satoru iwata tribute top

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Nintendo’s president and CEO Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11 at the age of 55. He was much beloved by the public, both for his warm, friendly personality, as well as always being a gamer first and businessman second.

Since Iwata’s death, there has been an outpouring of support from those who have been touched by the games he personally worked on and the projects he oversaw during his lifetime. Many fans have created stunning – and in some cases downright heartbreaking – tributes to Mr. Iwata, and tweeted them to share with others affected by his passing.

Here we have a compilation of some of the tributes we’ve seen, so you can get the same gut-wrenching smiles of sadness from looking at them that we did.

Satoru Iwata worked on many franchises during his time as a game developer. He was a part of the Kirby and EarthBound games through his position at HAL Laboratory, and also Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, and Animal Crossing after working for Nintendo proper.

With all those franchises and characters in mind, here’s some of the tribute images created for him:

▼ “I learned that the president of Nintendo died, and looking at this illustration made me sadder than any other tribute I read.”

This image was created by Tumblr user peachbunni, and it is super sad. Just looking at each character taking over their respective games’ healing items to Iwata is too much to handle.

▼ A new mask for Zelda’a Majora’s Mask.

▼ Iwata also worked on the early NES game Balloon Fight.

▼ The castle’s flag is of course at half-mast.

▼ (Click on the pictures for the enlarged version.)

▼ Some happier pictures, in case you’re out of tissues.

▼ He’s ready to fly away now…

▼ …but maybe just one more game first.

If you know of any more illustrated tributes to Mr. Iwata, feel free to link to them in the comments section. The man will be sorely missed, but as the outpouring of love for him online has shown, he will never be forgotten.

Source: Twitter (@sky_ri9u)
Featured/top image: Tumblr (peachbunni)