Masayuki Uemura, NES and SNES Creator, Dies at 78
Masayuki Emura, the videogame icon who created the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, has passed away. He was 78 years of age.
Uemura was the architect of both Nintendo’s iconic consoles. They housed some of the most influential and important video games ever made, including classics like Super Mario Bros., The Legend Of Zelda and Super Metroid.
In 1972, Uemura was an engineer at Sharp and joined Nintendo just as the company was beginning to explore interactive entertainment. The Famicom, the NES in western countries, was his baby. After Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo president, gave him the task of creating an arcade-style device that could be used on a TV, and he began work on the system.
Uemura eventually rose the ranks to become Nintendo R&D2, where he created the NES and its beloved successor, the SNES. Uemura was also a producer on many fondly-remembered titles, including Ice Climber and Clu Clu Land.
In 2004, Uemura quit Nintendo and started teaching at the Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. His colleagues at the Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto broke the sad news that Uemura had died on December 6.
The university expressed its gratitude to Uemura for “developing the Ritsumeikan Universities Game Research Center.”
Uemura’s influence on the videogame industry cannot be overstated. Without him, it would be very different. GAMINGbible sends condolences and sympathies to Uemura’s family and friends.
