14 beautiful tweeted tributes to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has passed away aged 55. An icon of the gaming world, Iwata succumbed to stomach cancer over the weekend.

Iwata had been ill since at least 2014, when Nintendo announced that he would not be attending E3 due to illness. Soon after, he underwent surgery to remove a malignant bile duct growth. Despite assuring fans that he was “progressing well” on Twitter, there was little news until Nintendo announced his death on Sunday.

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Read more: Nintendo president Satoru Iwata passes away at 55

Always a fan of video games, Iwata began developing them in high school. Following high school, Iwata was admitted to the Tokyo Institute of Technology, where he majored in computer science. It was there that he began freelancing for game developer HAL Laboratory, which frequently collaborated with Nintendo.

Working his way through the HAL ranks, he helped it turn its fortunes around, he assisted in the development of Pokémon Gold and Silver, released for the Game Boy Color in November 1999. At the same time, he aided in the programming of Pokémon Stadium for the Nintendo 64 by reading the original coding in Pokémon Red and Green and reworking it for the new game.

In 2000, he took a position at Nintendo as the head of its corporate planning division. Just two years later he took over as president, presiding over some of Nintendo’s biggest successes. Perhaps the brightest moment during his tenure was the launch of the Wii, which helped catapult the casual gaming revolution.

In the wake of the news, gamers from around the world took to Twitter to remember Iwata. Memeburn has rounded up some of the most beautiful tributes:

Image: Official GDC via Flickr.

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