Gumpei Yokoi 横井軍平 & Grooveraider 1941 - 1997

[DANEGRMAN]

Sadly this video has few thousands views for a great work like :( Gamebou was 1 of my fav platform ever. Thanks

[AtomicFAILMediaTV]

That Rob makes me sad.. its like hes waiting for him to come back and play..

great tribute man

[RickRudesMustache]

Gunpeiii-Saaaaan! Forever live in the hearts of children no matter how old these children grow to be.

[SSERIOUSLYY]

i cant express in words my jealousy. the fact that you have met gunpei yokoi is astonishing. XD regardless i love how you've shared your experience with others ;) gunpei yokoi influenced the video games industry like no other. r.i.p

[smbzguy]

Very nice tribute.I have to agree,he was a great man.If it werent for him we wouldnt have the Game Boy and Nintendo DS that we have today.You're very lucky to meet him.BTW,when you met him did he speak any english?or was there a translator there to translate for you?

[gunpeiyokoifan]

Very awesome video tribute to Gunpei Yokoi-san...

R.I.P. Gunpei Yokoi-san!

[LastSteelgod]

I read a book about the history of Nintendo and got to the part when Mr. Yokoi died by a car hitting him. I felt really sad; Metroid is one of my all time favorite series and I love the Game & Watch Gallery for the Game Boy. He'll be missed...

Didn't he also make the Virtual Boy? Even if it was a commercial failure, I still liked it.

[ankevroon]

yeah! He just wanted a new gaming experience. By the way... He too made the plans to make the wii... Satoru Iwata modernisied it.

[ankevroon]

This is beautiful... I'm not christ, muslim or anything but still I believe somewhere Gunpei Yokoi was watching that and smiling. I too made a kinda tribute but its nothing compared to yours!

[squirm13]

I heard nintendo turned there back on Gunpei/as in rejected him after the failure of the virtual boy.

[gamephreak5]

You heard right. Nintendo (or I should say Hiroshi Yamauchi) unjustly put Gunpei in a "window seat" where he wasn't given anything significant to work on that would affect the company after the VB failed. A short while after he voluntarily quit, but still...

I can't believe after all of his previous successes Yamauchi put him in that position after one lousy mistake...

[Japancommercials4U2]

@squirm13 Sorry for a much later reply, but that is somewhat true. Gunpei was disappointed in the failure of the Virtual Boy. He thought its failure was his fault, so he left Nintendo.

[Masterpunch]

imagine if he was still here

[Vysethedetermined]

This is a very touching video... sad, but bittersweet in a way. Gunpei can rest well knowing that many people not just in Japan but around the world admired him and will remember him as a stalwart individual. This is a great homage to the man who in a lot of ways put Nintendo on the gaming map with various innovations and humility.

R.I.P. dear friend.

[JoshSchleien]

R.I.P

[nicotikibird]

you are so lucky to have met him :D and nintendo ROCKS!!!!!

[BlackwolfX]

Rest In Peace, Gunpei Yokoi

[lTheShieldl]

I didn't know enough about him to think of him for over seven minutes. So I didn't watch the whole video. I do dig the shrine :O

[Grooveraider]

You remember those virtual fireplaces you pop into your VCR/DVD player for the holidays ? Well you're correct. I got the other inspiration and made a virtual Gunpei shrine :)

[kainkusanagi]

Wow, you got to meet the legend himself. That is so incredible. Now he's making heaven more fun.

[Grooveraider]

Amen :)

[NeoGoemon]

Hi, Groove -- this is a beautiful tribute, and a nice music choice to go with it. :) You are truly priveleged to have met Mr. Yokoi. He was an inspiring man, and I sometimes wonder what amazing things he could have brought to us had he not passed away. As another commenter mentioned, the ideals which Mr. Yokoi introduced live on to this day in the Wii, and Nintendo DS. (As in, the "lateral thinking of withered technology") Thanks for sharing this video and your personal account!

[Grooveraider]

Thanks for the kind words, my friend! This tribute was totally improvised. I was touched by another YT clip: Bring Back the Eggplant Wizard (song for Gunpei Yokoi). Mr. Yokoi had it goin' on. He was Nintendo Co. Ltd. as far as i'm concerned. Yeah, I think about if he was alive today. What would he have cooked-up in his Koto Laboratory :) The man was truly a genius and a staple to the industry. We all miss him very much !

[13837]

All

His work

It is not a toy

Practical goods

For the child

For the adult

Music also

I think it is wonderful.

[FatalityGamer465]

Very nice tribute to a man that did wonders for Nintendo and gaming as a whole.

Although it's truly sad he passed away, I feel that in a sense he lives on through the DS and Wii, both systems that offer a new experience with older technology.

Just curious, how good was he at Tetris Attack?

[esh325]

how old are u?

[Grooveraider]

esh325 - I've been on the planet since '75.

I was 21 years in the photo.

[therealhardrock]

Then that means the photo was taken the year before his death and after the failure of Virtual Boy when Nintendo practically ostracized him.

[UltimaChaos298]

So you're 32/33

[Grooveraider]

Just turned 33, last month. I was in my 20s in the Gumpei photo.

[EdvardLuiz]

Tuviste la suerte de conocerlo

el era un verdadero jenio :(

[shincyriades]

Wow, you were quite lucky! R.I.P. Gunpei, we'll always remember the fun times he helped us to have!

[lucace1996]

thats you and gunpei?! awsome! but is gunpei dead RIP Gunpei ;)

[Grooveraider]

Yes, that's me and Mr. Yokoi back in 1995 at the first annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). I luckily knew who he was thanks to the trade show badges :) We played some mean rounds of Tetris Attack (SNES) before taking that photo in the clip. I couldn't believe I was standing in the presence of pure genius and THE MENTOR of Shigeru Miyamoto! Mr. Yokoi will be sorely missed by all :(