Hiroshi Yamauchi was Nintendo's third and arguably most important president. When he took the reins from his grandfather in 1949, the Japanese company specialized in the manufacture of playing cards for its home market -- first Japanese-style cards and then, under Yamauchi's guidance, Western-style ones too. By the time he handed over control to Satoru Iwata 53 years later, he'd overseen the creation of all Nintendo's game consoles up to the GameCube and become one of Japan's richest men -- in other words, not a bad innings for a man who passed away today at the ripe old age of 85.