Sakurai ends YouTube channel with touching tribute to former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata

“Mr. Iwata was truly the person who understood me best.”

Image credit: Sakurai

Masahiro Sakurai is wrapping up his YouTube channel and has today released the final Grab Bag video: a touching tribute to former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.

Iwata sadly passed away in 2015 at the age of 55. He became the fourth president in the company’s history in 2002.

Sakurai, who worked with Iwata at Nintendo’s HAL Laboratory, has shared multiple memories of working with Iwata in this latest video.

Mr. Iwata [Grab Bag]

Mr. Iwata [Grab Bag]Watch on YouTube
“When taking notes, listening, or even just talking, he’d always have the most carefree smile on his face,” said Sakurai, reminiscing about his first job interview with Iwata.

“It wasn’t forced, either, but a true expression of joy.”

Sakurai continued: “Personally speaking, he never told me how I should approach the content of my games. I think he trusted me to handle those decisions how I saw fit.”

Iwata contributed prominently to Sakurai’s Smash Bros. series, providing code for the initial N64 prototype (the only time he wrote code for one of Sakurai’s games) known as Dragon King: The Fighting Game.

“From what others have told me, he really enjoyed his time working on it,” said Sakurai.

Iwata also had a hand in the Super Smash Bros. name. Specifically, he picked out the use of “brothers”. “His reasoning,” Sakurai explained, “was that, even though the characters weren’t brothers at all, using the word added the nuance that they weren’t simply fighting – they were friends who were settling a little disagreement.”

Later, Iwata contributed towards bug fixes for GameCube game Super Smash Bros. Melee. “Without his help, I doubt Smash Bros. Melee would have released before the end of 2001,” said Sakurai.

He continued: “Of all the people I’ve known personally, I would say Mr. Iwata was the smartest. ‘Smart’ can mean a lot of things, but I felt that he used logic rather than instinct to figure out the best way to proceed.

“He was more than simply a programmer – he was a learner, and someone who thought often about psychological topics, like why people think the way they do.”

Sakurai concluded: “Mr. Iwata was truly the person who understood me best. He was full of virtue, relentlessly hardworking, committed to service, and a man who changed the game industry.”

Sakurai launched his YouTube channel in August 2022 and has since uploaded 268 videos covering all facets of game design.

Perhaps most insightful have been his comments on the Smash Bros. series he’s best known for. He detailed, for instance, how all fighters have an almost equal chance of winning and, in a later video, jokingly apologised to fans who have played the game for thousands of hours.