Former longtime president of Nintendo America Reggie Fils-Aimé received lifetime achievement honors at the New York Video Game Critics Circle award ceremony in Manhattan last night. He delivered a classy acceptance speech which followed a couple of moments Nintendo fans may enjoy seeing.
Fils-Aimé’s acceptance speech was preceded by a video highlighting the ex-executive’s career, with considerable attention paid to his recent work as a mentor for school kids in the Bronx. While on the one hand, yes, this is a lot of celebration about someone whose job was to sell a lot of stuff, there are some poignant moments in the tribute video about broadening the pool of gamers and—something less widely discussed as part of Fils-Aimé’s legacy—serving as an inspiration to people of color as to what can be achieved in the gaming industry. The tribute starts about 37 minutes into the Twitch archive of the event:
Scroll back to 28:00, however, and you’ll get to listen to a Nintendo music medley from the Triforce Quartet. Can you name all the songs?
If you’re interested in the rest of the awards, they were given throughout the rest of the show, with game of the year top honors going to The Outer Worlds.
Finally, a disclaimer: While Reggie says some very nice things about this post’s author during his speech, I’m actually not a member of the New York Video Game Critics’ Circle. Or, as one member joked, did Fils-Aimé just retcon me in?