No introduction needed. Gunpei Yokoi is recognized as one of the geniuses who changed Nintendowhich started as a maintenance technician to scale, lead to a lots of toys most curious and become the creator of one of the most successful consoles of all time: the game boy. His seed has taken root in the Japanese company and the legacy he has left is manifested in the most current machines, thanks to his lateral thinking concept: Design amazing gadgets based on affordable technology.
Unfortunately, Yokoi died at the age of 56 and we didn’t get the chance to see what else he was hiding in his gifted mind. she lost her life in a traffic accident, and since then there are many who still remember his figure, given the tremendous impact he left in the video game industry. So much so, that there are those who have photographed his grave, located in the city of Kyoto. And honoring the creative genius, the truth is that the inscriptions that can be read on the tombstone are most curious and original.
Gunpei Yokoi. Photo: Nintendo
Gunpei Yokoi’s grave displays his great legacy
There are several people who have photographed Gunpei Yokoi’s graveprobably surprised by the unusualness of the inscription, which includes some of his best creations (or at least those of which the designer was most proud).
- 1968: Ultra Machine
- 1973: Laser Clay
- 1980: Ten Billion Barrels
- 1980: Game & Watch
- 1989: Game Boy
It is obvious that the game boy It does not admit any discussion, since it revolutionized the panorama of portable consoles, even in spite of its clear technical limitations. The same goes for the Game&Watchall crazy at the time. Laser Clay It was also a fairly important invention, as it was the precursor of the mythical NES Duck Hunt. However, it may be surprising not to see other impact creations such as the Love Tester, which gave a lot of talk, and especially the Ultra Hand, Yokoi’s first toy and which caught the attention of its very president (in addition to the fact that it sold very good).
Instead, probably out of affection or some unknown personal event, Yokoi chose the Ultra Machine, a batting simulator that took advantage of the baseball boom in Japan. He also misses the special mention of Ten Billion Barrela very complex mechanical ball puzzle that perhaps its designer liked because its resolution is based on an algorithm (Yokoi graduated in Electronics).
This could be a member of Gunpei Yokoi’s ancestor’s family… pic.twitter.com/jxNy50cl34
— NES [email protected]新人ライター (@NES1985_0913) January 17, 2022
In short, a very special selection, as was Gunpei Yokoi. Some of his inventions may have failed, as was the case with VirtualBoy, but no one can deny the creative vision behind each invention. Even today, at Nintendo, their philosophy as an engineer to give rise to consoles like Wii, Nintendo DS and even nintendoswitch..
And by the way, if you look closely, at the bottom of the tombstone you can see two stick figures fighting, one with a spear, and the other wielding two swords. I have not been able to decipher this, could it be a reference to the Game & Watch? I leave you to continue with the mystery in the comments.
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