A few interesting words from Nintendo’s former handheld designer
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 1 Comment
Satoru Okada was a pretty important figure at Nintendo. He played a big role in the creation of the company’s earliest handheld systems, which continued until his retirement back in 2012.
Okada was recently interviewed by the Japanese publication “Shooting Gameside”. Here are a few of the more interesting excerpt that specifically pertains to Nintendo:
—Since you’ve participated in the creation of so many different handheld gaming consoles, I was thinking you’d be more particular and high-strung. But in fact you’re very open and relaxed.
Okada: The first thing I made using a computer was the Game and Watch series. After that handheld gaming consoles became the main focus of my work at Nintendo. Speaking of being particular, you know, I didn’t originally apply to Nintendo with any special ambitions or designs. Originally my friend was supposed to have taken the company’s entrance test, but due to circumstances he couldn’t make it out. In his place I was chosen to take the test. When I say “in his place”, though, I don’t mean that I was a mere susbtitute; I was given the chance as part of a job-search program at my school. I knew if I took it lightly that it would damage the reputation of my school, and I couldn’t allow that. Still, I didn’t really know what I was doing, so I ended up being late to that test, but thanks to the kindness of the test administrator, I was allowed to take it anyway.
Nintendo’s entrance exam had a section where you had to actually engineer something. You were given a design and had to make a model of it using small metal pieces. Since I had spent so much time in Junior High doing those electrical engineering projects, it was an easy task for me. As a result, rumour got around at Nintendo that “someone good at soldering has joined!” It seemed I was the first person to join Nintendo with any electrical engineering abilities, a fact which would turn out to be a huge investment in my future.
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Nintendo’s former handheld chief developer Satoru Okada is retired from the company
Posted on 10 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News | 7 Comments
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.
