The Most Heartfelt Of Cameos
The passing of Nintendo President Satoru Iwata was felt by millions around the world. Not only was he well-known for being exceedingly generous with his staff (to the point he would cut his own salary and donate it in times of financial hardship) but was also responsible for the development of classics such as Kirby, Earthbound, Pokemon Stadium and a whole slew of others.
It only makes sense that the company would continue to pay tribute to their beloved CEO by including his likeness in future games, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon being no exceptions.
According to an article on Eurogamer –
Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon include a heartwarming nod to the late, great Nintendo president Satoru Iwata.
You can find it for yourself within the HeaHea City offices of Game Freak, Pokémon’s real-life developer (which always includes a fictional branch of its studio to visit).
Unlocking the tribute requires some work, however, as detailed by Serebii.net. Once at GameFreak, you’ll need to be holding a Pokémon transferred from one of the previous games in the series which are available to download from the 3DS eShop.
Pokémon from each past game will unlock a piece of trivia on that particular game’s development. To hear the quote about Iwata, you’ll need a creature from Pokémon Silver.
Here’s the quote in full:
“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.”
While Iwata is not named, it is clear to fans who the anecdote is describing. It’s a story which is already well known – that Iwata wanted Gold and Silver to also include the original Red and Blue region of Kanto, in addition to the game’s own new area region of Johto. So, to achieve that, Iwata came up with a way of compressing data on the limited space of a Game Boy cartridge so the Pokémon team could achieve it.
The reference is a lovely nod to the much-missed Iwata, whose influence touched so many games.
What a legend.
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