PixlBit

 Thanks for everything Iwata

Hello Pixlbit, how are you? Today is 1 year since former Nintendo President Satoru Iwata passed away, which was on July 11, 2015 in Japanese time. First thing I thought of is that has it been a whole year since he passed away? Then it made me sad that it really has been that long.

                           

Iwata definitely had alot of influence on Nintendo as well as the gaming community. Though there were alot of people who didn't always agree with what he said or did. I remember reading many things like how he should be fired, replaced, or lose his job. There were a few articles on that too. And the comments section of said articles were worse. In a twisted ironic sense, that did happen. I'm not going to lie, I never agreed with everything he said or did, but not to the point of him being fired or dying. In fact, as much as I love Nintendo, there's plenty of things I don't agree with them on.

But he did have many gaming achivements under his belt. For one he was an amazing programmer from what I read, from the Mother/Earthbound games to what are the most favorite Pokemon games, Gold and Silver. Back then when Game Freak was new to programming, Iwata helped add the entire Kanto region map to the games. In fact, I remember reading that it was thanks to him we even have Pokemon outside Japan. For that, I am extremely thank for for him. He even debugged Melee on his own I think.

He was very charismatic and you can tell he was very passionate about his job and games. I even remember reading that he was dying and he was helping in an investors meeting or something of the like. Instead of you know, being at a hospital or something. If that isn't dedication, I don't know what is. Remember E3 2015? You know why we had those awesome puppets at the Nintendo Direct? He was really ill and he didn't want us to see him in that condition, which why they had the puppets made for E3. He really cared about us. Then everyone was complaining that this Nintendo E3 was the worst. Iwata even apologized about it. He didn't need to apologize for anything, but he did. He wasn't just some faceless corporate empty suit, he was one of us.

This E3 felt really bittersweet in a way. It was the first time since I can remember that Iwata wasn't there. But we saw Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which no doubt he saw the way the game was shaping up to be over its long development cycle. Despite that, his legacy lives on. He had an impact not only on Nintendo and gaming, but on all of us as well. I guess we honor him every time we play a Nintendo game. So thanks for everything Mr. Iwata.

On a more lighter note, yesterday (or 2 days ago whenever you read this) was the 35th anniversary of the game  and character Donkey Kong and in a way, Mario (or Jumpman) and Pauline (known as Lady) as well. The game first released on July 9, 1981 making it 35 years since its release.

                         

I think one of the first times I ever played Donkey Kong, at least to my knowledge was in Donkey Kong 64. There is an arcade cabinet in the game you need to play in order to advance in the game. I heard that the version of the original Donkey Kong in Donkey Kong 64 is the original arcade version. They might be right as the sound effects and so forth from later versions that I played are different.

It certainly has quite a legacy as it was Shigeru Miyamoto's first game as well as one of the first games with cutscenes, forming a story, and serving as a stepping stone for Nintendo breaking into the North American market.

So that about wraps this up for now. Have you ever played the original Donkey Kong? Thanks for reading and later.

And thanks to everyone who commented on this post a year ago.