I think probably the easiest way to sum up Reggie’s legacy for Nintendo is the very fact that we all call him by his first name. In 2004, as the games industry morphed into the often faceless fiscal behemoth it is today, Nintendo – itself on the verge of releasing one of the most successful consoles of all time in the Wii – appointed an American company spokesman that wanted us to treat him more like a friend than a corporate overseer. And we did. There are thousands of Reggies in the world but, in the context of games, there’s really only one.

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A History of Nintendo Hardware - 1977 to Now 20 IMAGES

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15 years later, we’re still calling him Reggie, and he still feels like some far-flung friend. His retirement from Nintendo in April led to outpourings of woe, bittersweet tributes, and a tidal wave of meme compilations . This was not a normal response to a company president leaving his job. That sheer approachability, exemplified by us being on first name terms, is so much a part of his success that it’s one of the stated reasons that he’ll be presented with the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at next year’s New York Game Awards Reggie Fils-Aimé became plain old Reggie at E3 2004, two years before he was promoted to NoA’s top job. His first words for the company became industry legend as soon as they left his mouth: “My name is Reggie, and I’m about kicking ass and taking names, and we’re about making games!”“This was a well-considered statement,” he tells me over email, “and reflected the needs of Nintendo at the time, and the reality of my own personality. My enthusiasm for video games, my love for Nintendo franchises, as well as my approachability, all worked together. This is the real Reggie… whether on stage, in the office or engaging with the community. I think this is why fans welcomed me, and continue to enjoy engaging with me.”That idea, that we were seeing the real Reggie, became key to his success and popularity at Nintendo: he was open about the company’s goals (later in that same 2004 address, he told fans who wanted Nintendo to be more grown-up that “We’re not going to run our company just for hardcore gamers.”); he was unusually forthright for a Nintendo executive, willing to bring a little fight to the console wars; he was even pleasingly awkward, with a slight ‘dad at the party’ vibe, as if he wasn’t quite confident in the cool things he was going to say, but darn it if he wasn’t going to say them anyway.Far from alienating him, this all made Reggie feel somehow more real, not just another slick, dryly rehearsed money-man on an E3 stage. He was an unusual, fantastic choice as spokesman and president - but perhaps it shouldn’t have felt unexpected.“There is a plaque”, Reggie explains, “in the Nintendo executive area in Kyoto that says in Japanese, ‘Create Something Unique.’ This has been Nintendo’s mantra for decades. Within the video game space, Nintendo has innovated so often… from hundreds of games, consoles, controllers and peripherals. Just about every element of modern gaming was started by Nintendo. This focus on innovation runs throughout Nintendo and into the disciplines of Sales, Marketing, Operations, even Finance. Everyone challenged themselves to Create Something Unique.”Reggie himself is a part of that mantra. His appointment was an innovation. He wasn’t chosen just because he was a marketing guru – that decision to appoint someone who just felt different played directly into Nintendo’s core ethos. And, like many of Nintendo’s other unexpected choices, Reggie paid off handsomely.He spearheaded the creation of Nintendo Direct, a weirdly personable marketing tool that’s been copied by just about every other major game creator by this point. He brought a belief in Blue Ocean Strategy – a business tactic that prizes innovation – to explain why Nintendo made so many unexpected choices in the contemporary gaming landscape (and, more often than not proved why he believed in it) . You could argue he even turned NoA into the force it is today, a true piece of the Nintendo business, able to affect company policy across the board, rather than just another of its many regional distribution networks:“When I joined Nintendo of America, I made it a point to partner with key leaders like Mr. Iwata and Mr. Miyamoto. I believe the trust and confidence in Nintendo of America enabled us to push forward strategies and tactics that worked for the Americas, and as appropriate were adapted to other markets.”But alongside all that corporate success is a side-hustle in acknowledging his own innate appeal. Kicking ass and making games might be his most famous motto, but I think there’s a Reggie-ism that better sums up his defining work for Nintendo: “My name is Reggie, and I am happy” . His work rarely felt like work from the outside, particularly when he was being Muppet-ised , or reimagined as an employee-murdering robot , or introducing Zelda: Breath of the Wild to a hyperventilating Jimmy Fallon On Twitter , he’s called it “A career of making people smile.” There’s really no better way to put it. I couldn’t resist asking what his favourite Reggie meme is, looking back across 15 years of contenders:“There’s a meme compilation on YouTube that I got a kick out of seeing; all my funny and epic moments in one place! If I’m pressed to pick just one favorite meme, it would have to be when we launched the Wii Fit, and I was quoted as saying, ‘My body is ready!’”The fact that I’m asking the ex-head of a company what his favourite meme of himself is kind of says it all. Other companies may well try to imitate him, but there really is only one Reggie.