Hiroshi Yamauchi officiailly left Nintendo after 55 years. He was president from 1949-2002 and stayed as Board of directors for an additional 3 years, mainly to oversee the development of the DS and Wii systems and assisting his successor Satoru Iwata.

Yamauchi is widely considered the best Nintendo president of all time due to turning his great-grandfather's small card company into a video game empire, as well as greenlighting the best Nintendo games under his tenure (he saved HAL Laboratory from going bankrupt in 1993 and turned them into a second-party studio). When Yamauchi left, there was a signifncant decline in quality in terms.

We'll never forget how much Hiroshime Yamazaki changed Japan

what is a "card company"?

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!"

>>713973684
hanafuda/playing cards

>>713973701

reminder Yamauchi-san stepped down in shame after losing two consecutive console generations to Sony

>>713974067
Snoy lost, Nintendo is still on top.

>>713973353 (OP)
Imagine how much ass he’d be kicking right now with zero competition from Microsoft or the browns(Sony). We’re basically reliving the NES era but Nintendo isn’t taking full advantage of the situation.

They also got great licensing back then. Ken Griffey and MLBPA license, NHL License, Kobe Bryant and NBA license, PGA license, Mickey Mouse license, James Bond license, Star Wars license etc...

>>713973701
Mostly true but this
>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
is bullshit

Xenoblade was always going to be localised and it took a while to reach the west purely because of the drama with Skyword Sword

You retards really think that theres corporate time to dub an entire game in the span of two months?

The "fan campaign" was correct by incident

Left: games with distinct art directions and feels.
Right: soulless, 3D "New Super Mario Bros" aesthetic.

What went so wrong with Iwata-era Nintendo?

>>713974067
what the hell are you talking about? lol
he retired after the gamecube launched because he was 100 years old

>>713974325
most of that was nintendo america because peter main knew the power of exclusives
but james bond was specifically yamauchi's idea because he was a fan, and then they gave it to rare to do something with

>>713973701
nintendo's always gone their own way

>he believed online multiplayer was "dangerous" for children
he's right, and a family friendly company has to preserve their reputation

>>713973353 (OP)
He murdered him

>>713974624
Nah, Reggie was notorious for not letting certain games get released in the States. He cockblocked Diaster: Day of Crisis because he personally didnt like it.

>>713973701
>because he believed online multiplayer was "dangerous" for children
Crazy he said that, because now with all the rampant grooming, especially on Splatoon 3, y'know, a Nintendo exclusive game, it actually is unsafe for children to play games online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FDzLCVN6uw

1:30
Right person: How is the workmanship?

Yamauchi: Well, I can't discuss the workmanship yet.
The finished product will be released, right?
I am sure that many users will play the game then.
It is up to the users to decide at that time.
That's what I'm interested in.
I can't wait to see how users react.

Right person: Are you looking forward to the release date?

Yamauchi: No, it's not so much that I'm looking forward to it, it's more that if the users don't support it, Nintendo will be ruined.
A Mario game is the software that will determine the future of Nintendo.

>>713974742
This is a dishonest comparison. The games on the right all use wildly different technologies and rendering techniques to get Mario to appear on screen. By the time Iwata took over 3D graphics had matured enough that they didn't need to create the characters from scratch for every new game. Also Galaxy doesn't fit the mandate

>>713976269
Meant to say games on the left I'm retarded

>>713973353 (OP)
F-Zero died with him.

>>713975602
it has literally never been safe for children to communicate online. boomers today saying "you need social media or we won't consider hiring you" were saying "never put personal information online" 30 years ago

>>713973701
>Mario & Luigi
>Hotel Dusk
>Chibi Robo
>Wario Ware
What's so bad about these