Nintendo’s former handheld chief developer Satoru Okada is retired from the company

Satoru Okada, the director of Metroid, Kid Icarus and Super Mario Land, is retired from Nintendo. Author Erik Voskuil confirms this in his new book “Before Mario”.

Aside from working on some of Nintendo’s earliest games, Okada created the Game Boy alongside Gunpei Yokoi. He later became the general manager of Nintendo Research & Engineering that was responsible for developing handhelds. Okada was ultimately the chief developer of the Game Boy Color, Advance, Advance SP and Nintendo DS.

It’s unclear when exactly Okada retired. However, it’s likely that he continued to supervise Nintendo’s handheld development up until his departure.

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