Although he was not part of Nintendo at the time, Iwata assisted in the development of Pokémon Gold and Silver, which were released for the Game Boy Color in November 1999, by creating a set of compression tools utilized for graphics in the games.
Aínda que non formaba parte de Nintendo, Iwata axudou no desenvolvemento de Pokémon Gold e Silver para a Game Boy Color en novembro de 1999, ao crear unha serie de ferramentas de compresión que se empregarían nos gráficos desta serie de xogos.