Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Kirby and Super Smash Bros, is bringing his YouTube channel to a close, and with that, the final "Grab Bag" episode has been dedicated to former Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata, who passed away in 2015 due to complications from cancer.
Going over the time and experiences he shared with Iwata, Sakurai says that it wouldn't be right to end his channel without a video like this. The full video can be seen at the bottom of this article, but readers can stick around to see some highlights and anecdotes from it:
Speaking about his first meeting with Iwata, Sakurai immediately noticed his smile, describing it as "carefree" and a "true expression of joy."
Later on, as Sakurai was busy working on Dragon King: The Fighting Game, the prototype for what would become Super Smash Bros, Iwata jumped in to help out with the project despite being extremely busy himself- going so far as to use his days off to assist him.
When Iwata became CEO of Nintendo, Sakurai described it as being a "surprise" at the time, given the role traditionally being given to members of the Yamauchi family and Iwata having only been with Nintendo for two years at that point, but that it had "certainly felt like the right pick" from his point of view.
In Iwata's final days, when he seemed to be healing from his complications, Sakurai drove him to Narita International Airport, sharing some stories and laughs along the way, not knowing it would be their last time together.
Sakurai ends off by saying that "Mr. Iwata was truly the person who understood me the most," crediting him for putting him down the path that he's now on, and commending him for always being "full of virtue" and "committed to service."
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