The Industry's Finest - Gunpei Yokoi - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 10 September 2009 / 28,408 Views
There’s no mistake that Nintendo’s Gunpei Yokoi changed gaming forever, but just how exactly? Sure, those of us who have known about Yokoi understand that he was responsible for some of the industry’s most important hardware creations like the Game Boy and played a key role in iconic franchises such as Metroid. It is, however, difficult to imagine that a one-time assembly-line maintainer could propel himself to the top of Nintendo’s ranks all while revolutionizing several aspects of video game hardware and software in a lifetime that was infamously cut short. As VGChartz takes a look back at the life of Gunpei Yokoi and all of his creations, we will discover how Yokoi and his team at Nintendo changed the way that video games were perceived by the masses for eternity.
Finding Nintendo
Unfortunately, very little has been documented about the early life of Gunpei Yokoi, (at least in English), but it’s likely not much of his childhood had much of a lasting impact on what he would go on to accomplish. On September 10, 1941, Gunpei (also written as “Gumpei”), Yokoi was born in Kyoto, Japan. He would live his childhood in Kyoto as his father was a director of a pharmaceutical company in the city. As Yokoi developed into a young adult and graduated from Doshisha University in Kyoto with a degree in electronics while possessing a keen sense of math and science, he grew to have a deep fascination for a couple of hobbies. The first, which is known by few, is that Yokoi had loved to sing and play the piano and even had a CD containing his compositions released posthumously in Japan. Yokoi’s other, more widely known hobby was his passion for tinkering with certain mechanical odds and ends and creating small gadgets like toys and radios on the weekends with these parts. In the beginning, neither hobby paved the way for much of anything after college as Yokoi tirelessly sent job applications everywhere until finally landing a job at a company called Nintendo in 1965.
Nintendo was responsible for creating popular Hanafuda playing cards at the time and branded their new employee with the task of maintaining the card assembly lines all by his lonesome. Yokoi would keep this position for several months until one day Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi felt it was time for Nintendo to change strides and establish itself as a serious competitor in the toy industry. Yamauchi, who had recently created a new division simply called “Games”, needed a prime toy that would not only have the tenacity to compete against a nearly limitless pack of competitors, but a toy that could do so during the holiday season just in time for the Christmas rush. Under Yamauchi’s request, it would be Yokoi’s job to do the inventing. According to the book Game Over by David Sheff, Yokoi would ask, “What do you want me to make?” “Something great,” Yamauchi would respond. Little did Yamauchi realize that Yokoi had already done so.
Ultra Inventions
What Yokoi had created not only would solidify a healthy 1966 holiday season for Nintendo, but ultimately a very respectable position in the world of toys. Titled the “Ultra Hand”, Yokoi’s first Nintendo product was a small wooden latticework with two grips at one end of the device and two handles at the other. If the two handles were pushed together, the object would extend itself in the direction pointed while the grips at the end would come together. Selling more than 1.2 million units at roughly six dollars apiece, the Ultra Hand gave way to what would be known as the “Ultra” series of toys in the coming years. It would once again be Yokoi’s duty to do the designing, and up to no other than Yamauchi to judge whether or not a toy would hit mass-market penetration and be worthy of Nintendo’s time. According to Yokoi, although Yamauchi had no previous background in the engineering field, he had a natural talent for understanding whether or not a product idea would succeed or fail and would often times give him tips for improvement. A superb example that shows off the originality and creativity that went into Yokoi’s inventions was dubbed the “Ultra Machine”, a small made-for-the-house soft baseball launcher that players would bat. The item would go on to sell 700,000 units, and was another huge hit for an early 1970’s Nintendo.
