Nintendo President Satoru Iwata's most memorable off-beat moments

Satoru Iwata's most fun-filled public moments

The sad news that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata died at age 55 eventually segued into us passing around his zany, but always cheerful photos at TechRadar on Sunday night.

It helped everyone crack a smile here, and it surprised us as to how many he ended up posing for in the last decade and a half of serving as the Nintendo head.

Some are accompanied by Mario and Luigi, others are pixelated cameos of Iwata in video games and a few have him made out of puppet fabric.

Iwata didn't hold back. That's what we liked about him ever since he take center stage at E3 2002.

He never took himself too seriously in public and pioneered Nintendo Direct, which were carefully scripted videos that saved us from technical glitches at E3 and actually made up laugh.

He made it all about the games and game players, so here's to his most memorable moments.

Nintendo Direct hosting duties

The last major media appearance from the sick Iwata was in muppet form at E3 2015, where he, Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo of America President and CEO Reggie Fils-Aime hosted the company's substitution for a press conference.

Their human-form muppet appearance didn't last long, however, as they slowly turned into the Star Fox gang: Miyamoto as Fox McCloud, Iwata as Peppy and Reggie as Falco.

This isn't the first time Iwata used a stand-in. He cleverly appeared as a seemingly flat piece of paper to introduce the game Paper Mario for Wii U in the Nintendo Direct video from August 2012.

Iwata made full use of Nintendo's nostalgic props in his videos. too. He's playfully holding bananas while deadpanning to the camera this presentation.

In case you were wondering what Iwata would have looked like with a mustache, he was briefly sporting a Mario mustache in this Nintendo Direct video introducing a new Mario game for Nintendo 3DS.

Super Smash Bros battle

Last year's Nintendo Direct featured claymation, which Iwata was not a part of. However, he did make an full-body appearance when introducing Super Smash Bros for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.

He trades "real-life" blows with Reggie Fils-Aime in the action-packed announcement before the two sit down and duke it out in the video game.

Iwata's secret weapon for a come-from-behind victory? A new Mario Amiibo character that trounces Reggie in the epic battle. Clearly the Nintendo President always had the upper hand.

Luigi love

The long-neglected Luigi got more love than ever under Iwata's Presidency. New 3DS titles like Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Mario & Luigi: Dream Team came out in 2013.

Meanwhile, that same year, Wii U games like Dr. Luigi and the New Super Luigi U expansion for New Super Mario Bros U made Mario's twin a household name again.

Luigi was starting to get near equal billing, and and Iwata didn't shy away from donning the iconic green cap, or almost being vacuumed up by famed Nintendo designer ShIgeru Miyamoto.

Game appearances

Nintendo Wii was Iwata's defining achievement as the Nintendo boss. The console with a weird name and control interface was highly doubted by critics at first. But the idea was innovative enough to send Nintendo's popularity rising - not to mention the company's stock.

So it's only fitting that the man in charge made some Stan Lee-like cameos in a Wii video game, and that happened with WarioWare: Smooth Moves in 2007.

Known as "Shop Manager Iwata," his character was the owner of a video game store (very appropriate).

Iwata also made appearances in games, or at least NIntendo Direct presentations when demoing them for the first time. This included games like Lego City Undercover (above) and the very off-beat Tomodachi Life for Nintendo 3DS.

The Nintendo President, proving he was never taken too seriously in video games, can be seen in full scuba gear on the beach and in a bath in this Mii inhabited universe.

The fun attitude Satoru Iwata always brought to his presentations was carried over to the games and the company he was in charge of, and that's a lesson aspiring game makers should always follow in this increasingly cynical world.

• What Iwata may have influenced last: the Nintendo NX console

July 13, 2015 at 04:21PM
Matt Swider