Since the announcement of Satoru Iwata’s death on Sunday, fans across the internet have come together to show their support and love of the man who has guided Nintendo’s direction for the past 13 years. Yesterday a #RaceForIwata initiative sprung up on Twitter, where fans were encouraged to scan in Iwata’s Mii and race to honor his memory in Mario Kart 8. However, one fan decided to take a different approach.
John Riggs is a ROM hacker who loves showcasing his various hacks to the delight of people who loved the old games. In honor of Iwata’s past as a programmer that brought several well-known Nintendo games to market, Rigg decided to immortalize Iwata inside Balloon Fight, one of the very first games that Iwata worked on as a young man. Modifying a sprite in Earthbound to place him inside the game, you can see the result above.
Riggs has made the patched file available for download, should you like to play around with it yourself.
