well as his importance in the world of video games.Didnt want to take anything away from this great man.

[8th lutz]

I heard it was Gumpei, but whatever!

 

I fully believe that Gumpei Yokoi was more important to Nintendo's success than Shigeru Miyamoto. He created all of the early Nintendo systems, as well as the Game + Watch series which helped established the company as a hardware manufacturer in the United States. Finally, he led the team that created Metroid, which wasn't as important as Mario or Zelda but still ranks up there as one of Nintendo's three most enduring and profitable game franchises.

 

I also firmly believe that Shigeru did MORE damage to Nintendo with his insistence that the Nintendo 64 be CD-free than Gumpei had with the Virtual Boy. It was the decision to stick with cartridges that drove Square to a competitor which took almost total control of the video game industry. Yet Shigeru remains with Nintendo, and Gumpei was forced out and killed under mysterious circumstances shortly afterward. That's justice for you...

To my understanding Hiroshi Yamauchi (president of Nintendo at the time) and Shigeru's dad were longtime friends. They knew each other before Shigeru was born. Shigeru's dad's connection to Hiroshi Yamauchi as a friend was a reason why Shigeru Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo.

 

The virtual boy and n64 being a cartridge system happened when Hiroshi Yamauchi was president. Hiroshi was out of touch with the video game industry in the late 90's and that was a factor of why Shigeru Miyamoto wasn't forced out along with the deep ties he has with the Miyamoto family.

Edited October 5, 2007 by 8th lutz

[JB]

He created the Virtual Boy and Wonderswan too if am correct.

Yep he did.

 

I didn't mention them because I was looking at sucess at things he did, not his failures. When I typed my thoughts about him on the topic I created, I was aware of the Wonderswan and the Virtual Boy. Booth systems were failures. The Wonderswan was best known having Square games on the system at a time when Square didn't publish or develop games for a nintendo system.

 

It has been 10 years since he died, and I thought it was best remember for the good things he did.

The WonderSwan was what put the pressure on Nintendo to finally update the aging GameBoy, as it was actually carving a chunk out of the GameBoy's market share in Japan. So it was an indirect success.

 

But Yokoi died before it was released, so moot point.

[Scumdogg]

I heard it was Gumpei, but whatever!

 

 

I believe either Gumpei or Gunpei is an acceptable spelling.

[Giltygear]

::pours booze::

 

One for my homies

 

 

 

 

 

 

If it wasnt for metroid, i would have abandoned games before i hit my teenage years