Going by his screen-name Jew Wario, Justin was known for making his video series “You Can Play This,” which had its beginnings on Doug Walker’s The Guy With The Glasses website (and later Blistered Thumbs and Retroware TV). The series was known it pleasantness compared to the other offerings at TGWTG, going for a more informative approach and lighthearted on the ease of playing import games. He showed viewers how easy it is to actually play imported imported Japanese games without having to know the language. While getting imports can be troublesome due all the hoops one has to jump through, probably one of the biggest barriers to playing Japanese imports (or any other for that matter) was the language. Even so, Justin broke down the mechanics of how each videogame he showcased worked, and rated each one on how much text is shown, if there is English used, how difficult or easy a game was, the game’s rarity, and the usual price it goes for should they be available.

Justin’s wife, Jenny, left a message on her facebook, one part talking about his fans and their reception of his videos. “He knew I loved him, HE KNEW ALL OF YOU LOVED HIM…” she writes. “You all made him so happy, every time he was recognized from his videos, it made him giddy with joy.”

Personally, this news came to me today by one of my staff, Jon “xhipsterpanda,” and rest assured I was shocked at the news. I never knew Justin personally. I was pretty much just another fan. But he was one of the contributing factors to my eventual playing of certain import games, namely DoReMi Fantasy and Sin & Punishment, my first imports when they were available on the Wii’s Virtual Console. He, along with other factors, also inspired me to take Japanese when I was in college, which resulted in the very best semesters in my college life. And while I made the choice early on, videos like the ones Jew Wario made reassured me that this, talking about videogames and how much we love playing them, was something worth doing, if not for the money or the fame, then for the fun of talking about them. So for that, thank you Jew Wario. You make The Wired Fish worth it!