Gunpei Yokoi (Japanese: 横井 軍平, Hepburn: Yokoi Gunpei; 10 September 1941 – 4 October 1997), sometimes transliterated as…
Gunpei Yokoi (Japanese: 横井 軍平, Hepburn: Yokoi Gunpei; 10 September 1941 – 4 October 1997), sometimes transliterated as Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese toy maker, video game designer, and producer. During his 31-year tenure at Nintendo, he served as general manager of Nintendo Research & Development 1 (R&D1) and designed several of the company's most prominent hardware products, including the Ultra Hand toy, the cross-shaped D-pad, the Game & Watch and Game Boy handheld systems, the R.O.B. accessory, and the Virtual Boy. As a producer and mentor to Shigeru Miyamoto, Yokoi oversaw major Nintendo franchises and titles including Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Metroid, Kid Icarus, Fire Emblem, and Super Mario Land. His design philosophy of "Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology" (枯れた技術の水平思考, Kareta Gijutsu no Suihei Shikō)—finding novel, creative uses for mature, inexpensive hardware rather than relying on cutting-edge specifications—shaped Nintendo's hardware strategy for decades and informed its later Blue Ocean Strategy with the Nintendo DS and Wii.
