On February 21st, 2019, the official twitter of Nintendo of America tweeted, “Nintendo fans, Reggie has a message for all of you.  Please take a look.” In the tweet there was a video attached that featured President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aimé.  In the video, Reggie re-lived some of his great moments at Nintendo, paid homage to the company and the fans, and announced his retirement.  In the Nintendo community this was a big deal, but, many outsiders looked in and didn’t understand why this was so important. People at large companies either step down or retire all the time, but what set this guy apart?

Reggie has been with Nintendo for over 15 years and almost 13 as the President of Nintendo of America.  The longevity of his term as well as how involved he was with the Nintendo community allowed him to gain the popularity he did.  A youtube channel called Treesicle made an article about his retirement. In the video the narrator said, “Well I know off the top of my head that I could name the president of, no companies except Nintendo of America.”  

Reggie was able to gain popularity due to his close relationship with the Nintendo community, because he was constantly being featured in Nintendo livestreams and had a strong presence at video game showcases.  He also gained some meme status. One of the earliest examples is during a video game event Nintendo was showing off Wii Fit and the Wii Fit Balance Board. To demonstrate the equipment the presenters were going to use Reggie, before he stepped on the balance board and uttered the infamous words, “My body is ready.”  This took off and Reggie gained popularity from this as well as other inside jokes around the Nintendo Community.

Reggie gained recognition which isn’t usual for the president for a company.  He is still the president for now but in April Nintendo will make the transition and make Doug Bowser president of Nintendo of America.  Though appointing a president with a name of Bowser is a plus for Nintendo, Nintendo fan’s everywhere will miss Reggie.