The year is 2006. I’m 12 years old and I’m walking through Best Buy. I stop when I see a strange little white box on an advertisement with odd controller attached to it. It’s at this point that I realize that it’s the Nintendo Wii and I see that they have a little free dvd for you to take and learn more about the system. When I finally get home, I watched this video about all of these great features and all of the great things that Nintendo was doing with the Wii and I was pretty much sold but then Reggie Fils-Aime came on and he was so charming and charismatic. Reggie is what ultimately sold me on it and made me believe that the Nintendo Wii would be the system that I would fall in love with. He was right.
This week, Reggie announced his retirement from Nintendo Of America which will be coming this april and it’s honestly heartbreaking but amazing at the same time. He was the President of Nintendo of America and was basically the face of Nintendo for the last 15 years. That means that for as long as I’ve been seriously gaming he’s been Nintendo for me and for a lot of other games as well. That’s why this is hard for a lot of us but we honestly need to think of it in a positive light. This is a man who was the face of a major company for 15 years and did nothing but bring us joy and gaming. No scandals, no reports of employees hating him, no fan issues. Reggie was the paragon for gaming personalities in a lot of ways and after watching a few of his older videos I finally understand why he was that way.
He believed in Nintendo with every fiber of his being. He believed in the Wii, the Wii U, the Switch and every version of the DS. Every time he showed anything at E3 he was out there giving his entire heart and soul to us while talking to us about all of these great games that we already loved and wanted. He believed in the fans and knew that we, the consumers, were the ones who were most important. He was one of the many factors that helped to separate Nintendo from the competitors over the last few years and yes I will absolutely miss him telling me about all of the great things coming for Mario and Legend of Zelda but I’m genuinely happy for him. He’s retiring so he can spend time with his friends and family. He’s not leaving on bad terms and isn’t going to a rival or anything like that. He’s simply taking a much deserved rest.
As for the future of Nintendo of America, Doug Bowser will be taking Reggie’s spot and while, yes, memes and jokes already have and will continue to come out due to his surname but I think that he’s a solid choice to follow Reggie.
In Conclusion, Thank you for 15 amazing years Reggie and thank you for helping me to believe in Nintendo as much as you do.