Perhaps one of the most creatively designed items for Yokoi and Nintendo was what was simply called a “Love Tester”. A boy and girl would each hold each other’s hands while their other hand would be placed on the handles of the tester. The device would then measure the current passing through the couple’s hands and would spit out a conclusion of how much love the two possessed based on the current amount. Of course, the true purpose of the toy was to simply have the boy and girl hold hands in a time where that was considered dicey business in Japan. Yokoi would point out if the device were to be successful outside of Japan it would have needed to involve kissing. Aside from love testers and “Ultra” products, a variety of popular toys such as “Drive Game” and “Mach Rider” would be released in the late 1960s and early 1970s from Yokoi and Nintendo.
Shooting and Gaming
One day, in the midst of Nintendo’s toy years, Sharp’s Masayuki Uemura met with Yokoi in an attempt to sell the company’s solar cells. Brilliantly, Yokoi hired Uemura away from Sharp in an attempt to work together to devise a way to put these solar sells to use in toys. Yamauchi, who was demanding Yokoi come up with more electronic devices after the Love Tester’s success, was also pleased with this prospect. Together, Yokoi and Uemura designed a light gun that when fired at a small cell would essentially either cut or create energy inside of the cell. When this concept was applied to a toy, a player could fire their make believe gun at something such as a bottle and when the cells in the bottle detected a hit, the bottle would create a programmed reaction. Thus, the “Nintendo Beam Gun” game was created, packaged with several shoot-able targets, and was so much a success that Nintendo didn’t stop with a simple toy. Yokoi had recently tried skeet shooting and envisioned his own solar cell games being used in a similar manner. Yamauchi liked the idea, and Nintendo had its own shooting ranges created. Players would shoot at simulated clay pigeons, and when the cells inside these pigeons were hit, a scoreboard would keep track of and tally points. Yokoi recalled the early days warmly stating, “It was a time of great fun. I saw myself as a cartoonist who understood movements in the world and created abstractions out of them.” But the times were changing. Elsewhere around the world, electronic entertainment was beginning to really boom in the form of video games, and the technology required to make these devices was finally cheap enough to mass-produce. If Nintendo was impressed with what electronics had offered them so far, they would be blown away at what their electronics future had in store for not only its brilliant engineers, but for consumers the world over.
After Nintendo and Mitsubishi united in a short stint to release what was called the Color TV Game 6 (and its sequel Color Game 16), Yamauchi wanted a product that would separate itself from its gaming competitors, something that flaunted innovation. Yokoi was there to answer his call. Legend has it that while traveling home via bullet train, Yokoi witnessed a man playing with his calculator while passing time. At the time, calculators were not only steadily declining in sheer size, but in price as well with many for sale for little more than ten bucks. What if you could somehow change this everyday small electronic device into something fun, something cheap, and something never quite seen before? From this thought process, Yokoi developed the Game & Watch, a small handheld device that contained a playable game, and a built in clock and alarm.
The first titles in the G&W library were seemingly very simple and oftentimes needed only two buttons. “Ball”, the very first title released on April 28, 1980, tasked players with juggling two to three balls with an onscreen character depending on the difficulty. Eventually, the G&W hardware became a bit more complex, with games launching that required players to move not only horizontally, but vertically as well. In turn, Yokoi developed the “D-pad”, a cross-shaped directional button that would not only give consumers’ thumbs an easier way to control gameplay, but play an instrumental role in the industry’s future hardware creations. From 1980 to 1991, the G&W boasted a variety of hardware modifications and upgrades that included both a two-player version and a dual screened design that very much resembles today’s Nintendo DS. If anything continuously stayed synonymous with the G&W, it was the way in which they were all created. “The Nintendo way of adapting technology is not to look for state of the art but to utilize mature technology that can be mass –produced cheaply,” Yokoi would say when discussing the line of handhelds.
