Satoru Iwata

Iwata studies computer science at the Tokyo Institute of Technology University. In interviews, he says he'd been hooked on programming since high school. He graduates in 1982.

In 1984, Nintendo releases an arcade version of Balloon Fight, a simple game where players try to fly, thanks to the poppable balloons on their heads. In 1986, it arrives on the company’s new home console, the NES. Satoru Iwata, in his 20s at the time, is the game’s programmer.

At HAL Laboratory, Iwata and Masahiro Sakurai develop the prototype for the original Super Smash Bros. The fighting game stars a cast of a dozen Nintendo characters. It becomes a franchise, spanning Nintendo's console and handheld systems. The latest entry was created simultaneously for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

In 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi announces his retirement, after having served as Nintendo's president since 1949. He names Iwata as his successor, saying that Iwata 'has the instincts to survive in the business.' Iwata is the first president outside of the founding Yamauchi family — and only the fourth since the company was founded in 1889.

Iwata's insights lead him to believe that games are becoming too complex to be widely adopted, and that Nintendo is in a unique position to innovate its way to help broad adoption. Released in November 2006, the motion-controlled Wii is an unqualified success, bringing video games — often designed simply, with less graphical fidelity and to be easily playable — to the masses, not just the hardcore audience. To date, Nintendo has sold more than 101 million units, making it the undisputed sales winner of the previous generation.

Nintendo begins talking directly to its fans through periodic Nintendo Direct presentations. Iwata often hosts these, becoming an even more genial, public face for the company.

After Nintendo profits fall in 2013, Iwata announces that he will cut his pay in half for several months. Other executive pay is cut, too, but Iwata's paycheck takes the biggest hit.