For many fans it still feels recent, but in fact this 2023 will mark eight years since the death of Satoru Iwata, the former president of Nintendo. His untimely death due to illness unleashed all kinds of dedications and tributes around the world, as he was a man loved not only in his company and by his fans, but also by the entire video game industry.
There were many more examples and emotional reactions from those closest to him, such as Shigeru Miyamoto and Masahiro Sakurai, but as always happens, time is leaving behind these gestures so that the pain gives way to the best memory.
That's why we were shocked to read his name in some credits again, specifically in the credits of The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the cinema. It is not a direct dedication, since Illumination pays tribute to animator Laurent De la Chapelle with his work, but in the credits they did want to acknowledge the unique Japanese developer and executive. Specifically, Furukawa himself appears as president of Nintendo and below, in the same image, Satoru Iwata as former president.
It was Satoru Iwata who finally agreed to bring Nintendo franchises to mobile devices... and also the one who was in negotiations with Universal and Illumination from the beginning to work on theme parks and movies. In the end, it also seems like yesterday, but it was in May 2015 when the deal with Universal was announced that would later lead to the parks and movie that fans enjoy today. Evidently, those negotiations took place over many months before Iwata-san's relapse in health.
[SPOILER] Apart from the special mention in the credits, in one of the final scenes in Brooklyn in the film is a drawing of one of the characters of Balloon Fight, one of the 8-bit games that appear in The Super Mario Bros. Movie and is iconic because it was programmed by Iwata-san himself, including featuring that characteristic mechanic to fly that ended up being used to swim in the Mario game.