This has been a turbulent month for Nintendo Co Ltd, which lost its longtime president Satoru Iwata when he suddenly passed away at the age of 55 due to complications related to a bile duct tumor. The Japanese game company has struggled to cope with the loss of Iwata, who had led the company for over a decade, but thanks in part to Iwata’s strategies over the last year, the company has posted its strongest Q1 results in three years.

Nintendo’s share prices rose 5.3 percent as a result of its better than expected performance, which included a $150 million profit and improved overseas sales.

Sales of Nintendo’s popular toys-to-life Amiibo figures also continued to remain strong as ever, and while sales of the 3DS handheld system dropped slightly, it still remains the reigning champion of the portable (non-phone) gaming market.

While Amiibo and 3DS sales have been strong for some time now, this quarter did reveal one welcome new change for Nintendo: improved Wii U sales. The Wii U has been seen as a disappointment by many gamers, and even Iwata admitted earlier this year that “for Wii U in particular, it cannot be said that it had a successful launch.” In fact, Iwata pointed to the Wii as the ideal example of how Nintendo would like its consoles to perform in the market, and he stated that by comparison the Wii U “is experiencing the most unfavorable situation.”

One driving factor behind improved Wii U sales is the release of Splatoon, a cartoony “shooter” where tentacle headed children called Inklings fire brightly colored ink at the landscape. Well, it is not any weirder than an Italian plumber eating mushrooms and stomping on turtles.

Nintendo’s improved performance this quarter is only one of many legacies left behind by Iwata, something Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime pointed out in the statement he released after Iwata’s death.

“Mr. Iwata is gone, but it will be years before his impact on both Nintendo and the full video game industry will be fully appreciated,” Fils-Aime said. “He was a strong leader for our company, and his attributes were clear to most everyone: Intelligence, creativity, curiosity and sense of humor. But for those of us fortunate enough to work closely with him, what will be remembered most were his mentorship and, especially, his friendship. He was a wonderful man. He always challenged us to push forward… to try the new… to upset paradigms-and most of all, to engage, excite and endear our fans. That work will continue uninterrupted.”

Image courtesy of Nintendo Co Ltd