Yesterday it was confirmed by Per Erik Voskuil, author of Before Mario that one of Nintendo’s chief developers for both software and handhelds has retired from the company. Satoru Okada doesn’t have the same recognition as Shigeru Miyamoto when it comes to gamers, but he’s responsible for the direction of several franchises, including Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Super Mario Land.
Alongside Gunpei Yokoi, Okada is considered to be one of the creators of the original Game Boy, which launched the handheld gaming platform into success after success and what we now have as the Nintendo 3DS. Aside from directing projects and helping out in the handheld division, Okada served as the general manager of Nintendo’s Research & Engineering department, which was directly responsible for creating new handhelds. Under Okada’s supervision, the Game Boy Color, Advance, Advance SP and the Nintendo DS all were released.
Satoru Okada obviously has a very storied history at Nintendo and fans across the globe have him to thank for the countless hours spent playing his games on handhelds he helped bring to the world.
