“On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.”
— Satoru Iwata
Satoru Iwata — following the departure of Hiroshi Yamauchi — served as Nintendo of America’s president beginning in 2002, and thus oversaw entirely both the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii’s super-successful life spans. This — however — was not the beginning of Satoru Iwata’s long Nintendo tenure, as he previously — under Hal Laboratory — worked as a programmer on both the Kirby and Earthbound series. He would — drawing from these vital earlier experiences — go on to lead Nintendo towards their most profitable year ever, during which time Barron’s even placed him among the top 30 CEOs worldwide.
Sadly, this golden age — during which Satoru Iwata would fill his public speeches with much whimsy — would eventually come to an end when he recently passed away from a tumor at age 55. While many people are now pensively waiting to see how Tatsumi Kimishima will perform as Nintendo’s fifth president, one group of developers — going by the name: Guova Games — sought to pay proper tribute to Nintendo’s fourth president. The end product of this was a endless runner starring Satoru Iwata — as well as other top Nintendo Alumnae — as they strived to avoid a variety of obstacles, all while collecting as many bananas as possible (a reference to Iwata’s famous E3 2012 press conference).
Guova Games would now like to take their product — which is already freely available on both Android and the Windows Phone — to iOS users everywhere, but the chief complication opposing this would be iTunes’ licensing fees. It was for this reason that Guova Games turned towards Kickstarter’s community with a request for $500 in development funds, both to cover iTunes’ licensing fees and to expand the game play. This rather humble funding-goal has since been met in full, meaning that Iwata The Game will soon be made available — absolutely for free — to Nintendo loving iDevice owners everywhere.
That said — with two days remaining — there’s still time for those interested in helping Guova Games out with their potassium-packed tribute, with available backer tiers starting as low as $1 (wherein your name will forever be immortalized as an Iwata fan). Meanwhile, those whom further aid Guova Games with their tribute may additionally receive: an Iwata memorial T-Shirt, the chance to appear in-game as a playable character, and even iOS beta-access. However — should you now feel motivated to help out Guova Games with their plans — it will be imperative that you move quickly, for this Kickstarter will forever run out of potassium once September 22nd finally rolls around.