NBA Player Kobe Bryant has Passed Away

[Nester the Lark]

It's been reported that former NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter accident, along with his 13 year old daughter and seven other passengers.

In regards to Nintendo, Bryant was the featured cover athlete of the NBA Courtside series, which consisted of two games on the Nintendo 64, one on the Game Boy Color, and one on the GameCube. The games were developed by former Nintendo subsidiary Left Field Productions (who also made Excitebike 64), and came fairly early in Bryant's career.

I'm not big into sports, but I'm definitely familiar with Kobe Bryant. He was one of those sports figures that I would somtimes joke about being a Nintendo character, along with Mike Tyson and Ken Griffey, Jr.

Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016 after 20 years. He was only 41 at the time of his passing.

EDIT: Corrected to say that there were seven other passengers, not three, based on more recent reports.

[nocturnal YL]

So we have unresolved political tensions carried from last year, the coronavirus outbreak in China, locust invasions in Kenya and Ethiopia, and now this to top it off?

In less than a month, this year already proved to be a depressing one.

I don't care about sports, but the passing of such a role model is still a great loss.

[Nester the Lark]

Here's an old segment from the Electric Playground on the original NBA Courtside. It includes an interview with Kobe.



Also in the video is Henry Sterchi. He no longer works on NoA, but he tweeted about his experience meeting Kobe.