Taking Care of Business
Soon after Yokoi and Nintendo were underway with G&W, another problem would arise. The company’s arcade title “Radarscope” performed abysmally in terms of revenue and Yamauchi called in Yokoi to redo the game so it would fare better in arcades. In order to accomplish this, Yokoi took in a young Miyamoto under his wing, and the duo came up with a completely different concept altogether. What was once a very typical shooting title was transformed into what is today known as “Donkey Kong”. The game was a smashing success, and featured groundbreaking gameplay aspects for 1981 such as characterizations and short cut-scenes to progress stages. After the popularity Donkey Kong had garnered at arcades worldwide, Yokoi also oversaw Miyamoto’s next arcade projects “Donkey Kong Jr.” and most notably “Mario Bros.” Like Donkey Kong before it, Mario Bros. was also racking in coins at arcades for Nintendo, leaving Yokoi with the idea of porting these arcade titles to his flourishing G&W line of products. Miyamoto would be at Yokoi’s side during it all, and eventually was an integral component in G&W development. Yokoi would go on to say that Miyamoto “would do the creating while I supervised,” when referring to the development of G&W games. But Yamauchi and Nintendo were still thinking on a bigger scale, and in order to gain more ground in the infant video game industry, the launch of a serious home console was desperately needed.
After Yokoi and Masayuki Uemura cemented deals with companies that would supply them with the correct chips for their new console, it was up to the two head leaders and their respective engineers to produce not only a system that would do what existing video game hardware like the Atari 2600 and Intellivision could, but do it altogether better and at a cheaper price. On July 15, 1983 the “Famicom” was released in Japan alongside launch games that were ports of previous Nintendo arcade hits like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. It was yet another success for Nintendo, and the once thin company was starting to get larger. Yamauchi ordered that Nintendo be split up into four Research and Development groups, with Yokoi at the helm of R&D1, splitting from Miyamoto who was to lead his own R&D4 group. Each R&D group was designated different tasks depending on what Yamauchi had wanted at the time, and each fought amongst each other for Yamauchi’s praise, working diligently to complete tasks. Yokoi’s R&D1 (filled with 45 programmers, designers, and engineers) was no exception, and at the beginning of the Famicom’s life cycle they developed titles from an assortment of genres including hits such as “Clu Clu Land” and a plethora of sports games. As the Famicom passed and the Famicom Disk System began its reign (in 1986 to be exact), Yokoi produced some of the most reputable titles of the Famicom era, including the fan favorite “Metroid”, a title that combined Super Mario’s side scrolling action with Zelda’s puzzle-laden environment where exploring played as much of a role in gameplay as did the action. Within no more than a few months, “Kid Icarus”, a title that ran off of the Metroid engine, would also be released, and with it came a cult following that remains unrivaled to this day.
Soon after these releases part of Yokoi’s R&D1 team splintered off into Intelligent Systems, an in-house first party developer for Nintendo. In addition to his R&D1 titles, Yokoi would produce several Intelligent Systems titles for the Famicom and beyond, including strategic wonders “Fire Emblem” and “Famicom Wars” (Advance Wars outside Japan).
Anywhere, Anytime
Yokoi and R&D1 didn’t stop with software, as Yokoi and his team were also responsible for the creation of R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy), a peripheral that was packaged with every NES sold in America to cajole those fearful of video games since the infamous 1983 gaming crash into purchasing an entertainment device that was supposed to be completely different and fresh. With the help of R.O.B. and superb software to boot, NES hardware was flying off shelves faster than ever expected, helping Nintendo secure a staggering 93% - 97% of the world console market. And that’s when it happened. What if this same ideology, the combination of cheap but solid hardware with a second-to-none list of interchangeable cartridge software, was applied to the handheld video game market? Yokoi and his team immediately got to work on this concept, and finally in 1989 the “Game Boy” was ready for release. The handheld, which would soon replace the G&W line of portable games, married the aforementioned hardware concept according to Yokoi’s specifications in a way never before seen. The Game Boy ran off of just four AA batteries, and to many people’s dismay, lacked a color screen. But without color, not only did the device require less batteries, it managed a much longer battery life. Best of all, the system was only $80, and added software just $20 - $25. Selling out in just two weeks in Japan and 40,000 units in the USA on day one, the Game Boy quickly propelled Nintendo and Yokoi into the heavens, destroying more technologically advanced systems like Sega’s Game Gear and Atari’s Lynx in sales, and becoming one of the most sought after gaming devices of al time.
