The executive missed E3 2014 due to health issues and had surgery to remove a growth later that year, but it's unfortunately clear that this wasn't enough to help him recover.

The company isn't saying much about succession, but it looks like Genyo Takeda and another company legend Shigeru Miyamoto will take over.

Iwata came to the company in 1983 and helped create some of the developer's legendary titles, such as EarthBound and the early Kirby series. He took charge of the firm's corporate planning in 2000, and in 2002 became the first person to lead Nintendo that wasn't part of the founding Yamauchi family.

As a President he did have a checkered career. He was in charge of the pretty pants GameCube and the struggling Wii U. However he was also in charge through the Wii's glory days and bought in motion-controlled gaming.

He was also behind Nintendo's dominance in dedicated handhelds through the DS and 3DS. Later he started a gradual adaptation to smartphone-dominated world with plans to develop mobile games.

For most people he was the company's face and no doubt that Nintendo will have problems finding someone who could be such a great image.