Nintendo fans pay tribute to Satoru Iwata

Fans of Nintendo's many successful video games paid tribute to Satoru Iwata after the Japanese company announced today that its longtime president had died.

• Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, dead at 55

Iwata was namedpresident of Nintendo in2002, leadingits development ofthe hit Wii console and DS handheld,but before that, he was an accomplishedgame programmer.

The company said he died Saturday in a Kyoto University hospitalafter battling a bile duct tumour.

This quote of hisfrom the Game DevelopersConference in 2005 was widely shared on Twitter on Monday.

Iwata has been a favourite among Nintendo fans for his whimsical appearances in promotional videos at gaming conferences such as GDC and E3.

Although Iwatadidn't appear in person at the most recent E3 because of his failing health, he was represented,along with other Nintendo executives, in Muppetform.

Among the most popular images shared aboutIwatawere screen shots of posts about his programming accomplishments before and after taking over as president.

Many gamers were moved to create fan art to mark Iwata'sdeath, using some of Nintendo'smost recognizable characters, such a Mario, Link, Kirby and characters from Pokmon.

This image was created by Tumblruser peachbunni.