He originally wanted to create pinball machines, however Namco executives declined the idea due to patent-related issues. Iwatani was assigned to the video game development division of the company upon arrival. This became an unprecedented success for Namco, and made them interested in producing their own video games in-house instead of relying on other companies to make games for them. from Nolan Bushnell, giving them the rights to distribute many of the company's games, such as Breakout, across the country. Before he had joined, Namco had acquired the rights to the Japanese division of Atari, Inc. Career ДЄt the age of 22 Iwatani joined the Japanese video game publisher Namco in 1977. He often filled his school textbooks with scattered manga, which he claims had a major influence on the character designs of his games. Iwatani was self-taught in computers without any formal training in programming or graphical design. After becoming a junior high student, Iwatani returned to Tokyo and graduated from the Tokyo Metropolitan University High School, before graduating from the Tokai University Faculty of Engineering.

While in kindergarten, he and his family moved to the TЕЌhoku region of Japan after his father got a job as an engineer for the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. Iwatani was born in the Meguro ward of Tokyo, Japan on January 25, 1955.

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