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September 19, 2013

Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's Leader in Its Golden Days, Passes Away at 85

By Steve Anderson, Contributing TMCnet Writer

It's a sad moment, though some may not immediately realize just how sad it actually is until the fullest amount of information on the topic is provided to them. For all those out there who grew up on the eight-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, or came in during the Super Nintendo or Nintendo 64 versions before the big Wii and Wii U releases, a big player in that life has passed away. His name was Hiroshi Yamauchi, and he was 85 at the time.



Yamauchi, according to recent Bloomberg (News - Alert) data, was Nintendo's second-largest shareholder—he personally held about 10 percent of the company—and was once considered the richest man in Japan based on information from Forbes, who put his personal net worth at $7.8 billion. He was the great-grandson of Nintendo's original founder, and himself ran the company through both some of the most difficult times the company had seen and into what amounted to its golden age, running the company from 1949 through 2002, taking the company from a maker of playing cards to an electronics giant and a revolution in home entertainment.

Following 2002, Yamauchi remained in an advisory role for three years thereafter as he turned control over to the current company president, Satoru Iwata. Nintendo's overall history has been one of ups and downs, from the late 1960s where the company was almost forced to file for bankruptcy following a series of disastrous expansions in the product line—the company had brought out everything from toy guns and baby carriages to offerings in fast food—but the experience left Yamauchi determined to never borrow money to fund Nintendo. This decision is reflected by the $8.7 billion in cash and the equivalent—yet not one cent of debt—found on Nintendo's books as of June 30.

Yamauchi also had an unusual philosophy that served the company well, maintaining that the hardware wasn't so much the issue when it came to gaming, but rather, that the quality of the games offered on said hardware was really the issue. This showed through in releases like the Game and Watch system in 1980, followed by the release of the Famicom, which was retitled the Nintendo Entertainment System for the United States market and accompanied by the release of “Super Mario Bros.,” a title which really got Nintendo on the map in the United States.

Nintendo is something of an emotional topic when it comes to gaming; the company was for many users the first gaming system ever owned or played at home. Even I got my start on eight-bit Nintendo, with the original “Super Mario Bros.” one Christmas, followed by a copy of the eight-bit game “Slalom.” For a little boy, this was a big experience, and one that likely helped shape a lot of lives. The home gaming phenomenon—possibly even the death of the arcade's popularity—owes a lot to Nintendo, and gamers of all stripes, no matter the console of choice, owe a likewise note of appreciation to Nintendo, and to Hiroshi Yamauchi.




Edited by Alisen Downey
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