Hiroshi Imanishi

Hiroshi Imanishi is a former Nintendo executive who worked as the general affairs manager at Nintendo. He later became the general manager of the Corporate Communications Division

History
After graduating from Doshisha University of Law, he joined Nintendo, becoming an essential part of getting Nintendo from card games to bigger things. In the late 1960s, he convinced Hiroshi Yamauchi that the future of Nintendo lied in toys and gadgets. He was then made responsible for creating a Research & Development Department for these games. In this division, he would recruit legendary Nintendo engineers Gunpei Yokoi, Masayuki Uemura and Genyo Takeda. They were just making electronic toys at this point but, they had remarkable success.

In 1975, Imanishi was promoted to the head of the General Affairs Department where he dealt with licensing, judicial affairs and managing public information. During the Famicom's development, he was handling difficulties in the Game & Watch line. With the release of third party software, he revamped the licensing situation so, that Nintendo would produce the cartridges to ensure quality. In 2002, he retired from the company alongside Hiroshi Yamauchi.

Interviews

 * The 1986 Famicom Crisis via Shmuplations
 * Zdnet: Delay of Dolphin
 * Core Magazine via Nintendo World Report
 * Iwata Asks: Mario 25th Anniversary