The gaming world has been paying tribute to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who has died aged 55.
The company announced the news in a short statement, saying Mr Iwata had died as a result of a bile duct growth on July 11th. His death leaves Genyo Takeda and veteran designer / Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto as directors of the company.
Nintendo of Europe president Satoru Shibata released a statement following the news, saying "he was a visionary in every sense of the word and we will miss him dearly. Just as Mr. Iwata challenged us to always push forward, we will ensure his legacy lives on through our ongoing work to always surprise and delight our fans."
In remembrance of Mr. Satoru Iwata, Nintendo will not be posting on our social media channels today. pic.twitter.com/nnM1viLSNs
— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) July 13, 2015
Mr Iwata became president of the company in 2002, and was the first president unrelated to the Yamauchi family. Before joining Nintendo as an executive in 2000, he had worked as a programmer at HAL Laboratory - a Japanese game development company closely linked with Nintendo.
As a programmer Iwata worked on some of the most popular and beloved games to have appeared on Nintendo consoles - including Earthbound, Pokemon Gold/Silver, Balloon Fight and a number of Kirby games.
Iwata took up his position as head of Nintendo during a difficult time for the company - soon after the launch of the GameCube, one of its least successful home consoles. However Iwata went on to oversee the launches of both the Nintendo DS and Wii consoles in the mid-2000s - two massive financial successes that are credited with helping open up video games to a much wider audience.
In recent years, the company has struggled to match the success of the Wii, with its Wii U console continuing to under-perform commercially despite a number of acclaimed and high profile games. However the portable 3DS has continued to enjoy huge sales.
After taking some time off for health reasons, Mr Iwata made headlines for the company earlier this year with the announcement of a new Nintendo console - known only as the NX. It came alongside the surprising news that they have started development of mobile games - something many commentators never believed would happen.
Iwata was well known to Nintendo fans, and was one of the company's public faces alongside his corporate functions. In a much-cited speech in 2005, he said, "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."
A section of the company's website called 'Iwata Asks' was devoted to the president's interviews with the developers of their latest games. He also frequently appeared on 'Nintendo Direct' broadcasts, where he would preview and announce new games - often speaking in English as well as Japanese:
Hundreds of high-profile figures from the gaming community have taken to Twitter to pay tribute to Mr Iwata:
Thank you for everything, Mr. Iwata.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) July 13, 2015
Sad day for Iwata-san’s family, friends, and gamers everywhere. His passion, creativity & leadership elevated our industry.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 13, 2015
Please, I don't understand. #ThankYouIwata
— Markus Persson (@notch) July 13, 2015
— Aaron Greenberg (@aarongreenberg) July 13, 2015
Gamers, meanwhile, have also been paying tribute to Mr Iwata in their own unique way. Anybody logging in to the company's recent online action game Splatoon today have been greeted by memorial messages and drawings from other players:
