Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé has recalled having to deal with a Pokemon shortage during his first week on the job.
Fils-Aimé became a cultural icon to Nintendo fans, so much so that he is the owner of the @Reggie handle on Twitter thanks to being mononymously known by the name for so many years. He joined Nintendo in late 2003 as executive vice president of sales and marketing, and months later at E3 2004 became a face of the company and a meme in the making. However, despite a background in marketing, Fils-Aimé recalled his first week at Nintendo being a rocky one.
At the New York Game Awards – which also featured the first appearance of Devon Pritchard as the new Nintendo of America president – the Andrew Yoon Legend Award was given to the Pokemon franchise. Fils-Aimé, who hosted the event, recalls: "I had a long history with Pokemon when I was at Nintendo."
"I had just joined the company and [was] there for only about a week when I had to work with our retail partners because they literally did not have enough copies of Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Emerald for the Christmas rush. They were a little upset," Fils-Aimé says (although he most likely meant Pokemon Sapphire, as Emerald didn't release until 2004 in Japan, and mid 2005 in the US). He adds, "And believe me, I never let that happen ever again."
Despite getting off to a somewhat rough start with the franchise, Fils-Aimé continues, "I always enjoyed working with The Pokemon Company, and I love all the games." He also says the "Pokemon Plus controller with the Mew inside," is "one of my favorites."
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