I think that the loss of Iwata is tragic, and I remember when he took the position. I find it odd that there is a bigger outcry over his death than the death of Yamauchi. If anything, much of the memories that made Nintendo great, are attributed to Iwata instead of Yamauchi by the public, which is wrong. I remember those transitions very well, and Nintendo made a steep down turn when Yamauchi completely stepped down. The difference is tangible enough to cut a knife through. I have to touch on that briefly. I remember growing up, I was raised in a Sega household. We had the Master System starting off. My brother gave it to me when he went to college in 93' I believe. I didn't become obsessed with it right away. I had some memories of trying to beat Zanoni, or whatever the boss' name was in Astro Warrior. It was when the power cable broke, and my parents forced me to throw the system out, that I really started loving it. We would later own Genesis years later, but I immediately took to Nintendo in the mid 90's. I remember getting my mother to buy me a Gameboy with Fifa 96'. I played the crap out of that game. She later got me Street Fighter 2, which I played incessantly. I went on to buy Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, Turtles, Iron Man, and a few others over time. I followed Nintendo faithfully, getting SNES when I got enough money, and Nintendo 64. I still have my Gamecube. However, for years, I watched companies rival Nintendo's handhelds with impressive specs like GameGear, Lynx, Game Com, N-Gage, etc. They all fell in defeat due to Nintendo's support. I was okay with it at first.
Then, I was in High school, when the Gameboy Advance launched. We fell in love with it. Me and my friends played so many classic titles on that system, and loved it even more, when the backlit SP version was released. That was one of my favorite systems of all time. I still remember Kingdom Hearts being the last game I beat on it. When president Yamauchi stepped down as president, it was 2002. I was a junior in High school. Immediately, I was worried. The Gameboy Advance, and the Gamecube had just launched in 2001, and showed so much promise. We were further worried, when we heard Iwata talking about the changes the company would be making. In fact, there were already discussions about the new Nintendo Handheld that would use 2 screens. I was annoyed, being that I was in love with what I was already playing. I was glad to hear Yamauchi announce that he would stay on as a consultant. That was probably one of the most powerful moves in gaming history, and many don't get that. By doing that, he pushed back some of those radical changes, and kept the quality of games very high until the mid 2000's. The Gamecube had a stellar library, and I will probably never sell my unit. I still love playing Smash Brothers Melee, as it holds so many memories of a golden era I had hanging with friends and bonding over it.
Iwata gets a lot of credit for many of the legendary releases such as Metroid Prime, Melee, Zelda: Wind Waker, Mario Kart, Mario Sunshine, etc; being that he was president at the time, but if you pay attention, you can see that Yamauchi was probably the main catalyst. After he completely stepped down in 2005, you can see a sharp turn in the company, and the quality of titles change completely. I'm pretty sure he didn't put the idea of the Nintendo DS out there himself. He no doubt backed it, as a consultant, but what it became is not what he would have intended. The balance of titles was lost somewhat. Now don't get me wrong, the DS had titles that I liked as well, such as Trauma Center, Nanostray, Hoshigami and Metroid Prime: Hunters. DS launched in the US before Japan, which in itself speaks volumes about the companies change in direction. I remember hearing the American CEO of Nintendo at the time, talk about the changes that were coming, with this possessed look in his eyes. Almost none of it sounded good. But, if you look at the library on the DS, you notice the same pattern. All of the great titles that kept the system relevant, were either released, or in development by the time Yamauchi stepped down. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the correlation.
When the DS launched, I noticed something else that changed. Their marketing approach, and fidelity. Nintendo was the company for years that was the honest Bob. They told you what you were getting, delivered, and sucked you in with their consistency and support. However, in the campaign leading up to launch, they promised games, and graphical prowess that were lies, to sell over the competition of the Sony PSP. That was when things changed for me. I tried to convince myself to get a DS, but something didn't feel right. Then I saw the crappy launch titles, and wondered why they kept showing pictures of these Sonic games that wouldn't come out for years. They knew they had the inferior hardware, and they were trying to hoodwink the public. I didn't bite. I chose to trust Sony. I knew that no opponent of Nintendo ever succeeded in the handheld market, but something felt different. The rest is history. I never really enjoyed a Nintendo Handheld again. I had a DS at one point, and even a 3DS, but it never delivered. The only reason they succeed is because of the enormous revenue of Nintendo, and the ignorance of the public, who figure quality handhelds have to be Nintendo, and think the PSP is an unsupported Playstation 1 ripoff.
