Iwata's Impact on Smash

Art by Siga4BDN.​

Today marks the one year anniversary of Satoru Iwata's passing. Iwata has had a huge impact on the Super Smash Bros. series -- being there from the very beginning. Let's honor his memory by remembering his contributions to our favorite franchise.

Note: This article was originally purposed as Thank Iwata for Smash on Source Gaming. I've updated and modified it for SmashBoards.

Prototype Stage (1996-1998):

From an interview featuring Shigesato Itoi (creator of MOTHER), Masahiro Sakurai and Satoru Iwata, we know Iwata's key role in getting Smash approved. He programmed the original prototype, Ryuoh (translated by Nintendo as Dragon King the Fighting Game) even though Iwata was acting as president of HAL Laboratories. However an issue came up. Sakurai wanted to use Nintendo characters as the original prototype did not feature characters.

In addition, all of the popular fighting games have characters that all have an abundance of unique traits. Each consumer has a character they individually like, and each character is a key component in the game. So in addition to creating the game, it’s vitally important that you take these 8, or 16 characters and make them shine without diluting their unique flavor, and get them to stick in the audience’s head. --Sakurai and Iwata interview with Shigesato Itoi on Smash 64 [Part 1]

Feeling that Nintendo characters would do well due to their recognizability, Sakurai and Iwata needed approval from Shigeru Miyamoto. This was at a time where Nintendo had just signed off on the Mario Party series after having become protective of their IPs. Approval was unlikely. In fact, Iwata did present the idea to Miyamoto, and Miyamoto shot it down. However, Iwata kept this as a secret from Sakurai, and had Sakurai present the idea again to Miyamoto. The second time was the charm, and Miyamoto approved his characters for the game.

Super Smash Bros. (1999):

During development of the original Super Smash Bros., Iwata was the president of HAL Laboratories. This was done after the company was failing in 1993 at the bequest of Hiroshi Yamauchi. Iwata served as the producer for the first installment.

Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001):

During Melee’s development, Iwata moved from his position in Hal took the position of General Manager of Corporate Planning at Nintendo. Despite his managerial position, he actually helped out with debugging and some programming in Melee. Because of Iwata's efforts, Melee was able to release on time. Iwata is credited with a “Special Thanks” in the credits.

After Melee's release, Iwata would be promoted to the CEO of Nintendo, succeeding Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. At the same time, Sakurai decided to leave Hal Laboratory. Before leaving, he consulted Iwata on a number of topics. To Sakurai's surprise, a sequel to Super Smash Brothers was brought up. Iwata promised Sakurai that if a sequel were to be made, Nintendo would consult Sakurai. This is because, Iwata believed that only Sakurai possessed the tact and vision to ensure that Smash Brothers was true to its' source material, while still being enjoyable and successful.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008):

When the Nintendo Revolution was announced, Iwata had confirmed that a Smash Brothers game that made use of the Nintendo WiFi connection would be released alongside the console--much to Sakurai's surprise. [See Sakurai's column discussing this incident]

Shortly after that announcement, Iwata and Sakurai met in a private hotel room. Iwata reaffirmed his promise to Sakurai. If, and only if Sakurai did not sign on to making a new Smash Brothers game, then Iwata would have staff remake Super Smash Brothers Melee with online capabilities for Nintendo’s new system. Iwata told Sakurai that he would probably not change anything else. No extra stages, no extra fighters. Sakurai was initially unsure whether or not to sign on to this project, but felt that a full re-release was unfair to the fans of the series. After discussing it with Iwata and Eiji Aonuma, Sakurai would sign on and make Super Smash Brothers: Brawl.

For Super Smash Bros. Brawl, a new office location would be built in Tokyo -- just for one game. This was a huge investment by Nintendo, but Iwata believed in Sakurai. The risk paid off as Brawl sold exceptionally well.

Smash for Wii U/3DS (2014):

After Brawl's development, Iwata told Sakurai to work on something non-Smash. Eventually his idea Project Sora became Kid Icarus: Uprising. At E3 2011, Iwata announced that Sakurai had come back to the series for an installment on both the Wii U and the 3DS. The game was announced in order to start attracting team members for Sakurai's team. Bandai Namco was chosen and the game started development in 2012. [For a full timeline of Smash for Wii U/3DS development, check out this post]

During the April 2015 Direct, Iwata announced the Smash Fighter Ballot after discussing the idea with Sakurai.