To ensure customers remained happy and would keep coming back to Game Boy for their portable gaming needs, Yokoi produced many of the platform’s best titles in the coming years, such as a sequel to the top selling Metroid, and the “Super Mario Land” series of games, which provided players with the Mario fun they experienced on the NES in portable form. The series would also introduce both “Wario” and “Daisy” into the Mario universe.
With the success of the Game Boy, Yokoi had kept his winning streak alive – a winning streak that had dated back to the 1960s with the creation of the Ultra Hand. The Game Boy, which (including the Color) would go on to sell over 118 million units worldwide. With this success, came unrivaled respect for Yokoi, respect that transcended the boundaries of Nintendo, respect from both rival companies and consumers. But Yokoi didn’t see himself in this regard. In his own light, he was nothing more than a background man, no different than any other employee who stepped foot inside of Nintendo and gave their all to the company. Even after the Game Boy’s success, he still wanted to create, the very same thing he had done time and time again for the last 20 years. His next goal – create something the gaming world had never seen before. And create he did.
Seeing Red
Although Yokoi would continue to produce key software titles for the Game Boy and the recently released “Super Famicom” (SNES for non Japanese speakers), most of his time was preoccupied with his next system. In 1992, Yokoi began creating what was to be the first portable video game system to feature true 3D graphics. At this time, gaming journalism was beginning to really hit its stride in the form of news and interviews in their own special gaming magazine. Very much unlike previous hardware reveals, when this 3D portable system (codenamed VR32) was first revealed to a very intrigued public in early 1994, people were less then thrilled with what they saw, and gaming journalists were there to cover it all. What Yokoi and his R&D1 team had been hyping as a gaming console that allowed you to experience a new sensation by immersing yourself in 3D gameplay wasn’t at all what people had hoped for. The console, which sat upon two leg stands, required players to look inside of a large mounted display to play the console. What players saw were mostly 2D effects that were in all red. At CES 1995, gaming journalist Stephen L. Kent asked Yokoi why the now called “Virtual Boy” was created, Yokoi responded, “I saw that the market was so saturated with video games that it became nearly impossible to create anything new. There were a lot of creative ideas for games for the NES and for Game Boy. But there are not so many new ideas for games for the Super Nintendo. I think game companies ran out of new ideas. I wanted to create a new kind of game that was not a video game so that designers could come up with new ideas." And why on earth have the Virtual Boy sport a red display? According to Yokoi, “Color graphics give people the impression that a game is high-tech. But just because a game has a beautiful display does not mean that the game is fun to play. LED comes in red, yellow, blue, and green. Red uses less battery power. It is easier to recognize red images. That is why red is used for traffic lights."
Even though only a handful of games were ready for release for the Virtual Boy thanks to what Yokoi called Hiroshi Yamauchi’s way of limiting poor quality software by giving only select developers a chance to develop for the system in a 1994 interview with Next Generation Magazine, Nintendo felt it was ready for launch in 1995. After Yokoi and Nintendo had said they had expected 3 million first year hardware sales in Japan, the Virtual Boy was a complete disaster not only in terms of sales, but also in the eyes of gamers who had already disclosed their displeasure with the system in the months beforehand. They hated the red monochrome display, the games were lacking, and for $180 it just wasn’t worth it. In no time, fans moved the hype on over to the Nintendo 64, leaving the Virtual Boy to sputter to an early death in 1996, having not even launched in Europe. To put it simply, Yokoi was distraught.
