In his new book,
Super Mario Bros. series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has revealed what it was like working with the late Nintendo President Satoru Iwata — who passed away in July of 2015 at the young age of 55 due to health complications.
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To me, he was a friend more than anything. It never felt like he was my boss or that I was working under him. He never got angry; we never fought about anything," reveals Miyamoto — which is quite interesting, considering that Miyamoto had been part of Nintendo before Iwata joined, and is even 7 years older than Iwata was.
When it comes to the age gap between them, Miyamoto says that it was never an issue, and that they got along just fine; even when Iwata was later appointed President of Nintendo.
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Normally, if someone younger than yourself with fewer years of experience becomes president, it might be difficult to get along with each other, but it was never like that. It had always been obvious that he was more suited for the position (than me), so it never became a problem. I think it allowed us to naturally become true friends."
Miyamoto has also revealed that Satoru Iwata's legacy is still very alive at Nintendo, and that the company has been doing fine since he passed away, although he does miss not having him around anymore, especially to give him the kind of feedback that only Iwata could.
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Since he passed away, Nintendo has been doing just fine. He left many words and structures that live on in the work of our younger employees today. The only problem is that, if there is some good-for-nothing idea I come up with over the weekend, I have no one to share it with the next Monday. That I can no longer hear him say ‘Oh, about that thing…’ is a bit of a problem for me. It makes me sad."
Satoru Iwata also made quite an impact with fans, as he was the face of every Nintendo Direct and fans where always happy to see him reveal new games with the charm that only Iwata had. Seeing Miyamoto open up about his friend is definitely something that fans can also relate to, and it is nice to see that everyone still remembers him fondly.