Gunpei Yokoi

Gunpei Yokoi
Gunpei Yokoi holding a Game Boy Pocket
Born	September 10, 1941
Died	October 4, 1997 (aged 56)
Super Mario–related role(s)	Game developer, game designer, hardware developer

Gunpei Yokoi (in Japanese: 横井 軍平 Yokoi Gunpei; September 10, 1941—October 4, 1997) was a Japanese video game designer. He is best known for many things, such as the Game Boy, the Game & Watch, the R.O.B. accessory, Aside from hardware, Yokoi also produced Metroid, Fire Emblem, Ice Climber, and the Super Mario Land titles of the Super Mario series, though he is most well-known for being a mentor to Super Mario franchise creator Shigeru Miyamoto. Yokoi also acted as the manager of Nintendo Research & Development 1 from its creation up to his departure from the company.

During the credits of Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, his name is transliterated "Gumpei Yokoi", which reflects the pronunciation of his name, as well as how it was spelled on his business card.

One of Gunpei Yokoi's toy inventions is the Ultra Hand produced in the late 1960s before Nintendo developed video games. The Ultra Hand appeared in Super Mario games, including Mario Power Tennis as Wario's Defensive Power Shot, the Ultra-Hand Return. The Ultra Hand also appears in the microgames Ultra Hand in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! and Clawing for More in WarioWare: Touched! and WarioWare Gold. It also appears in Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, in GBA Mario Circuit as the support for the anti-gravity section, under the alias of "Ultra Arm".