Moving Forward
After the Virtual Boy debacle, Nintendo was severely disappointed in Yokoi. According to them he had brought embarrassment and failure to a company that had never lost in the gaming industry, an industry they played a huge role in creating. Because of this, Yokoi was left with rudimentary jobs at Nintendo, and no longer had the creative freedom he had lived for. Yokoi would go on to create for Nintendo once more by developing the smaller and sleeker “Game Boy Pocket”, before handing in his resignation slip on August 15, 1996. When asked why he left his seemingly “job for life” at Nintendo, instead of firing back at the company that had just viciously turned him, he instead stated he was very discontent with the lack of “creative genius in contemporary Japan”. In order to accomplish the vision of inventing creative products, Yokoi felt he needed a small team of around only 30 people, and a new start at a new company. On September 11, 1996 Yokoi would start Koto Laboratories in Kyoto, a company dedicated to carrying out this mission. He and his newly devised team began development on a new handheld system later named “WonderSwan”. Unfortunately, Yokoi wouldn’t live to see its release.
On October 4, 1997 when traveling on the Hokuriku Expressway in Neagarimachi, Ishikawa Prefecture, Yokoi and Nintendo businessman Estuo Kiso were involved in a minor car accident. Upon leaving the vehicle and checking for damage, Yokoi was sideswiped by an oncoming car. Although rushed to the hospital, Yokoi would be declared dead two hours later. He was 56 years old.
But not even death would separate Yokoi from his passion and love of creating.
Towards a New Generation
On March 6, 2003 Yokoi would be honored posthumously with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. The award, which was presented by iconic game designer Yuji Naka, was received by Yokoi’s son and wife. It was time to celebrate Yokoi’s life and his creations, with most of which being developed with Yokoi’s “Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology” philosophy. What is meant by the philosophy is that mature and inexpensive technology can be used in a variety of unique and satisfying ways, and that cutting edge technology can get in the way of the development of a product. According to Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata, this concept is still a large part of Nintendo and their products, with prime examples of both the Wii and Nintendo DS having been created with the philosophy in mind. It should also be noted that much like in the past when Yokoi was enforcing this rule in his products at Nintendo, that both consoles have beaten much more technologically advanced products in their current respective generations.
It doesn’t stop there.
In a time when handheld video game consoles like Nintendo DS and Sony’s PSP have taken the world (especially Japan) by storm in dominating sales and market penetration, just how much of this success can we attribute to Yokoi? Or how about this: would we still see portable video game systems on the market today if it weren’t for Yokoi and his ideas? Probably. But would they be playing the crucial role that they are today in the video game market? Would many of the greatest iconic franchises that got their start on the handhelds even be around today? If so, to what extent? Whatever your answer may be, perhaps former Nintendo of America President Howard Lincoln said it best when asked about his thoughts on the legacy Yokoi left on gaming. "I've known Mr. Yokoi for a long time. He had a great sense of humor, a great smile... a very generous and outgoing fellow. He made a tremendous amount of creative contributions to Nintendo and the video game business over the years. People play Game Boy all over the world, and that's Mr. Yokoi's."
And not just for Yokoi’s contributions towards the portable market as a whole, but also for the video gaming medium, we salute him.
Yokoi's Credits
Note: The list only contains products and/or software that Yokoi has without question been associated with. He was likely involved with many more titles before Nintendo incorporated credits into their games, but it’s currently unknown.
