He still lives on in the games he loved so much.

When Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata passed away in 2015, it was devastating for the gaming community. There was an immediate outpouring of love and fan art for the man who famously said that, “On my business card, I am a corporate president. In my mind, I am a game developer. But in my heart, I am a gamer.”

And now, more than two years later, Nintendo is still keeping the memory of Satoru Iwata alive by putting tributes to him in their games. Serebii.net webmaster Joe Merrick tweeted these screenshots from the recently-released Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon, showing off an Easter egg reference to the late president:

▼ (Click images to enlarge.)

The character speaking is named Morimoto, a reference to Shigeki Morimoto, a programmer and game designer at GAME FREAK who has worked on nearly every Pokémon game release since Red and Green. Here’s his text in its entirety, plus an additional line that comes before:

“Boy, when we were told halfway through development to make Kanto, too… I thought I might just expire on the spot! But I’m glad we made it that way.

When we were having trouble fitting all the data in for Gold and Silver, and we were really in a pinch, this amazing guy came along and made a program for us that solved all our problems. He went on to become the amazing president of a real big company soon after that, too.”

To talk to Morimoto, you have to go to the GAME FREAK building in Heahea City. What he says changes based on the Pokémon on your team, so you need a Pokémon from the Pokémon Silver Virtual Console game to get the Satoru Iwata dialogue.

For those unaware of what Morimoto is referring to, before Satoru Iwata was president of Nintendo, he was a programmer. He worked for HAL Laboratory, and he famously helped bring Pokémon Gold and Silver to life (at a point where it may not have happened otherwise), as well as the Kirby franchise, EarthBound, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and more.

▼ This short documentary gives great insight
into how amazing a person Satoru Iwata truly was.

As someone whose childhood was basically defined by the trifecta of Pokémon Gold and Silver, EarthBound, and Super Smash Bros. Melee, I felt a great personal sorrow when Satoru Iwata passed away, as if a close friend had suddenly died.

I think it’s beautiful how Nintendo is still saying thank you to the amazing man by adding small tributes in the games he loved, not just in this game but on others as well, and it’s something I hope they continue doing for years to come.

Source: Twitter/@JoeMerrick via My Game News Flash
Featured image: Twitter/@JoeMerrick