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Gunpei Yokoi sadly left us in 1997, but his legacy continues to be felt to this day.
In a freshly translated interview conducted shortly after his tragic death, Shigeru Miyamoto and other Nintendo staffers took the time to reflect on Yokoi's remarkable impact on themselves, Nintendo and the world of video games in general.
Miyamoto, who is arguably the most famous game designer in the world, had this to say about his late colleague:
"In my mind, Yokoi is still the General Manager of Nintendo R&D1, and the singular master I look up to in game design. Starting with the arcade version of Donkey Kong, I assisted him on several games. Almost without realizing it, I learned that instead of trying to pander to an audience, the best results come from simply making what you believe in. His work refining Tetris was also incredible. He took the original Tetris and added competitive play and garbage blocks, turning it into an even more entertaining game. That established the foundation for today's head-to-head puzzle-action genre. It didn't matter whose idea it was to begin with; when it came to stripping things down to basic principles and building new ideas, he was completely unpretentious about it, like a true craftsman.”
In the same interview, Miyamoto reveals that Yokoi was responsible for the idea of using turtles as foes in the arcade game Mario Bros., after the rest of the team had come up blank trying to think of a creature that would be weak to attacks from below.
Miyamoto adds:
"He had a knack for taking an idea born of logic and exaggerating it naturally. He loved American comedy cartoons like Tom and Jerry. But he always said that if you try too hard to force a joke, it ends up feeling cheap. If we had brought him an idea that was blatantly pandering to the audience, I'm sure he would have given us a disapproving look. ‘So what’s the actual idea here…?’" (laughs)
Yokoi created popular toys for Nintendo, including the Ultra Hand, the company's first commercial hit in this sector, and later the Game & Watch series.
Back in 1997, Miyamoto remained in awe of his ability to take a simple concept and turn it into something with mainstream appeal:
"Up until now, I always thought simple, 'pure idea' games were Yokoi's domain. I felt I didn't need to make those kinds of games because Yokoi was making them. But when I paid my respects at his funeral, that perspective changed. Now, I feel a strong desire to create something in the spirit of Yokoi."
Check out the full interview, which includes messages from Satoru Iwata, Hiroshi Imanishi and Satoshi Tajiri, over at Shmuplations.