Unfortunately, on July 11th, 2015 Iwata passed away. Sakurai wrote about Iwata's funeral in his Famitsu Column.

Conclusion:

Satoru Iwata is the godfather of the Smash series. Being a close friend and adviser to Masahiro Sakurai, his contributions to the Smash series is incredible. So please take a moment and say #ThankYouIwata today.

PushDustIn remembers the tears and pain from Iwata's passing. You can follow PushDustIn on Twitter.

Note: A lot of the information in this post was from translations offered by Source Gaming. If you are interested in seeing more research and translations, please contribute to our Patreon. If you can't donate, give us a shout out! We really appreciate the support the community has given us!

 

There were three games that might not go well without Iwata's help, Pokemon Gold and Silver, Earthbound, and Melee...
Even though Brawl was the least fav Smash Bros from the competitive community, it's still has the most accolades among all the others.

He had made tons of effort for Nintendo, as a business man he fought for it. As a video game developer he makes games for it. As a person he still inspires it.

The only thing we can do is to continue his legacy.

 

I literally cried when I read this.

 

I miss him...

 

A shame, really. He was an unsung pillar in the history of video games until his passing. I can only hope his legacy endures throughout the ages.

 

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

 

Man it's already been a year since he's past? Man...Iwata we miss u

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

You are a ****ing ****.

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

I find your lack of tact disturbing.

 

Undoubtedly Iwata has done and cared more for his workers than anybody I've ever heard about. And that quote of his will always make me love his effort and the games he has worked in. He takes entertainment and development of these masterpieces personally despite having been so high in the company. Rest in Peace, Mr. Iwata. Thanks for all you've done.

"On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer." - Iwata-San

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

Oh, let's see. 100+ million Wiis sold, 150+ million Nintendo DS sold, rose Nintendo to the top of the market again, created the Nintendo Direct, when the 3DS was doing bad Iwata cut his own paycheck to make sure that nobody would lose its job. Of course he was a bad CEO, of course
Give me a break! If Iwata was that bad, people wouldn't be lamenting his passing. People saw Iwata as a bad CEO because of Nintendo's recent screw-ups, but how about Miyamoto, Aonuma, Takeda, the hardware and software team? Nintendo is a crazy huge company with hundreds of employees, having Iwata paying for everyone's mistakes was outright unfair, despite of him being the goddamn CEO.

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

You. Door. That way. Now.

 

Just one year later, and we've lost a great and influential man of Nintendo. Such a shame someone important had to die so early. R.I.P. Satoru Iwata. Thank you for all you done as a important part of Nintendo.

EDIT: Just realized I had his day wrong in my signature. It's 17 instead of 11. That's how sad I am right now.

 

I think the fact that Iwata actually took part in helping code Melee when it wasn't technically his responsibility really shows how his care for the games he helped make was really from the heart. #ThankYouIwata

 

If it wasn't for Iwata, I don't think any of us would be able to talk to each other and play all the games we love and enjoy.I'm grateful as Melee is my favorite smash game and possibly one of my favorite games.Melee helps me mentally and gets my mind off of things.I don't know where I'd be without Iwata. #ThankYouIwata

 

Glad I've become so well aquatinted with his work/influence.

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

Please, your ignorance is showing.

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

Ruthless.

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

All I'd ask you to do is to have some respect. Don't be ignorant.

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

Whether you think he was a good CEO or not, you don't have to be a giant douchenozzle about it. Especially when we are on an article talking about him f**king passing away from a bile duct tumor.

You can criticize him all you want. Just do it somewhere else, Jesus Christ.

 

It still saddens me to remember that we don't have Iwata with us anymore. He was not just a masterful programmer nor simply a success story for a game company he revitalized, but more than that he was an honest and good person whose smiles alone made the world a better place.

Today is a good day to play one of the games he helped create; he really put his very spirit into all his work, so he is still making this world a fun and joyful place long after his work here has been done. For that I will always be thankful.
#thankyouIwata

 

Jesus, people. When Iwata was alive, we all recognized that he was a terrible CEO. He's not some perfect saint or saviour of the whole gaming industry now that he's dead. He's a human, with his successes and screwups. He died early, and frankly Nintendo is better off now that he's no longer with the company. I'm not glad he's dead, but I am (as we all should be) glad he's gone.

GameFAQs is this way.

