I was too young to ever really know of Ymauchi when he was calling the shots of Nintendo. So I never understood how big a role he played in the medium of games. That said, with his passing, one has to think of how things will spin when the faces behind the games start passing like Miyamoto, Newell, Cliffy B, Suda51, or any other names and personalities that (for better or worse) do bring a lot to the medium with what they make.
Morbid to think about, but when those days do inevitably come, I'm interested to see the general reaction and how their losses will impact the medium.