Shinya Takahashi Is the 'Conductor' Taking Nintendo into the Future

A funny thing happened during Nintendo's January presentation to show off the Switch, its upcoming games console. So intent were viewers on gleaning details about the company's mystery-shrouded new system--a portable game device that can dock with televisions--that they may have missed another kind of "switch" being presented. Amid the psychedelic lasers and quirky presentational humor, the storied company trotted out not one, not two, but six Nintendo executives and creative luminaries. None were familiar faces, though all bore impressive titles plucked from the company's inner sanctum. The company was effectively reversing years of precedent in which its front-facing communiques, dubbed "Nintendo Directs," had been shepherded by icons like late Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aimé. Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima led with the Switch's price ($299) and launch date (March 3), as if to clear the table for what followed. Next up was Nintendo Director Shinya Takahashi, who offered a historical montage of Nintendo platforms designed to cast Switch as the culmination of the company's decades of unorthodox bets.