TOYS
Ultra Hand (1966)
Drive Game (1966)
People House (1968)
Light Ray Gun SP Series (1968)
Ultra Machine (1968)
NB Block Crater (1969)
Love Tester (1969)
Ultra Scope (1969)
Candy Machine (1970)
Ele-conga (1970)
Light Ray Telephone LT (1971)
Lefty RX (1972)
Miracle Trump (1972)
Time Shock (1972)
Mach Rider (1973)
Power Lift (1973)
Laser Kure Clay Shooting System (1973)
Wild Gunman (1974)
Shooting Trainer (1974)
Jet Launcher (1974)
Light Ray Gun Custom Series (1976)
Duck Hunt (1977)
Battle Shark Skyhawk (1977)
The Chilean Tree (1979)
Chiritorie (1979)
Ten Billion (1981)
Computer Mahjong (1981)
VIDEO GAMES
Game & Watch Titles (1980 – 1991, Unknown which exact games and what role)
Donkey Kong (Arcade)(1981, Producer)
Donkey Kong Junior (Arcade)(1983, Producer)
Mario Bros. (Arcade)(1984, Producer)
Metroid (NES)(1986, Producer)
Kid Icarus (NES)(1986, Producer)
Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir (NES)(1988, Producer)
Famicom Wars (NES)(1988, Producer)
Super Mario Land (GB)(1989, Producer)
Famicom Detective Club II: The Girl in Black (NES)(1989, Producer)
Solar Striker (GB)(1990, Producer)
Fire Emblem (NES)(1990, Producer)
Dr. Mario (NES, GB) (1990, Producer)
Balloon Kid (GB) (1990, Producer)
Metroid II: Return of Samus (GB)(1991, Producer)
Fire Emblem Gaiden (NES) (1992, Producer)
Yoshi’s Cookie (NES, GB) (1992, Producer)
X (GB) (1992, Producer)
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB) (1992, Producer)
For the Frog the Bell Tolls (GB) (1992, Special Thanks)
Battle Clash (SNES) (1992, Producer)
Metal Combat: Falcon’s Revenge (SNES)(1993, Producer)
Mario & Wario (SNES)(1993, Executive Producer)
Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (SNES)(1993, Producer)
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB)(1994, Producer)
Super Metroid (SNES) (1994, General Manager)
Virtual Boy Wario Land (VB) (1995, Producer)
Tetris Attack (1996)/Panel de Pon (SNES, GB)(1995, Producer)
Kirby’s Block Ball (GB) (1995, Producer)
TeleroBoxer (VB) (1995, General Manager)
Mario’s Tennis (VB)(1995, Producer)
Mario Clash (VB) (1995, Unknown)
Golf (VB) (1995, Producer)
Galactic Pinball (VB)(1995, General Manager)
Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War (1996)(SNES, Producer)
3D Tetris (VB)(1996, Producer)
Balloon Fight GB (GB) (2000, Producer)
Dr. Mario 64 (N64) (2001, Original Concept)
Metroid Prime (GCN) (2002, Special Thanks) (1st edition only)
VIDEO GAME HARDWARE
Game & Watch and all future iterations (1980 – 1991)
D-pad (1983)
Famicom (helped) (1983)
R.O.B. (1985)
Game Boy (1989)
Super Famicom (1990) (helped)
Super Scope (1992)
Virtual Boy (1995)
Game Boy Pocket (1996)
Game Boy Camera (1998, Special Thanks)
WonderSwan (1999) (Before Death)
Acknowledgments: David Sheff and his Game Over book that supplied all Yokoi quotes unless otherwise listed
http://yokoicredits.bananachan.net/ for credits and some great pics
More Articles
Its strange that he die in the company of a Nintendo businessman when he was to release a handheld for his company.
Yokoi was a true genius and moreover a creative mind who helped pioneer the gaming industry. Nintendo would never have grown to be the king of gaming without him. It is such a shame that he was disgraced within the company. He deserved much better after all he had done for the company.
