Game Development Giant

Dedicate yourself to death.

These words are difficult to use, and very few people can do it. However, in Jester's opinion, Satoru Iwata is definitely worthy of such a title.

He is the second company president to die of illness at work since the birth of video games. The previous one was Isao Ohkawa, the legendary president at the end of the Sega dynasty, the successor to Hayao Nakayama, and also Hayao Nakayama’s best friend. Friends, at that time Sega was already at the end of its life, and Isao Okawa directly donated all his personal assets, a total of 85 billion yen, to Sega, thus avoiding the fate of Sega's collapse.

It perfectly explains the famous saying of Isao Okawa that he used as a witness throughout his life.

Career is only a matter of one generation. What you get from your career must be reinvested in your career.

And Satoru Iwata's life was not as glorious and glorious as Okawa's, nor was it as violent as Okawa's donation of property before his death. And when he died of illness, Nintendo had long since recovered from the desperate situation he had just taken over. After leaving, the business is booming, and the financial report has finally changed from a deficit to a black hole.

However, his life can still be summarized in four words: conscientiousness. He re-established confidence in Nintendo and led Nintendo to become an industry giant again.

This was something that no outsider could have imagined when Hiroshi Yamauchi handed over the position of president to him. People at that time were all echoing that Nintendo must be as thorough as Sega. With the decline of the game industry in the future, only two giants, Microsoft and Sony, will be left.

Even Peter Moore said something like this later in an interview.

Peter Moore was the head of Microsoft's Xbox division at the time. It can be said that the Xbox brand was created by him.

He said: We only had Sony in our eyes at the time. We only had PS3, and Nintendo was not in our consideration at all. None of us thought that Nintendo could become our opponent, and even Lenovo did not think so.

However, it was Satoru Iwata who launched the Wii and the NDs, which completely changed the industry.

The sales of Wii in the early and mid-term were all the way off the charts, and the sales of Xbox and PS3 combined. Even after the PS3, Xbox, and Wii generation consoles ended and the next generation consoles were released, the total sales volume of Wii was still the first among the three, even far exceeding the other two consoles.

Just as Jester was recalling Satoru Iwata's past and life deep in his heart before meeting, Satoru Iwata was also sitting in the car with some anxiety. Go to the restaurant where you meet Jester.

He was feeling a little nervous at this time.

Because what he was about to see was, after all, the best designer in the industry, and also his favorite designer. He has learned a lot from Jester's countless games. It can be said that Jester is his teacher on the road of game design. Before, Jester could only be someone he looked up to, but now. But I can see it myself.

It is impossible to say that I am not nervous or excited.

In a separate private room in the restaurant, Satoru Iwata met Jester Lee who stood up to greet him.

He is as young as he has seen in the photos before. If I remember correctly, he should be just twenty-five years old this year. He has already achieved such results at the age of twenty-five. Could this be the kind of real person he is talking about? Genius?

Mr. Iwata, I've heard your name for a long time. I just have the opportunity to meet you today. It's really rude. Jester's tone was very polite, which made Iwata a little flattered. He even said Some questions, why did Jester hear his name back? He is just a nobody.

After the somewhat frightened Satoru Iwata took his seat, he looked a little nervous.

And Jester has experienced a lot of conversations like this, and he knows how to better adjust the atmosphere. To be honest, the Satoru Iwata in his memory is still twenty years later, always wearing a straight suit, but he likes He has fun with the players, often makes some funny expressions, and even likes to criticize his own cute Nintendo president in the same way the players complain about him at night.

Now when the young Iwata Satoru appeared in front of Jester with a pair of old-fashioned black-rimmed glasses, middle-parted hair, and even a handsome face, he was almost surprised. However, fortunately, Jester's control has become better, and no one noticed anything special.

Jester smiled.

Mr. Iwata, don't be nervous.

First, he used such a sentence as the opening remarks of his next paragraph, so that Satoru Iwata would not be so nervous, and then continued: Maybe Mr. Iwata will wonder why I invited you to attend the GDC Global Game Developers Conference?

When Jester said this, Satoru Iwata didn't think much about it and nodded.

This was indeed his biggest question during this period of time.

It's actually very simple, because you are a very talented game developer, very talented. I have seen the game to be developed, and then I was very interested in the designer who could develop Balloon Fight, so I I had someone collect information about this game, and then I found out your name, and in the information, I also discovered that you are the main programmer of the American version of Dragon Quest? This is the first time I know, You also participated in the development of this game...

Jester's homely way of chatting made Iwata completely relax.

He continued following Jester's words.

It's just that Nintendo was the agent for the distribution of Dragon Quest at that time, and the American version needed to be re-produced, but Enix didn't have enough manpower. I had just joined Hal Research Institute at that time, and because I was good at 6502 compilation, So, let me go...

Satoru Iwata said it very modestly and did not think it was such a great thing.

However, Jester shook his head after hearing what he said. He looked at Satoru Iwata and said seriously: This is not as simple as what you said. As far as I know, he just joined at that time. Hal doesn't have three years, but Enix and Nintendo dare to let you be responsible for the programming of the American version of a game that they value so much. If it's just a very ordinary thing like you said, That Hal Research Institute is really full of monsters.

Satoru Iwata was very embarrassed by what he said.

But let him say directly that he was the best 6502 assembly language programmer at the Hal Institute at that time. According to his humble character, it was still impossible.

I know that you Japanese like to be modest, but sometimes, being overly modest is not a good thing. Iwata, I think what you need most is not to be overly modest and be more confident. Moreover, I collected it from Judging from some information about you, you were not so humble when you were in the research institute, right?

Jester said while laughing.

This makes Iwata Satoru a little confused. His usual work at the Hal Research Institute is also like this.

I heard something you often say is that as a programmer, you can never say I can't do it. If you say I can't do it, then you really can't do it... right? real?

After saying this, Jester laughed.

Iwata's expression also became a little embarrassed, and he nodded: Yes, I do often use this sentence to motivate myself. I feel that as a programmer, there are so many things that we have to face every day, and they are so difficult. , if you still cannot have a fearless mentality, then it is possible that things that you could have done with just a little effort will be simply given up, and you will never be able to do it again...

The chatting time between Jester and Satoru Iwata passed very quickly, and it could be said that they had a lot of fun. Even the two of them did not take a few bites of the delicacies that the waiters kept bringing to them.

It was approaching nine o'clock, the time when this meeting was about to end.

Jester asked this question seemingly casually: Iwata, I heard that Hal will be disbanded in a while. Do you have any plans on where to work next?

And Satoru Iwata didn't doubt him. He shook his head and answered casually.

No, I have been worried about this matter recently. I really like the atmosphere of the Hal Institute. After all, I have been here for seven years and I have long been used to everything here. I really want to leave. , I still feel reluctant to part with it, but there is no other way. After all, I still have to eat and support my family. I plan to go back this time and submit my resume to several game companies. I think based on some of my previous results, I should be able to apply for a programmer. work.

Although he said this, from Iwata Satoru's tone, you can also hear that he is a little sad. It is not clear whether it is for the hal research institute that is about to close, or for the unclear future that he does not know.

Then, Jester did not respond immediately, but fell silent first.

Five seconds later, Jester tapped a finger on the table, and then said to Satoru Iwata: Iwata, I have a suggestion. I wonder if you would like to listen to it?

President Li, why wouldn't I want to listen? Satoru Iwata could only smile bitterly at Jester's question.

All right.

Jester nodded.

My suggestion is actually very simple. I hope you will continue to stay at the Hal Institute. (To be continued...)