Anyways, he had his faults, but he's really was serious about his career being with Nintendo. Even as far as programming a handful of games (Melee being one of them) that were destined to fail their release date or release in general. Would things be different without him? Maybe. Did he did great until his passing? Not always, but he tried. Did he loved his job with all his being? Absolutely. And to think some people believe he just didn't care or wanted the company to burn is pretty saddening. I guess choosing to be salty over one's achievements is some way to hide their despair. Disgusting...

 

Lots of people deliberately misreading my post. Strange for people to have such an emotional attachment to someone they didn't care about until they day he died.

Stop deifying the dead, please. You're just blinding yourself with emotions.

 

OK, you somewhat had a point in your first post despite the brashness of it (Iwata hasn't always made the best of business choices, especially in recent years), even if it wasn't well timed. Now you're just trying to be edgy on purpose.

Does someone come to your house and **** talk your dead relatives on the anniversary of their deaths?

 

Lots of people deliberately misreading my post. Strange for people to have such an emotional attachment to someone they didn't care about until they day he died.

Stop deifying the dead, please. You're just blinding yourself with emotions.

http://smashboards.com/threads/satoru-iwata-responsible-for-melee-shipping-on-time.384719/

this article was written on here several months before his death, and that's just one of many things he has done over the years. as you can see from the comments, there were quite a lot of people that seemed to enjoy his work as well and cared about him.

I think the issue is that just because YOU never cared about him the same should apply to everyone else....and that fecal copter will not take flight here.

if you are so annoyed, then don't bother reading articles like these.

 

Shortly after that announcement, Iwata and Sakurai met in a private hotel room. Iwata reaffirmed his promise to Sakurai.

Saucy.

 

OK, you somewhat had a point in your first post despite the brashness of it (Iwata hasn't always made the best of business choices, especially in recent years), even if it wasn't well timed. Now you're just trying to be edgy on purpose.

Does someone come to your house and **** talk your dead relatives on the anniversary of their deaths?

Nobody at my house does a total 180 on their opinions of somebody because they died, and they sure as **** don't write articles about what an amazing person the deceased is. Iwata did some awesome things, but his leadership of Nintendo caused the failure of the Wii U and the probable failure of the NX. That and many other decisions he made can't outweigh the three or four things he did that some would say make him the greatest thing to ever happen to Nintendo, even though he never got the public's recognition for them until after his death.

 

( ;u; ) *sniff* thenk yew Iwata fo givin me a chiold hood.

 

Will be missed

 

Lots of people deliberately misreading my post. Strange for people to have such an emotional attachment to someone they didn't care about until they day he died.

Stop deifying the dead, please. You're just blinding yourself with emotions.

I did care for Iwata since the first time I saw his name and learnt that he was the current president of NCL. I saw all his presentations, read all Iwata Asks, looked for more about his work before Nintendo, the reasons that led Yamauchi elect him as his successor. So, don't come with this "blinding with emotions" thing to me.
You know what, it's not wrong to blame Iwata for every time Nintendo screwed up during his management, he was the CEO, he was the strongest name in the company, but still he did his best to overcome any hurdle, just like I mentioned earlier, Iwata cut his own paycheck to not fire any employee from NCL. My major worry with this is that became a trend! People from outta nowhere started to treat Iwata as an enemy just because Wii U is underperforming in many areas, but how about the rest? How about the other employees?
"Misreading"??? Did you even read your own post after posting? You decided to criticize Iwata in the wrong place at the wrong time, you deserved all the hostile answers you got.

 

How time flies by fast since his passing a year ago. He sure will be remembered.

 

I'm going to repeat what I said last year when Mr. Iwata passed away.

Thank you Mr. Iwata. You may have not been the perfect CEO, but your passion for games, how you contributed to many a memorable game and made a lasting impression on developers and gamers worldwide will be remembered. Godspeed.

 

Lots of people deliberately misreading my post. Strange for people to have such an emotional attachment to someone they didn't care about until they day he died.

Stop deifying the dead, please. You're just blinding yourself with emotions.

And your brash and mindless fallacies around YOU aren't any better. You're pretty much spitting at his corpse with that kind of tone. If that's the case, GameFAQs is this way if you want to be an edgelord.

Nobody at my house does a total 180 on their opinions of somebody because they died, and they sure as **** don't write articles about what an amazing person the deceased is. Iwata did some awesome things, but his leadership of Nintendo caused the failure of the Wii U and the probable failure of the NX. That and many other decisions he made can't outweigh the three or four things he did that some would say make him the greatest thing to ever happen to Nintendo, even though he never got the public's recognition for them until after his death.