[url="http://www.ghdhairsales.co.uk/"]GHD Hair[/url] Straighteners Sale, Cheap GHD Straightners Store in UK. We stock all of the latest [url="http://www.ukghdstore.co.uk/"]ghd hair straighteners[/url] and accessories at competitive prices and offer a service that is second to none. GHD MK4 Kiss, [url="http://www.ghdhairsales.co.uk/GHD-IV-MK4-Kiss.html"]GHD MK4 Kiss[/url] Hair Straighteners On Sale. [url="http://www.ghdhairsales.co.uk/MK4/"]GHD MK4[/url] , GHD IV MK4 Hair Straighteners On Sale The [url="http://www.ghdhairsales.co.uk/GHD-IV-MK4-Black.html"]GHD MK4 Black[/url] Hair Straighteners are all highest quality and lowest price. Save 50%. When 2009 Christmas day comes, [url="http://www.uschristmasgifts.com" title="christmas gift"]Christmas Gifts[/url] store provide variety christmas gifts for different recipient.
I still believe he was killed by Nintendo and that it was not a freak accident.
my respect for Gunpei Yokoi has grown very much..
Rest in peace, Gunpei Yokoi: quite possibly the greatest mind gaming has ever seen.
One of the worst sins against gaming that anyone has ever committed was when Nintendo hung the poor man out to dry. I wouldn't call it THE worst -I'd give that to the Soviet government's treatment of Alexei Pajitnov- but it certainly belongs on a very short list.
RIP, the industry truly did lose one of it's greatest (arguably even the best).
My respect for him has grown after reading this.
Great Article. He was a visionary.
Without his inventions, Gaming would not be the same today. The Game Boy is the most succesfull Handheld ever, i played Super Mario land and Zelda for Months.
R.I.P. Gunpei...The Gamers would never forgett, that it was you, who brought Videogames to breath...
Such a shame that like 30 years of hit after hit meant nothing, and he was all but fired (Japan style) due ot one failure. Yamauchi never seemed to put the same strict winning cycle towards himself, as Nintendo's home consoles saw more and more market loss under his leadership. Then again, they never lost a profit. I guess in the end, that's what mattered. And having Virtual Boy fail to make a profit, was a big no no. Still, a shame to see how he was treated.
Gunpei Yokoi was one of the men who made me notice producers and developers in gaming, along with Miyamoto. Although its been said many times before, I wish he could have lived longer. Who knows what could have happened if he was alive today during the run of the DS. Heck, we might even have a completely different Nintendo.
one of the geniuses of the industry ... Nintendo of course ...
Wow that was an amazing read. Great article, thanks for all this info on the great Gunpei Yokoi. The man behind the "D-pad" wow...he's a genius!
I've still got my Virtual Boy..
Sadly many remember him as the guy behind Virtual boy :s.
Great read, i salute you Yokoi-san. Thanks for the good memories.
Thank you Mr Yokoi Gumpei for everything you've done to the toys & video-gaming industry R.I.P.
indeed one of the industry's finest, put your hands together for the man who made it happen. r.i.p.
thats a big list of contributions,a salute to one of the greatest.
One of "The greatest". Will live forever.
Alex, very good article :)
oh so that's who he is. I always thought people were talking about 7 samurai when they mentioned his name. It's pretty similar to one of the samurai if not the same.
The most important dreamer in the entire video game industry. And this is why I have over 10 Game Boys.
hes such a legend, we wouldn't have handheld gaming if it wasn't for him
In Memory of Toy & Game Inventor Gunpei Yokoi-san 1941 - 1997:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anyTBA46eyY
Never Forgotten R.I.P
all my respect and admiration to this man, such a visionary and genius man.
This man was a genious. May he rest in peace.
Aye I always wondered how a metroid game would of been like on the N64. He looked well for 56, and I bet he would look great for 68 today.
At ph4nt: Thanks
Yeah, it's sad how his career at nintendo ended.
Wow. interesting. I never heard of this guy until yesterday when I was researching the original gameboy, then I read all about him.
R.I.P. He was truly a brilliant man,and as a gamer, I wish his situation with Nintendo didn't end like it did.
Who knows how many ideas he left this earth with, and how many new original games could've been created in the 11+ years since his passing. Having him and Miyamoto still around as team would've been great. I pay my respects.
Wow great read! However I think the original gameboy ran off 4 AA batteries.
