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[Polygon] ‘Ask Iwata,’ a book of wisdom from the late Nintendo president, to publish in English

Maiden Voyage

Gold™ Member
"Compilation of thoughts from, and about, Satoru Iwata, first published in Japan in 2019."


A memorial compilation of writings from, and about, the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, will be published in English this spring.

Titled Ask Iwata, the book contains excerpts from his popular series of public-facing “Iwata Asks” roundtables with Nintendo developers, as well as recollections from Nintendo luminaries who knew him best. The book was published in Japan in 2019 as Iwata-San, by Hobonichi, a company founded by Shigesato Itoi, the creator of Earthbound. Iwata was Itoi’s colleague at HAL Laboratory, the studio behind the Kirby franchise, in the 1990s, and was also a producer on Earthbound.

“On the day of Iwata’s funeral, it rained in torrents, and [Shigeru] Miyamoto and I were waiting around,” Itoi writes in the book (translations of its excerpts were published in July 2019 by IGN). Iwata died July 12, 2015, at age 55, of complications from cancer. “Suddenly I decided to ask him how much chance Iwata himself had believed he had to be cured.

“Miyamoto responded immediately, in a very natural manner,” Itoi continues, “‘He totally believed that he would become better. He didn’t have the slightest intention to die.’ That answer made me realize just how close Miyamoto and Iwata were, and to what extent they understood each other.”

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Nintendo’s Mario and Zelda franchises, among many other games, was named to Nintendo’s board of directors by Iwata shortly after Iwata took Nintendo’s helm in 2002. Iwata had come up through the company’s development ranks, which helped form the close relationship he had with the company’s most famous designer.

That background in games production and design also helped Iwata lead the candid roundtables with Nintendo developers, in which they discussed current products and franchises and revealed secrets behind their creation.

“Since he passed away, Nintendo has been doing just fine,” Miyamoto writes in Ask Iwata. “He left many words and structures that live on in the work of our younger employees today. The only problem is that, if there is some good-for-nothing idea I come up with over the weekend, I have no one to share it with the next Monday. That I can no longer hear him say, ‘Oh, about that thing …’ is a bit of a problem for me. It makes me sad.”

Iwata was also popular with Nintendo’s multitude of fans and customers, well known for his campy, cheerful appearances in the company’s Nintendo Direct marketing videos. Often seen waving to the camera, Itoi writes that the gesture had some deeper meaning with Iwata.

“Iwata said that the vision behind his business was to make everyone happy: himself, his friends at work, and his customers,” Itoi writes. “He used the English word for ‘happy’ instead of the Japanese word, which charmed me. It’s funny how you remember the most insignificant things, but whenever Iwata used the word ‘happy,’ he would show you the palms of both of his hands. That’s something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”

Ask Iwata will publish on April 13. It’s currently available in hardcover on Amazon for $22.99.

Out April 13th, 2021 @ $22.99

 

jufonuk

not tag worthy
Can imagine NintendoGAF having wet dreams at the prospect of owning this.
video games news GIF by NowThis
 

Hal.

Member
Flicked through the moonrunes version - it’s interesting and would recommend.

Not sure if any of you fucks are actually literate though 🤔
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
I'm gonna get one ASAP
 
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Do you often imagine grown men having wet dreams?
782578789c60ff95c9f9db701dfac609.gif

tenor.gif

tenor.gif


Think you have me confused with Master Cunth.
Already preordered, it will look nice next to my Princess Peach bikini poster above my headboard.

GTFO with your shitposting.
You haven't been to the Playstation Vs Xbox threads if you consider my post shitposting lol.
 

P.Jack

Member
Nice, more videogame literature is always a good thing. I recently read Darius Odyssey, which I very much enjoyed as a fan of the series. While that book is more of a documentation about technical details and game design philosophy, this seems like a personal potrait, of which there are far too few. I like that part about Game Makers Notebook, getting to know the people behind some of the greats. And Iwata was a legend and a creative genius, so this should be a good read.
 

ReyBrujo

Member
Not into videogames books but will probably hit it if they release it via Kindle, seems I arrived too late for preordering.
 

Kagoshima_Luke

Gold Member
Seems cool, but I just want a straight up print copy of all the Iwata Asks segments. They were amazing and I have concerns that much will be left out or edited in this.
 

Andyliini

Member
I'll buy this when it releases, should be fascinating read. Amazon UK actually just cancelled my preorder (due to Brexit, perhaps), but thankfully a local distributor will stock it, so I'll just get it there.
 

LarknThe4th

Member
Can imagine NintendoGAF having wet dreams at the prospect of owning this.
....and anyone who has even a passing interest in videogames

Iwata was a juggernaut of a man, an esteemed programmer to president of Nintendo at their pomp but still humble enough to just chill and chat shit with fellow devs

That's the kind of 'behind the curtain' stuff we need more of in this industry
 

UnNamed

Banned
I loved Iwata Ask, tons of informations and anecdotes about Nintendo games and the stories behind them. I particulary remember one Iwata Ask where Miyamoto talked about Virtual Boy and the issues about it's releasing, denying lot of commonplaces about this console.
 
....and anyone who has even a passing interest in videogames

Iwata was a juggernaut of a man, an esteemed programmer to president of Nintendo at their pomp but still humble enough to just chill and chat shit with fellow devs

That's the kind of 'behind the curtain' stuff we need more of in this industry
I’m not sure I would go that far, as the average person with a passing interest in games probably wouldn’t know who he was. His personality wasn’t that of a rambunctious CEO who craved the limelight, from my understanding he was a lot more reserved and soft spoken.
 
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