HAL Laboratory president reflects on his friendship with Satoru Iwata
Satoshi Mitsuhara might know late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata better than anyone. Mitsuhara first joined HAL in 1990, and worked with Iwata for several years. The two would end up being close friends.
Forbes recently spoke with Mitsuhara, who is now the president of HAL. Mitsuhara shared some thoughts about Iwata during the discussion, and mentioned that they used to visit the arcades “and play Daytona USA exactly twice” after work.
Mitsuhara mentioned:
“Satoru Iwata was a very straight person. Never tried to cheat or have any kind of intent to do that at all. Even when other people were cheating or doing something underhand, he never used that as a reason to do likewise. At work, he was also a very serious and honest person, that sincerity and honesty made the company very pleasant. He also had a big capacity for things, he could take on a lot. We were very close friends.
“One time, when we were extremely busy on MOTHER2 for Super Famicom we often went out together for dinner after work. On our way home from dinner, we used to go to the arcades and play Daytona USA exactly twice. Always twice and leave. I reckoned we did that every week. It was really like work hard and play hard.”
Thanks to TruExtent for the tip.
