Gunpei Yokoi

Gunpei Yokoi ( Japanese横 井 軍 平, Yokoi Gunpei ; also transcribed as Gumpei Yokoi ; born September 10, 1941 in Kyoto ; † October 4, 1997 in Komatsu ) was a Japanese game developer and one of the most important people in the history of the video game company Nintendo . His most important creation is the portable game system Game Boy , which is one of the most successful game consoles and paved the way for portable game consoles ( handheld consoles ). He also worked on popular Nintendo series such as Metroid and Kid Icarus .

Live and act

The Game Boy was released in 1989.

During his time at Nintendo, Gunpei Yokoi u. a. the ultra-hand , the devil's barrel , the Game & Watch games and the Game Boy.

He was also the creator of the digital control pad ( D-Pad ), which is now standard on almost all gamepads . For this, Nintendo was awarded an Emmy in the category Peripheral Development and Technological Impact of Video Game Controllers at CES 2007 .

Yokoi has worked on popular games such as Donkey Kong , Mario Bros. , Metroid , Tetris Attack , Kid Icarus, and Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War . The low point of his career was the commercial failure of the game console Virtual Boy . Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War would be his last game.

After the Virtual Boy flop in 1996, Yokoi left Nintendo and started a new company, Koto. There he developed the handheld console Wonderswan in cooperation with Bandai . The first game for the Wonderswan Gunpey was named in his honor .

In 1997, Yokoi was killed in a car accident. He drove in a car with Etsuo Kisō, a colleague from Kyoto . When Kisō caused a minor rear-end collision, both got out to assess the damage. They were hit by another vehicle. While Kisō suffered two broken bones, Yokoi was seriously injured and died in the hospital.

Web links

• Gunpei Yokoi at MobyGames (English)

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1. ↑ Nintendo Confirms Emmy Win for D-Pad . C3 News, January 13, 2007
2. ↑ Pocket Power in: Retro Gamer, No. 9, January 2005, p. 24.