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Twitter grieves as Nintendo President Reggie Fils-Aimé retires

Our bodies were not ready.

Jackson Ryan Former Science Editor
Jackson Ryan was CNET's science editor, and a multiple award-winning one at that. Earlier, he'd been a scientist, but he realized he wasn't very happy sitting at a lab bench all day. Science writing, he realized, was the best job in the world -- it let him tell stories about space, the planet, climate change and the people working at the frontiers of human knowledge. He also owns a lot of ugly Christmas sweaters.
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Reggie Fils-Aimé has been Nintendo of America's president since 2006. 

 Bob Riha Jr/Getty

Reginald Fils-Aimé, Nintendo of America president and one of the world's most recognizable video game figureheads, is retiring in April.

Not unexpectedly, that's got the internet a little emotional. Only minutes after the announcement, a flood of gratitude and well wishes swamped Twitter and media outlets. Fils-Aimé has been Nintendo of America's go-to guy for over a decade, having him front E3 conferences and huge game announcements, endearing him to not just Nintendo fans, but gaming fans the world over.

Reggie's sign-off was delivered in typical Reggie fashion, with a copious amount of Nintendo-themed puns and references to his storied meme history.

"For giving me a Mushroom Kingdom full of incredible memories that I will never forget," he said. "I've been honored to be included as part of your family."

Battling through tears and constant sniffling, I also heard him say, "Just as you understand that Nintendo always tries to put smiles on faces... well, you put thousands of smiles on mine." But I can't be sure that's the actual quote because I was wiping my wet cheeks.

The big names were out in force, saying thanks for all Reggie has done over the past dozen years or so.

He even got some warm words from the competition -- Sony's Shawn Layden, and Microsoft's Phil Spencer and Mike Ybarra wished him well.

The fans weren't exactly ready. You could say something about their bodies not being prepared for Reggie's departure, perhaps.

Reggie's ascension to president of one of the world's leading companies as the son of Haitian immigrants was also celebrated across the Twitterverse. 

And Reggie's career was perfectly summed up by the responses online: He has put in the work.

Reggie will be "handing over the controller" to Doug Bowser, who takes up the role of president of Nintendo of America. The appropriateness of Doug's last name was not lost on anyone, of course.

With Reggie's formal retirement coming, he now has time for other things. He says he's going to spend time with his family and his friends, but Nintendo fans have other ideas. Like, say, making sure he's on the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster.

But perhaps the juiciest idea of all is saying goodbye to one friend and hello to another as they move in... sounds familiar...

CNET's Sean Keane contributed to this report.