>>715030616
Iwata sucked.

Reminder that Iwata killed the power Nintendo of America had in the 90s.

From 1990-2000. Nintendo of America had production and management autonomy from Japan. NOA basically culminated its own production team, along a few co-designers, and started funding and producing games with developers.

>DMA Design: Uni Racers, Body Harvest (Nintendo dropped it in 1997, Midway took it)
>Angel Studios: Ken Griffey Baseball, Buggie Boogie (canceled)
>Bits Studios: Warlocked, Riqa (canceled)
>Rare: Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark
>Software Creations: Ken Griffey Baseball, Tin Star
>Silicon Knights: Eternal Darkness (N64 version)
>Left Field Productions: Kobey Bryant in NBA Courtside, Excitebike 64
>Looking Glass Studio: Mini Racers (canceled)
>Mass Media: Star Craft 64
>H20: Tetrisphere
>Saffire Corp: Nester's Funky Bowling, James Bond 007
>DIC: Super Mario Bros cartoons, Legend of Zelda, Captain N: The Game Master
>Midway: Cruisn Series

Nintendo of America also procured the Ken Griffey and MLBPA license, NHL License, Kobe Bryant and NBA license, PGA license, Disney license, James Bond license, StarCraft license. Star Wars Episode I license. They were producing their own first-party games separate from Nintendo of Japan.

That all changed when Iwata transitioned from Global Marketing Chief to President. NOA Production was killed, and Nintendo of Japan's SPD Department took over all Western development (Star Fox Adventures, Geist, Eternal Darkness GC).

Henry Sterchi, Brian Ullrich, Ken Lobb, Ed Ridgeway, Jeff Hutt, Faran Thomason, and the whole crew left NOA to Microsoft and other developers. Since then, we've seen the Western model we have today. Western developers reporting directly to Japanese management, and pretty much making B/C sequels to Nintendo IPs.

>>714539608
So the guy who looks like he runs a pachinko arcade, is actually the less greedier of the two? Huh..

Reminder that Iwata killed the power Nintendo of America had in the 90s

From 1990-2000. Nintendo of America had production and management autonomy from Japan. NOA basically culminated its own production team, along a few co-designers, and started funding and producing games with developers.

>DMA Design: Uni Racers, Body Harvest (Nintendo dropped it in 1997, Midway took it)
>Angel Studios: Ken Griffey Baseball, Buggie Boogie (canceled)
>Bits Studios: Warlocked, Riqa (canceled)
>Rare: Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark
>Software Creations: Ken Griffey Baseball, Tin Star
>Silicon Knights: Eternal Darkness (N64 version)
>Left Field Productions: Kobey Bryant in NBA Courtside, Excitebike 64
>Looking Glass Studio: Mini Racers (canceled)
>Mass Media: Star Craft 64
>H20: Tetrisphere
>Saffire Corp: Nester's Funky Bowling, James Bond 007
>Midway: Cruisn Series

Nintendo of America also procured the Ken Griffey and MLBPA license, NHL License, Kobe Bryant and NBA license, PGA license, Disney license, James Bond license, StarCraft license. Star Wars Episode I license. They were producing their own first-party games separate from Nintendo of Japan.

That all changed when Iwata transitioned from Global Marketing Chief to President. NOA Production was killed, and Nintendo of Japan's SPD Department took over all Western development (Star Fox Adventures, Geist, Eternal Darkness GC).

Henry Sterchi, Brian Ullrich, Ken Lobb, Ed Ridgeway, Jeff Hutt, Faran Thomason, and the whole crew left NOA to Microsoft and other developers. Since then, we've seen the Western model we have today. Western developers reporting directly to Japanese management, and pretty much making B/C sequels to Nintendo IPs.

Reminder that Iwata killed the power Nintendo of America had in the 90s

From 1990-2000. Nintendo of America had production and management autonomy from Japan. NOA basically culminated its own production team, along a few co-designers, and started funding and producing games with developers.

>DMA Design: Uni Racers, Body Harvest (Nintendo dropped it in 1997, Midway took it)
>Angel Studios: Ken Griffey Baseball, Buggie Boogie (canceled)
>Bits Studios: Warlocked, Riqa (canceled)
>Rare: Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark
>Software Creations: Ken Griffey Baseball, Tin Star
>Silicon Knights: Eternal Darkness (N64 version)
>Left Field Productions: Kobey Bryant in NBA Courtside, Excitebike 64
>Looking Glass Studio: Mini Racers (canceled)
>Mass Media: Star Craft 64
>H20: Tetrisphere
>Saffire Corp: Nester's Funky Bowling, James Bond 007
>Midway: Cruisn Series

Nintendo of America also procured the Ken Griffey and MLBPA license, NHL License, Kobe Bryant and NBA license, PGA license, Disney license, James Bond license, StarCraft license. Star Wars Episode I license. They were producing their own first-party games separate from Nintendo of Japan.

That all changed when Iwata transitioned from Global Marketing Chief to President. NOA Production was killed, and Nintendo of Japan's SPD Department took over all Western development (Star Fox Adventures, Geist, Eternal Darkness GC).

Henry Sterchi, Brian Ullrich, Ken Lobb, Ed Ridgeway, Jeff Hutt, Faran Thomason, and the whole crew left NOA to Microsoft and other developers. Since then, we've seen the Western model we have today. Western developers reporting directly to Japanese management, and pretty much making B/C sequels to Nintendo IPs.

In recent years, particularly in 2025, everybody is reminiscing about when Iwata and Reggie controlled Nintendo and preaching about how they were so much more "pro-consumer" and "listened to the fans".

Do people seriously not remember the many controversies of their era? Or are zoomers just too young to even know what happened back then?

>the infamous e3 2008 and e3 2009 conferences, which were a giant middle finger from nintendo to all of their long-term fans

>the entire period between 2008-2010 when there was a legitimate fear nintendo would completely stop making traditional games like mario, zelda, metroid etc and would focus entirely on "Wii *insert gimmick here*" shovelware

>the imposition of the draconian Mario Mandate from the years 2009 to 2016, where literally EVERY SINGLE MARIO GAME whether it was a mainline game (eg. 3D Land, 3D World) or a spin-off (eg. Mario & Luigi, Paper Mario) HAD to conform with the aesthetic and gameplay styles of New Super Mario Bros

>the abysmal state of online functionality on wii, wii u, DS and 3DS (which was intentional on iwata's part because he believed online multiplayer was "dangerous" for children)

>the myriad cases during the wii u/3DS era when they took down fangames like AM2R and pokemon prism, in a fashion even more draconian than anything they do now

>that moment in the early 2010s when they started cracking down hard on youtubers and streamers trying to monetize nintendo game-related content (these restrictions would not be relaxed until after iwata died and reggie left the company)

>reggie/NoA initially refusing to localize xenoblade on wii because a JRPG targeted at core gamers didn't fit the casualized image they wanted to project

I could go on and on. It's seriously astounding just how much bullshit Nintendo pulled during the Iwata and Reggie days, and they've been completely forgiven for it because zoomers would rather whine about how "Switch 2 bad!"

>>713211049
>>713211137
When Yamauchi retired, Nintendo went to shit.

>>712765371
When Yamauchi retired.

>>149010367
Yamauchi was based.