Nintendo Game Boy Pioneer, Aged 75, Once Surprised Fellow Employees With Rare Marathon Appearance

While Nintendo is known for its latest offerings these days such as the Switch or the big exclusives, there was an era where it was just a growing pioneer in the gaming industry. When there was no high-tech device to play games on but a fun and portable product. However, it’s still regarded as one of the best creations the company has ever introduced; it was the Game Boy.

And whenever there’s a mention of Game Boy, one cannot forget the man behind it, Satoru Okada. He’s still regarded as one of the key contributors to the success of Nintendo, especially during the 90s.

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When Nintendo Game Boy developer Satoru Okada took part in a marathon!

Satoru Okada is the former general manager of Nintendo Research & Engineering. He was also involved in the division related to designing and developing the handheld consoles.

Mr. Okada initially joined the developing and publishing company in 1969. He went on to work in the Research & Development section alongside Gunpei Yokoi. After Yokoi left Nintendo in 1996, Okada took the responsibility as the general manager. Under him, the team made highly successful handheld consoles like the Game Boy Color, Advance, and SP.

All things considered, he’s still best known for his contribution to the debut of the first Game Boy in 1989. Because the story of its development is quite interesting.

Another interesting story is that he once participated in a marathon as well. Yes, that’s right and it happened in the year 1994. During that time, Mr. Okada was 47 years old.

Coming back to the original Game Boy, then not many of the fans might be knowing this but it had various obstacles to face before the main launch. According to 4Gamer, Mr. Satoru Okada and Gunpei Yokoi were working on the console. And initially, they were struggling in making a progress due to the problem regarding the liquid crystal display.

Thanks to Okada’s interactive skills, though, Nintendo was able to receive the required display from the supplier who initially mentioned that the task was difficult to accomplish. Later the same supplier provided the LCDs for the models in mass capacity.

Such stories never fail to impress like this one from the golden book of Nintendo’s history.

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