The late Satoru Iwata is famous for leading Nintendo through some of its most successful years, but a new interview has shed some light on the uncertainty of his earlier years at HAL Laboratory.
Iwata joined HAL in 1980 as a programmer but would eventually work his way up to the role of president in 1993 – a promotion which came at the behest of Nintendo boss Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was concerned that HAL, a regular collaborator, was facing financial ruin.
Speaking to Time Extension, Richard Honeywood – who has been at companies such as Seibu Kaihatsu, Blizzard, Square Enix and Level-5 – reveals a little of Iwata's more vulnerable side during his time at HAL:
"Iwata-san would come into the office to meet with us formally, but occasionally he would just pick a couple of us to go out drinking with him. I haven't spoken about this a lot, but there were some times when we were out drinking together that you could see that it wasn't so much him supporting us; it was him sort of wanting our help to deal with whatever he was going through.
The new Mother game was in development hell, and he also had a Kirby Air Ride-type game [and another project], too, that was struggling. So, he'd come out with us, and he would tell us about how all three of these titles that were going to keep his company afloat were going nowhere, and we were telling him that the same thing was happening with our company. It was all very strange, because usually he was this very sweet guy, but you could see that even he was getting worn down a little bit by the experience."
Iwata worked tirelessly to improve HAL's fortunes and, with Nintendo's help, returned the company to profitability shortly after he assumed leadership.
He would famously contribute to the development of Pokémon Gold and Silver, and, according to Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of The Pokémon Company, he was vital in bringing the Pokémon series to the West.
Having joined Nintendo in 2000 as head of its corporate planning division, Iwata took over as president in 2002, following Yamauchi's retirement. He would oversee the launch of the Nintendo DS and Wii (two of Nintendo's most commercially successful hardware releases), as well as the 3DS and Wii U.
He tragically passed away in 2015, aged 55, following a battle with cancer.