Fun fact: Yokoi's last Nintendo handheld was NOT the Virtual Boy. It was actually the GameBoy Pocket which he made as a way of saying sorry for the Virtual Boy's flop. So I'd say Yokoi ended on a good note because the GameBoy Pocket was WAY better than the GameBoy and the GameBoy Pocket would go on to be the foundation for the GBC's design so without the Virtual Boy the GBC could've been the hulking brick.
More than Pokemon, launching the NES, and the Blue Ocean Strategy, Yokoi teaming up with Yamauchi was Nintendo's major business success. Both were talented alone but aggressive and paradigmatic in tandem. It's a shame, yet no surprise, that both left Nintendo in the late '90s and turn of the millennium in just as much time as it took for them to meet on the factory floor way back when. Yokoi's presence at the company was an inspiration and influence for his successors, ranging from Miyamoto (a direct collaborator) to Tajiri (a fan of Nintendo's design and demographic philosophies). I could liken him to a lesser-known innovator and evangelist of fun, Japanese puzzle designer Nob Yoshigahara (who made the Rush Hour tile puzzle). Both made products meant to worm their way into the daily lives of people worldwide, not just in Japan; they had a keen awareness of what should work, how to make things work, and which trends and ideas for play from around the world could be revitalized. Yoshigahara enjoyed both freelance expression and a natural death, however-Yokoi was mostly beholden to a business that gave him the chance for expression at large, and his death was similarly artificial. There's a kind of tragedy to Yokoi's death and legacy which sets him apart from others historically.
Gunpei Yokoi was a great man. It's too bad he got reckless during his later years. At least he made up for it when he released the Game Boy Pocket as an apology for letting down gamers with the premature Virtual Boy.
It seems odd to keep bashing on the CPU power of the gameboy when all the handhelds at the time were mostly on par with each other. the GameGear was a more strightforward z80 (rather then the custom one the GB used) and only clocked at 0.31mhz more. The Lynx was using a version of the 6502 (65SC02) and clocked 0.19mhz lower.
If I could get a glimpse into just one alternate timeline? The one where Gunpei Yokoi lived out a full and productive life would be tied with the one where Challenger's launch was scrubbed for safety concerns and right now the first of the Island-3 space colonies are nearing completion. (Yeah, let that sink in; we could be living in the Universal Century era. 😏)
This is like that story about how PT Barnum sold a truckload of whitw salmon by sticking labels on them that said "guaranteed not to go pink in the can."
