The chief engineer behind the legendary Nintendo NES and SNES consoles has died.
Masayuki Uemura died aged 78 on Monday, leaving behind a legacy that changed gaming forever.
One of the grandfathers of videogames, Uemura oversaw the development of the Family Computer (Famicom) – later named the NES in the West.
It became the world's first truly popular home console that let you play games on a TV rather than an arcade machine, and spawned franchises that are still with us today, including Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Donkey Kong.
The NES was notable for the invention of different games cartridges which let you switch games on the same console, paving the way for games discs and downloads later down the line.
Uemera oversaw the development of the NES' precursor, the Nintendo 'Color TV-Game' system. He also had a hand in light gun-based games, and was also the producer of Ice Climber, Clu Clu Land, and sports games Soccer, Baseball, and Golf.
Uemura was often humble about his creations, and took pride in his designs more than their success.
Referring to the NES, he told NintendoLife: "Back then, we didn't know if it was going to be popular or not, but the fact that we were able to complete the product was very satisfactory."
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Uemura also said: "I think we have accomplished all the things we could accomplish with console games. I think there are a lot of things we could do, but when we designed Super Famicom, I think that [we] got all of the basics that we need for the console games."
Uemura has received tributes from across Nintendo and the gaming world. Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of Smash Bros and Kirby, said on Twitter:
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"It has been announced that Masayuki Uemura, the creator of the Family Computer, has passed away. I pray for your soul… NES is the game console that I was most influenced by. Without this, it wouldn't be there."
Today, Nintendo is a £43 billion company that has created hundreds of games and dozens of consoles and has fans and customers around the world.
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More than that, the video game industry is worth around £230 billion worldwide this year.
The influence of the NES and SNES are absolutely huge, and made it possible for consoles like the Sony Playstation or the Xbox to become a reality today.
Without the likes of Uemura and the early gaming pioneers, we'd all still be stuck watching TV.
- Nintendo
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