R.I.P. Hiroshi Yamauchi

'Arrogant and hostile' is about the worst combination of characteristics to work under, just below 'Incompetent'. That seems plenty nasty.

IGN Game Scoop did an episode about him that sort of explains his influence in both Nintendo as a company and the video game industry as a whole.

@Rationalinsanity- There is also that nasty business with the Nintendo-Square feud.

Nintendo back in the day was negotiating with Atari to license the Famicom for US markets, and give them exclusive rights to Donkey Kong on computers. Coleco screwed up that deal by showing their own port of Donkey Kong.

While he could be both, he was mainly competent.

I can't help but feel that the story of Nintendo's early foray into video games would make a great movie.

It would. Someone needs to get on that.

... So he flipped out at Coleco because they dun goofed according to Japanese business standards.

Japanese business culture is weird compared to the US. That being said, they get shit done.

Well, they do and they don't. Yamauchi was known as a bit of a maverick by Japanese business standards, partly due to being from Kansai (Kyoto, specifically) which is practically a counterculture compared to Kanto (Tokyo-area) business culture, and the difference can be viewed by Nintendo's strangeness even compared to other Japanese publishers and console makers. While there are differences in how the Japanese run things on matters of loyalty when forming partnerships with other businesses (something they take more seriously, whereas in America it's almost expected that one side's going to try to screw with the other, or just have a mutual screwing), Japan Inc is also known for being much more insular and much more focused on the sanctity of hierarchy than Western business, so can be much, much slower to react than American businesses, where boards of directors buy, sell, and trade CEO's like trading cards and think nothing of total teardowns and restructurings. On the flip side, there's a stronger feeling of continuity and identity in Japanese business, so the slow reaction time is compensated by having generally more loyal employees at all levels.

I once read that he had Mother Brain as a nickname.

Rest in peace, Yamauchi-san.