Former Star Fox dev on Nintendo skipping their 100th anniversary celebration, and “harsh” words from a former president

In terms of games and projects, Nintendo loves to publicly celebrate their works. Nintendo often makes mentions of franchises that have hit major milestones in terms of longevity, and we see the Big N remind us of legacy platforms through retro re-releases, infographics and more. Too bad internally, it seems Nintendo isn’t one for celebrating their history.

In an interview with 4Gamer, former Nintendo employee and Star Fox dev Takaya Imamura spoke about his time at the company, and he recalled how Nintendo wasn’t much for celebrations, so much so that they didn’t even recognize their own 100th anniversary.

“I joined the company in the year of Nintendo’s 100th anniversary. At that time, society as a whole was in a bubble, so companies would take students who had secured employment on trips and throw parties to keep them from losing out, but Nintendo did nothing (laughs). We didn’t even celebrate our 100th anniversary, and it was a company that never got carried away.”

[Former Nintendo employee and Star Fox dev Takaya Imamura]

Some of that lack of celebration might have been tied to Nintendo’s former president, Hiroshi Yamauchi. During Yamauchi’s tenure, diehard Nintendo fans knew the man was quite a stern and tough leader. Not surprisingly, Yamauchi was much the same behind the scenes.

“It was ‘Keep calm when you’re happy, keep calm when you’re unhappy.’ No matter how well the company was doing, Yamauchi would always speak harshly to employees. Of course, this was because Yamauchi had failed in many businesses, but toys and games are a business that is a liquid business, so it’s right even if you think about it normally. Hearing Yamauchi’s strong and persuasive words made me think, ‘You have to make good, interesting things to sell, right?’“

[Former Nintendo employee and Star Fox dev Takaya Imamura]