Gunpei Yokoi
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Gunpei Yokoi (September 10, 1941 – October 4, 1997) was one of Nintendo's most famous developers, responsible for famous devices such as the Game Boy, Game & Watch, and D-Pad. He was the producer of the famous video game series Metroid. He also produced Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. Yokoi was also Shigeru Miyamoto's mentor.
History
Born on September 10, 1941, Yokoi was raised in Kyoto, Japan. He began working for Nintendo in 1965, at the age of 24. He had just graduated from Doshisha University, and got his electronics degree. He wanted to test what he had learned. His original job was the Janitor of Nintendo. However, in 1970, his life would change. While looking around the Nintendo Headquarters, Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo at the time, noticed an extending arm toy that Yokoi had made in his spare time called the Ultra Hand. Interested in the product, he told Yokoi to mass-produce it and sell it. The Ultra Hand was a huge commercial success, and Yokoi was upgraded to product developer. He continued his toy production, and he became one of the most well-known figures in Nintendo. He then proceeded to use his experience to tutor Miyamoto on the many skills he had learned.
In the 1980's, when Nintendo started making video games, Yamauchi wanted to make a handheld system from Nintendo, to make the company more well-known. He gave the project to Gunpei Yokoi, who spent a long time coming up with a console. He noticed a man in a train playing with the buttons on his calculator, and Yokoi got a brilliant idea. He made a small handheld console with an LCD screen. He called it, the Game & Watch. It became a best-seller, and the games sold more than 40 million worldwide. Yokoi eventually became the head of the first-party company, R&D1, which was responsible for the game Mario Bros.. He eventually created the Game Boy, and he also made the entire line of Game Boy handhelds after that (excluding the Game Boy Advance), and he also created the characters Princess Daisy, Wario, and Pit from Kid Icarus to name a few. He left Nintendo after the unsuccessful Virtual Boy console (he was very upset and took very personally the failure of that system) and started working for Koto Laboratory.
Sadly, 250 miles northeast of Tokyo, Yokoi died in a car accident when after a minor fender bender, he got out to inspect the damage of the vehicle and was then struck by two other automobiles, fatally crushing him on October 4, 1997. His death was broadcasted worldwide soon after. Without Yokoi, gamers around the globe might not have the handheld consoles they know and love today. In 2003, Yokoi posthumously received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards.
Trivia
- During the credits of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 for the Game Boy, his name was misspelled as "Gumpei Yokoi".
- The Ultra Hand is seen in Mario Power Tennis for the Nintendo GameCube and Wii as Wario's Defensive Power Shot, known as the Ultra-Hand Return.
- The Ultra Hand makes cameos in the microgames Ultra Hand in WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania, and Clawing for More in WarioWare: Touched!.
