It’s rare the death of someone in Japan touches so many people in America, but Ninetendo CEO Satoru Iwata was the exception.
Iwata died from a rare tumor in his bile duct.
Shortly after the passing of the 55 year old was announced by Nintendo, the hashtag #RIPIwata took off on Twitter.
This tweet from Robert Bowling, Vice President of the gaming company Humble, was retweeted 2,700 times.
Thank you Satoru Iwata, for your talents in development and your genius in leadership. You will be missed. #RIPIwata pic.twitter.com/a44K8gGrlc
— Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) July 13, 2015
There were many others as well.
Found this pretty cool picture on Facebook. #RIPIwata pic.twitter.com/876y7TOQuP
— jamie pham (@jamiepham) July 14, 2015
Creator of smash and pokemon, I would give you a max revive If I had one #RIPIwata pic.twitter.com/bQcp4jK3V8
— Sam Marshall (@SamSamcuteness) July 14, 2015
Wow. I grew up on his games. Such a large piece of my childhood. #RIPIwata pic.twitter.com/OoP4i1V4gs
— Catherine. (@ImChillLikeThat) July 14, 2015
During Iwata’s reign at Nintendo, the company developed the Wii console, the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. The DS took mobile gaming to a whole new level and the 3DS brought a third dimension without funny looking glasses.
Vox published a tribute to Iwata from German Lopez.
“Even if we come from different sides of the world, speak different languages, even if we eat too many chips or rice balls, even if we have different tastes in games, every one of us here today is identical in the most important way: each one of us has the heart of a gamer. I’ll always remember Iwata — as someone who wasn’t afraid to innovate, but who always strived to put gamers first in all his work. “Rest in peace, Mr. Iwata, and thank you for all the joy you brought to my life.”