Smash Bros. Creator Sakurai Offers Heartbreaking Tribute to Late Nintendo President Iwata as He Winds Down Popular YouTube Channel

In one of his final videos as part of the "Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games" YouTube series, Smash Bros. Masahiro creator offered a touching tribute to his friend and former boss Satoru Iwata, who served as Nintendo president from 2002 until his death in 2015.

"It wouldn't be right to end this channel without touching on this topic," Sakurai wrote on X/Twitter.

Sakurai, who opened the channel to talk about his experiences developing games, worked with Iwata at HAL Laboratory before the latter moved to Nintendo in 2000 as the head of corporate planning. Sakurai shares several touching memories over the course of the 10 minute video, including their first job interview, how Iwata helped come up with the title of Super Smash Bros., and the last time they saw one another.

While Iwata's management role typically kept him far away from development, he nevertheless played a key role in Smash Bros. Melee's development by contributing his expertise as a programmer and solving numerous bugs. Sakurai also remembers how Iwata came up with the "brothers" part of Super Smash Bros., which was meant to convey that the characters weren't actually fighting, but friends solving a little disagreement.

Sakurai goes on to recall his shock at Iwata succeeding Hiroshi Yamauchi as Nintendo president, calling it "frankly unimaginable" that a comparative outsider should take over what had been a family-owned business for generations after just two years with the company. Nevertheless, he said, Iwata proved to be a major force at Nintendo, contributing numerous ideas such as the Iwata Asks series, the concept of the Nintendo Direct, and more.

Sakurai finishes by remembering their final drive together, and how they had planned to meet again later that year before Iwata suddenly passed away in July.

Masahiro Sakurai recalls the last time he saw Satoru Iwata. Image source: Masahiro Sakurai on Creating Games.

"Mr. Iwata was truly the person who understood me best," Sakurai said. "He was full of virtue, relentlessly hardworking, committed to service, and a man who changed the games industry. If I hadn't met Mr. Iwata at the start of my career, I'd probably be off doing something completely different."

Iwata's influence continues to be felt in games even now, close to a decade after his death. Just this week, Nintendo released Alarmo, an idea that was near and dear to Iwata's heart. An Echoes of Wisdom easter egg also seemingly paid tribute to his friendship with former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé,

Sakurai's tribute to Iwata is one of his final videos as he winds down his YouTube channel, which started in 2022 and has 589,000 subscribers. He says that he continues to make games for the time being, but his next project is currently unknown.

Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.