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| Wyrdness said: Iwata set the ground work for what's happening now so I disagree even the Switch was something he was already working on when he passed, the current leadership inherited a good position they've not been tested the same way Iwata and even Yamauchi were. |
Why draw your conclusion from a single accomplishment? My argument is that Iwata didn’t manage the software pipeline all too well, and his handling of generational transitions was not good. He failed to keep Nintendo relevant during transition years, which is what led to Nintendo hitting such low lows during the Wii U. Wii was his only shining achievement, and even that is something I’d more attribute to Yamauchi who had set Iwata up with a plan going in: To decision to abandon power and enforce the Blue Ocean vision of Yokoi.
With all that’s gone on with the economy, it’s quite incredible that Nintendo has remainednas strong as it has— Furukawa has gone the trouble waters with flying colors in that regard. Under Iwata, we saw two poor console transitions that led Nintendo into dark times. And had Iwata been around for Switch, I question whether the system would’ve been as successful as it was. Launch year would have likely been more of the same from what we saw from the unimpressive (from the perspective of software) Wii/Wii U/3DS debut years— Wii was 100% carried by its innovative “fad” factor, a factor which didn’t translate into software successful for any non-Wii series titles (e.g. Star Fox and Metroid sold no better on Wii than they did on the much smaller install base GCN).
Iwata oversaw the software pipeline during the time when gamers felt abandoned by Nintendo. Iwata inherited a successful DS, wasn’t around to manage the entirety of the Switch debut, and fumbled the heavenly highs hit during the Wii/DS generation so terribly that we got Wii U and a 3DS was a massive price cut needing to save it. Iwata fumbled left and right, Furukawa has handled everything perfect.
Last edited by firebush03 - on 17 May 2026
