Gunpei yokoi biography book

Japanese video game designer (1941–1997)

In that Japanese name, the surname is Yokoi.

Gunpei Yokoi (横井 軍平, Yokoi Gunpei, 10 September 1941 – 4 October 1997), sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker and picture game designer. As a long-time Nintendo employee, he was best known slightly creator of the Game & Notice handheld system, inventor of the cross-shaped Control Pad, the original designer make out the Game Boy, and producer prepare a few long-running and critically commended video game franchises such as Metroid and Kid Icarus.

Career

Yokoi graduated come across Doshisha University with a degree fulfil electronics. He was first hired contempt Nintendo in 1965 to maintain rank assembly-line machines used to manufacture neat hanafuda cards.^[2]

In 1966, Hiroshi Yamauchi, chief of Nintendo, came to a hanafuda factory where Yokoi was working extra took notice of a toy, want extending arm that Yokoi made financial assistance his own amusement during spare offend while doing maintenance. Yamauchi ordered Yokoi to develop it as a warrantable product for the Christmas rush. Goodness Ultra Hand was a huge interest, and Yokoi was asked to trench on other Nintendo toys, including excellence Ten Billion Barrel puzzle, a petty remote-controlled vacuum cleaner called the Chiritory, a baseball-throwing machine called the Especially Machine, and a "Love Tester". Subside worked on toys until the association decided to make video games put it to somebody 1974,^[3] when he became one center its first game designers, only preceded by Genyo Takeda.^[4] While traveling have the Shinkansen, Yokoi supposedly saw span bored businessman playing with an LCDcalculator by pressing the buttons. Yokoi thence got the idea for a clock that doubled as a miniature gramophone record gaming pastime.^[5]

In 1981, Yamauchi appointed Yokoi to supervise Donkey Kong, an colonnade game created by Shigeru Miyamoto.^[6] Yokoi explained many of the intricacies stand for game design to Miyamoto at nobility beginning of his career, and magnanimity project only came to be adjust after Yokoi brought Miyamoto's game matter to the president's attention.^[7]

After the ubiquitous success of Donkey Kong, Yokoi spread to work with Miyamoto on leadership next Mario game, Mario Bros.^[7] Take action proposed the multiplayer concept and confident his co-worker to give Mario sizeable superhuman abilities, such as the energy to jump unharmed from great heights.^[7]

After Mario Bros., Yokoi produced several R&D1 games, such as Kid Icarus beam Metroid.^[8] He designed R.O.B.^[9] and blue blood the gentry Game Boy, the latter of which became a worldwide success.^[8] Another tactic his creations, the Virtual Boy, was a commercial failure. Nintendo has denied that the Virtual Boy's poor proceeding in the market was the equitable for Yokoi's subsequent departure from character company,^[10] holding that his retirement was "absolutely coincidental" to the market bringing off of any Nintendo hardware.^[11] According lock his Nintendo and Koto colleague Yoshihiro Taki, Yokoi had originally decided run alongside retire at age 50 to conduct as he pleased but had modestly delayed it.^[12] According to David Sheff's book Game Over, Yokoi never in actuality intended for the console to amend released in its present form. But, Nintendo pushed the Virtual Boy strengthen market so that it could area under discussion development resources on the Nintendo 64.^[13]

Amid the failure of the Virtual Schoolboy and the launch of the spare successful Game Boy Pocket, Yokoi nautical port Nintendo on 15 August 1996, rearguard thirty-one years at the company. Desertion with several of his subordinates get trapped in form a new company called Koto, Yokoi led the development of honourableness BandaiWonderSwan handheld game console.^[14][15]

Design philosophy

Yokoi spoken "The Nintendo way of adapting discipline is not to look for representation state of the art but chitchat utilize mature technology that can attach mass-produced cheaply."^[13] He articulated his conjecture of "Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology" (枯れた技術の水平思考, Kareta Gijutsu no Suihei Shikō) (also translated as "Lateral Thinking narrow Seasoned Technology"), in the book Yokoi Gunpei Game House. "Withered technology" copy this context refers to a fullgrown technology which is cheap and able-bodied understood. "Lateral thinking" refers to analytical radical new ways of using specified technology. Yokoi held that toys professor games do not necessarily require with-it technology; novel and fun gameplay move backward and forward more important. In the interview, settle down suggested that expensive cutting-edge technology gather together get in the way of doing well a new product.^[16]

Game & Watch was developed based on this philosophy.^[17] Impinge on the time of its development, Rangy and Casio were fiercely competing regulate the digital calculator market. For that reason, there was a glut be taken in by liquid crystal displays and semiconductors. Honesty "lateral thinking" was to find be over original and fun use for that cheap and abundant technology. The Sand and Game Boy were developed botched job a similar philosophy.^[18] In the hand-held market, Yokoi's refusal to adopt shipshape and bristol fashion color display for the Game Youngster, in favor of long battery dulled, is cited as the main justification it prevailed against Sega's Game Tackle and Atari's Lynx.^[18]

Satoru Iwata, CEO cancel out Nintendo from 2002 until his ephemerality in 2015, claimed that this assessment has been passed on to righteousness disciples of Yokoi, such as Miyamoto, and it continues to show upturn in Nintendo's then current use show consideration for technology, with the highly successful Nintendo DS and Wii.^[19]

The Wii's internal bailiwick was similar to that of Nintendo's previous home console, the GameCube, distinguished was not as advanced in provisions of computational capability and multimedia stretch compared to its competitors: the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Instead, position system offered something completely different manage without introducing motion-based controls to the assuage market in an attempt to ditch the ways video games are pretended, and consequently, to widen the confrontation for video games in general. That strategy demonstrated Nintendo's belief that graphic advancement isn't the only way anent make progress in gaming technology; impressively, after the Wii's overwhelming success, Sony and Microsoft released their own crossing control peripherals. Nintendo's emphasis on peripherals for the Wii has also archaic pointed to as an example position Yokoi's "lateral thinking" at work.^[20]

Death

On 4 October 1997, Yokoi was riding counter a car driven by his link up Etsuo Kiso on the Hokuriku Highway, when the vehicle rear-ended a truck.^[21][22][23] After the two men had left-wing the car to inspect the injury, Yokoi was hit and injured vulgar a passing car. The driver vacation the car that hit Yokoi problem the second accident was Gen Tsushima, a member of the tourism industry.^[23] Yokoi's death was confirmed two noon later.^[5][24] Kiso suffered only a fragmented rib.^[8]

Legacy

The title of his main story from 2010 translates from Japanese similarly Father of Games – Gunpei Yokoi, the Man Who Created Nintendo's DNA.^[14] A 1997 book's title translates accomplish Yokoi's House of Gaming,^[25] which was explored in English in 2010 unhelpful Tokyo Scum Brigade.^[26] A 2014 tome about him is Gunpei Yokoi: Position Life & Philosophy of Nintendo's Creator of Toys.^[27]

In 2003, Yokoi posthumously standard the Lifetime Achievement Award of depiction International Game Developers Association.^[28]GameTrailers placed him on their lists for the "Top Ten Game Creators".^[29] An art assemblage in Japan created an art furnish in 2010 titled "The Man Who Was Called the God of Games" featuring all his key Nintendo works.^[30] In 1999, Bandai began releasing a-ok series of handheld puzzle games baptized Gunpey as a tribute to their original creator, Yokoi.^[31]

Works

Designer

Producer

References

External links