Gunpei Yokoi

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File:Gunpei Yokoi.JPG

Gunpei Yokoi holding one of his many creations.

Gunpei Yokoi (September 10, 1941 – October 4, 1997) was one of Nintendo's most famous developers, responsible for famous devices such as the Game Boy, Game & Watch, and R.O.B. He was the producer of the famous video game series Metroid. He also produced Super Mario Land, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, and Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. Yokoi was also Shigeru Miyamoto's mentor.

History

Gunpei Yokoi's very first invention, the Ultra Hand.

Born on September 10, 1941, Yokoi was raised in Kyoto, Japan. Yokoi received an electronics degree from Doshisha University. He began working for Nintendo in 1965, at age 24, as a janitor. However, in 1970, his life would change. While looking around the Nintendo Headquarters, Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo at the time, noticed an extending arm toy that Yokoi had made in his spare time called the Ultra Hand. Interested in the product, he told Yokoi to mass-produce it and sell it. The Ultra Hand was a huge commercial success, and Yokoi was upgraded to product developer. He continued his toy production, becoming one of the most well-known figures at Nintendo. He then proceeded to use his experience to tutor Miyamoto on the many skills he had learned.

In the 1980's, Yamauchi came up with a concept for a handheld gaming device. The project was assigned to Yokoi, who spent extensive time developing the device. Yokoi was inspired by a man he saw playing with a calculator on a train. The device that resulted was the Game & Watch. It became a best-seller, and the games sold more than 40 million worldwide. Yokoi eventually became the head of the first-party company R&D1, which was responsible for the game Mario Bros.. He eventually created the Game Boy, and he also made the entire line of Game Boy handhelds up until the Game Boy Advance, and he also created the characters Princess Daisy, Wario, and Pit (the protagonist of Kid Icarus), to name a few. He left Nintendo after the failure of the Virtual Boy, which he developed, and started working for Koto Laboratory.

Sadly, 250 miles northeast of Tokyo, Yokoi died in a car accident when, after a minor fender bender, he got out to inspect the damage of the vehicle and was then struck by two other automobiles, fatally crushing him on October 4, 1997. His death was broadcasted worldwide soon after. In 2003, Yokoi posthumously received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards as an acknowledgement and celebration of his influence in the industry.

Trivia

• During the credits of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 for the Game Boy, his name is misspelled as "Gumpei Yokoi".
• The Ultra Hand is seen in Mario Power Tennis for the Nintendo GameCube and Wii as Wario's Defensive Power Shot, known as the Ultra-Hand Return.
• The Ultra Hand makes cameos in the microgames Ultra Hand in WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania, and Clawing for More in WarioWare: Touched!.