Once again, random conjecture based upon YOUR view of a sample of people that YOU were around isn't turning heads. Some people knew him before hand while many don't know him at all till now. He made mistakes and some were costly. We get it, but that was generally it. We're not going to forget the bad things he did, but solely focus on that just makes us childish. He still did good things when he was alive, especially keeping Smash Bros series in the speeding lane.

If people want to mourn for the guy, let them. Making him out to be some terrible person (when he clearly is not one) will not make anyone take your posts serious in the slightest.

 

Nobody at my house does a total 180 on their opinions of somebody because they died, and they sure as **** don't write articles about what an amazing person the deceased is. Iwata did some awesome things, but his leadership of Nintendo caused the failure of the Wii U and the probable failure of the NX. That and many other decisions he made can't outweigh the three or four things he did that some would say make him the greatest thing to ever happen to Nintendo, even though he never got the public's recognition for them until after his death.

Any company under any leader has ups and downs, no exceptions, the good outweighs the bad in this case though. He also isn't single handedly responsible for every success or failure either. You also fail to recognize that under his leadership the 3DS prospered and became a successful handheld and that the Wii became a best-selling console, but I suppose you omitted this to make a point? I also find it funny how you are attributing him the "failure" of the NX despite, you know, not having been unveiled nor released yet.
Also, please don't pretend to speak for a group of people as "we", you may think like that due to your misguided ignorance but don't drag everyone else into that little hole of yours.

 

Iwata was such a cool dude. He truly represented and expanded on Nintendo's image amazingly; he had a fun sense of humor and valued the entertainment and fun aspect of games, which is so key for games as it's nice to see people not try to milk a product solely for a quick cash grab and make games the staff as well as others can enjoy for years to come. It's amazing how many other development studios forget this.

I mean just look at the guy! Images like these make me smile all the time. It's really the most Nintendo image you can find out there and I love it. Great inspiration to us all.

 

Iwata led the Wii to be the best selling home console of Nintendo, I would never call this guy a bad CEO because of this. Of course I'm not blinding myself to the most recent screw-ups, however I was always aware that Nintendo doesn't spin around Iwata. Wii U failed not because of Iwata's decisions but the development team decisions, they wanted to make a hardware with a power level they considered "neccessary" to execute their ideas in the form of games, they wanted the Game Pad to be Nintendo's most ambitious controller ever created. Wii U had bad sells because the launch games weren't convincing, the bad explanation about the Game Pad's concept made hard to develop something and the games with the best uses of the Game Pad (such as Wonderful 101, I love this game) ended flopping. Wii U had bad marketing because initially they tried to aim the hardcore gamer, but they forgot that these people consume powerhouses and defends traditional gameplay experiences (even with Nintendo offering the Pro Controller), after that, they tried to appeal to the former Wii audience but these mistook the Wii U as a Wii accessory. In the end, only Nintendo fans bought the Wii U and even them have complaints, myself included. I love my Wii U, have a bunch of games, but I know it's factually a flawed console because of its weird design decisions, and I assure you no one of these were made by Iwata, even with him being a former game developer.

 

Satoru Iwata was a shining star amongst all gaming developers. He pioneered the company that changed video games forever, and his loss will not be in vain.

 

"However, I kept my eyes on the casket. Inside there was a Mr. Iwata’s body, never to move again. He was probably dressed in white clothing, his glasses removed, his nose filled with padding. And today, even that body will be burned and disappear. Mr. Iwata will cease to exist in this world."

Tears are streaming down my face as I'm reading this...

 

Oh, let's see. 100+ million Wiis sold, 150+ million Nintendo DS sold, rose Nintendo to the top of the market again, created the Nintendo Direct, when the 3DS was doing bad Iwata cut his own paycheck to make sure that nobody would lose its job. Of course he was a bad CEO, of course
Give me a break! If Iwata was that bad, people wouldn't be lamenting his passing. People saw Iwata as a bad CEO because of Nintendo's recent screw-ups, but how about Miyamoto, Aonuma, Takeda, the hardware and software team? Nintendo is a crazy huge company with hundreds of employees, having Iwata paying for everyone's mistakes was outright unfair, despite of him being the goddamn CEO.

Good one.

 

99% of this comment section is R.I.P. Iwata