Gunpei Yokoi worked as a planner and designer for Nintendo as far back as the 1970s, creating their first electronic toy, the Ultra Hand, and going on to create their lineup of Game & Watch games. He also was the producer of the NES classics Metroid and Kid Icarus, but none of those could match up with his greatest contribution to Nintendo...

Yokoi-san helped design the Game Boy, still considered the most popular handheld in the world (over 100 million served!), and helped produce some of its most popular titles, including the Mario Land series and many first-gen titles. He also helped create the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's only bomb console (bomb as in massive failure). Even though the VB failed, he continued to contribute to Nintendo every now and then. Yokoi unfortunately died in 1997 in a car accident, but he recently was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in Japan, presented by Yuji Naka of Sonic Team and accepted in his honor by his family.

To this day, millions of gamers in the world still carry a piece of Yokoi with them in their pockets. The Game Boy is still considered Nintendo's most popular console.