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Reggie Fils-Aime: Portrait Of A Friend First, Businessman Second

Since 2003, Reggie Fils-Aime has been hard at work at Nintendo of America, and starting in 2006 until April 2019, the “Regginator” has left a lasting impact on video games in popular culture and the everlasting brand of the most family-friendly video game company by going above and beyond as Nintendo of America’s president and COO.

Reggie became president at a time in which Nintendo was often criticized by its competition as being only for children.

These comments, however, came at a time in which that was becoming less true.

As the children who had grown up on games like “Super Mario Bros.” and “The Legend of Zelda” were young adults, Reggie helped start a new public relations wave of off-beat humor and making exciting, bold claims about upcoming games that resonated with the maturing audience.

The typically forward modesty of Japanese businessmen like the late Nintendo President Satoru Iwata and legendary designer Shigeru Miyamoto was no longer at the forefront.

Instead, what fans received for the face of the company was Reggie, whether he was making jokes about his level of fitness when he tried out “Wii Fit” or telling an audience that “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” would be “by far the best Zelda game” and “most beautiful game Nintendo (had) ever made.”

Reggie’s infectious spirit of having fun and poking fun at himself caught on in a major way once the company shelved the idea of multiple hours of press conferences to inform fans and transitioned to the Nintendo Direct format.

Several video presentations per year began to show up in YouTube and social media feeds for Nintendo fans in the 2010s.

Iwata was a major player in streamlining information for Nintendo fans, and he too began to act as a public persona, with an odd obsession with bananas like the titular Donkey Kong character and a warm spirit that was showcased in his interviews with developers.

In the age of Reggie, Nintendo corporate executives began to be personified in the public eye as fun-loving human beings who were gamers as well as game developers or businessmen. This proved true as Reggie later revealed his history with Nintendo before he was the president of the American branch.

When Reggie had been moving up in the world of marketing at Pizza Hut and Guiness Imports, he had also been playing games like “Super Mario World” and “The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” on his Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

He’s expressed on multiple occasions that working at Nintendo was a dream job, and for many Nintendo of America employees according to company reviews, Reggie was a dream boss with a lot of vision.

For many Nintendo fans, it’s even more poetic and heartwarming that Reggie is simply retiring instead of moving to a new position or switching to a new company.

He’s had his fill of the business world and said he wants to make use of ample time to spend with his family and promote businesses and products he believes in going forward.

To further illustrate just how popular and well-loved Reggie is, more than 400,000 people have followed him on Twitter @Reggie, and the man only created an account the day his retirement went into effect April 15.

In just two weeks, he’s ensured that hundreds of thousands who’ve adored him over the past 17 years will still be able to have some idea of what Reggie is up to.

He also shared a public retirement announcement video earlier this year.

It’s not something that most corporate executives do, but in the special case of Reggie, fans rejoiced with celebration and affection in the forms of messages, social media posts, video tributes and more.

On his last day, Reggie toured some fans through his office virtually on Twitter and Instagram.

The place was — and has been — littered with memorabilia from the Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing and Pokemon franchises.

On top of all the good faith from the fandom and courtesy to the gaming community from Reggie, the ultimate reason for Reggie’s early retirement was to spend more time with his wife, family and friends.

He left Nintendo fans with this message:

“I’ve been honored to be included as part of your family. Just as you understand that Nintendo always tries to put smiles on faces, well, let me tell you, you’ve put thousands of smiles on mine.”

And if you thought it couldn’t be more fitting for a family-friendly company’s American president to say those words and retire in the name of spending time with family, Nintendo of America’s new president is, believe it or not, named Doug Bowser.

While the literal Super Mario villain and giant fire-breathing monster Bowser won’t be hoarding Nintendo as his new kingdom, the real Doug Bowser is ripe to follow in Reggie’s colossal footsteps.

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