It's amazing to think that all of that occurred in an era of no social media. I read game magazines, and went to my local game store, researching everything. Back then, I used the internet to play games sometimes, or go to art galleries. I hardly stayed on the computer at that time. Isn't it amazing to think that we've gone from that to now, where 80 year olds are attached to their phones and networking sites. No one can get off of the computer. It's used more than it ever was, because now there is a constant excuse for it. In fact, life has almost left outside, and retreated into the computer, where you must go to find it these days. It's amazing. I always loved to create and write, but I never imagined back then, putting any stock into writing blogs, and running sites like this. What a change in culture.
The other day, I was sitting down, scrolling through the channels when I came across "Bulletproof Monk." I started to turn away, and then eventually turned back, and watched it. That came out in 2003, and there was something so emotional about seeing a movie from the later stages of an era that held some of the last innocence. I was sitting and thinking about what I was doing at that time. I was graduating from High school, pursuing spiritual goals, and transitioning into adulthood. During those years from 2002 - 2005, I really had a golden era. I got a lot of encouragement physically, and spiritually from the group of friends I hung around. I remember having deep talks with a friend at the time about the days to come, and being so optimistic about things, just from being able to discuss all of that with friends. When I graduated secondary school in 2005, I felt reborn again, but during those years, a lot of that support was waning. Friends were either beginning to leave or changing. It didn't happen right away. We hung out, and had fun for a while. Then by 2008, they were mostly gone, and so much began to crowd in on me. And the lack of that group of friends and constant support stunned me. I eventually drifted into chaos myself. In fact 2008 was a historic year, because I did so freaking much in that year I still can't believe it, from art, to sports, to music, etc. I can't believe how much I crammed into that year, and how many highs and lows I hit as well. I went through a lot of growth then.
I remember, during that time, having time to do a whole lot of self analysis, and the solitude was actually rejuvenating. I joined the Shenmue initiative in early 2009, and found a new thing to do in that. I did alot that year too. Barack became president, and more radical change was to come. It was late in that year that I had for the first time in almost 5 years, another mentor/friend who helped me a lot. When I was getting myself together, my friend Andy, who studied with me, really got me back into shape mentally. That's the last time I can remember having a friend who leveled with me, and stepped all the way into my life. He was firm, yet compassionate. And I'm the kind of guy who gives results like that. Once I have your trust, I'm like a pit bull- loyal. He had me on point. My whole study habit and behavior was refined hanging with him, and I still marvel at that to this day. Friendship is something you can't force. And there's no getting around the fact that friends share common interests in the plural sense. Those are just things that I haven't had in so long, I forgot how they feel. I've had associates from time to time, but even when they seem like they're close to friend material, they reveal in some way, that they want anything but that. It's just a different world. People are guarded, and not expressive like we were back then. I remember my friend Solomon who I met through my friend JP. I didn't hang around him for a bunch of years, but he was like a brother almost right away. There's that thing that clicks when you're around someone who just gets you, and who you get. I used to let him drive my car while I ate in the passenger seat, when we went to Taco Bell after football practice. I never do anything like that, but with him, I just did. I miss having that, and I think this is just a world that isn't designed to hold it.
That's what these recent events made me think about. So much has changed over the last decade. So much. I was playing some old Nintendo games and telling a youngster what he missed, and it's so amazing to think about it all. That's why hearing a breath of fresh air like the Soul singer- Leon Bridges is so good. I honestly never thought music would ever go there again. To me, it seems like a territory that holds no profit or interest to the public. I felt that for someone to do that, it would have to be for love, and at great cost. He sounds like the rebirth of Sam Cooke, and has fresh material that seems like it was pulled from a lost era. I can't get enough of his new album- "Coming Home."Things like that make me feel like there is still more to do.
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