In the midwest.
In most places, it's 10-4 already.

I knew all this. It is truly sad that he died like that. This guy was Miyamoto material since he started on Nintendo. I think he deserves a much better place in the video game history books (if there was any).

Also, while Miyamoto was making the SMB games on the NES, Yokoi was making the Super Mario Land games on the GB. Erego, Yokoi is the man behind "Hi I'm Daisy!" and possibly even Wario, but I'm not exactly sure how involved he was in Super Mario Land 2.

The next project would of course be the one and only Game boy, which would use his philosophy of “lateral thinking of withered technology” to its greatest potential. By this he meant using old technology to create something new for the consumer at a cheap and affordable price, which is exactly what he did with the Game boy.

This is without a doubt his most important legacy to our day. Rather than pumping a gaming machine full of the latest and untested hardware, it's better to use existing technology that's reliable and cheap in an innovative manner. This guy is pretty much the reason the Wii and DS are doing so well against their technically advanced competitors.

Lots of people know who Gunpey Yokoi was; for me he was the exact opposite of Ken Kutaragi... RIP Gunpey...

Yep that's right. Hiroshi Yamauchi definitely had an eye for talent and Nintendo's very legacy is basically rooted in these 3 men:

Yamauchi the businessman who had the sense to transition his company from just playing cards to toys and by extension videogames piercing new markets with a sound (and profitable) businessplan.

Yokoi the inventor/tinkerer who laid out Nintendo's whole production philosophy as well as created the totally unique division of videogaming known as handheld gaming (which is why no one can really beat Nintendo at it) among other inventive gadgets that helped Nintendo transform itself in the 1970s.

Miyamoto the visionary who can conjure up countless ideas for software and hardware allowing the company to stay fresh and everlasting no matter how the industry comes about. The magic man.

I call them the 3 pillars of Nintendo and of course others contributed to their success as well but the core company philosophy comes from these 3 men.

And guess what?

I have a feeling Nintendo will revisit Yokoi's idea for the Virtual Boy one day and put it on the market. The idea not necessarily the hardware and components but the vision he set forth. Could be 10 years from now or maybe 20 but Nintendo will pioneer this field in a gaming aspect and continue to wow in the years to come as the Great Oak Tree of this industry.

Yokoi's vision was just ahead of the technology of the day. So sad he died the way he did. He surely is not appreciated enough and I'm so glad you highlighted him here, Mr. Nice.

R.I.P. Mr. Yokoi.

John Lucas 

great thread.

good read, thanks for making an intelligent thread

I cried on October 5, 1997 when I found out he died. I knew he was never going back to Nintendo after the shunning of Virtual Boy (which I still own; and proudly might I add!) and his inability to save public relations dealing with the console.

He was, and probably still is, the most creative person to ever grace electronic entertainment. His ability to understand not only what would be successful, but how to make that vision a reality makes him an impact that I believe the gaming industry will never be able to top. He pretty much gave us the Nintendo Game Boy, Nintendo Virtual Boy, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo Wii. It took the company ten years to overcome his loss and how did they do it? By duplicating his methods.

I still feel he is here. Everytime I play a Nintendo Wii or DS game, I know his integrity is what makes these pieces of hardware so enjoyable. I really miss you Gunpei... He was my hero coming up. Even more than Shiggy or John Carmack. The man is basically Ghaude in my eyes.

Great read. Very touching. How he died still hurts me to this day. And reading the news of it is still fresh in my head. I remember thinking Nintendo hired people to kill him because of his work with WonderSwan.

@Rubang B
Yeah, he created Daisy and possibly even Wario and he would go on to produce Super Mario Land 2, and 3, which was the beginning of the Wario Land series.