The just-released book “Iwata-san” features a series of memories of the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata shared by his colleagues and friends. These include Shigeru Miyamoto, Earthbound creator Shigesato Itoi, along with a selection of Iwata Asks transcripts, among many others.
In the book, Miyamoto opens up about the death of his friend, perhaps for the first time. That’s something sacred, given how privately Japanese handle matters regarding diseases and death.
“To me, he was a friend more than anything,” Miyamoto wrote in a portion of the book translated by IGN. “It never felt like he was my boss or that I was working under him. He never got angry; we never fought about anything.”
In another passage of the book, the creator of Mario adds that Nintendo has been “doing just fine” without Iwata. But Miyamoto said it’s difficult not having his friend around, as he grew used to having crazy ideas during the weekend and told Iwata them for a laugh.
“He left many words and structures that live on in the work of our younger employees today,” Miyamoto says. “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.”
Additionally, Itoi recalls a moment at the funeral where he chatted with Miyamoto about how Iwata was dealing with his health issues. Itoi, the father of Zelda, said that the late president has always believed he would be better soon as he didn’t want to die.
“‘He totally believed that he would become better. He didn’t have the slightest intention to die.’,” Itoi reminds Miyamoto telling him. “That answer made me realize just how close Miyamoto and Iwata were, and to what extent they understood each other.”
The book is currently only available in Japan.
