Table of Contents
Preface xi
Chapter 1 Iwata, Future President
High school years: Discovering the programmable calculator 3
College years: Making friends at the computer store 5
The dawn of HAL Laboratory and the release of the Famicom 7
Becoming president with 1.5 billion yen of debt 9
Interviewing every employee twice a year 12
Running away would mean a lifetime of regret 16
Iwata's Words of Wisdom: Part 1 20
Chapter 2 The Leadership of Iwata
What do we do well? 25
Locating the bottlenecks 27
The taste of success brings resistance to change 29
Shocking people, in a good way 32
The most important aspect of a job interview 33
People who can accept constructive criticism 34
When a project is going well 37
The question of respecting others 38
Iwata's Words of Wisdom: Part 2 41
Chapter 3 Iwata, The Individual
A drive to understand why things happen 49
The ability to find rewards 51
How programming informs management style 54
If it makes sense for you, then go for it 56
The meaning of "Programmers should never say no" 58
Determine priorities and minimize regret 59
Iwata's Words of Wisdom: Part 3 62
Chapter 4 The People Iwata Believes in
Good 4 solve multiple problems in a flash 69
What Miyamoto sees over your shoulder 72
Miyamoto's keen understanding of computers 76
Two ways of resuscitating EarthBound 77
EarthBound and expanding the gaming population 80
How I described my view of work to Shigesato Itoi 82
The lessons of Hiroshi Yamauchi 84
Iwata's Words of Wisdom: Part 4 87
Chapter 5 The Games Iwata Strives to Make
The game console we envisioned 95
Creating a platform for play 98
What starts as an absurdity can still bear fruit 100
The hazards of staying the course 101
If I could turn back time, I'd make it the same 103
How the two of us made Super Smash Bros 105
Our motto for Wario was "Do whatever Nintendo can't do" 106
Light users and core users 107
Iwata's Words of Wisdom: Part 5 111
Chapter 6 Remembering Iwata
Shigeru Miyamoto Remembers Iwata: "He wasn't my boss. He was a friend." 119
Being good at different things 119
Naming the new 121
Difference without antagonism 123
Working together on Pokémon Snap 125
Books, meetings, and a spirit of service 127
"Visual control" and company-wide interviews 129
The Iwata I knew 131
Shigesato Itoi Remembers Iwata: "He wanted to make everybody happy." 134
My trust deepened every time we met 134
Ensuring an environment for all 137
Like a younger brother, no matter the setting 139
Always talking, because he was having fun 141
Even sick, Iwata was himself 143
Fostering happiness 146
Chapter 7 Iwata, The Person
Unable to let questions go unasked 151
Iwata's Words of Wisdom: Part 6 153