(Tokyo) A pioneer in the video game industry is no more.
Japan’s Masayuki Uemura, whose Nintendo game console has found its way into millions of homes around the world, died on Monday, according to the university where he taught in Kyoto. The cause of his death was not specified. He was 78 years old.
Masayuki Uemura, was the great architect behind the Entertainment System and Super Nintendo game consoles, paving the way in this industry.
Born in Tokyo in 1943, Mr. Uemura studied electronics engineering at the Chiba Institute of Technology and was hired by Nintendo in 1971.
The president of the company in 1981, Hiroshi Yamauchi, gave him the mandate to develop a console for games like Donkey kong, which had been hugely successful in the United States at a time when video games were only available in arcade arcades.
The Famicom system, introduced to the Japanese market in 1983, was Nitendo’s first device that allowed tapes to be used to access games. The upgraded Super Famicom version with its controllers was released in Japan in 1990.
Known as the Nintendo Entertainment System, when the game console made its debut in the United States in 1985, it became a global sensation with more than 60 million game consoles sold around the world, giving the game a Japanese company its international fame.
After retiring from Nintendo, Mr. Uemura turned to teaching video games in 2004 at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, where Nintendo’s head office was located.
“We offer our warmest affection and esteem for Mr. Uemura’s enormous contribution to the development of the video game industry with the introduction of a variety of video games and consoles dedicated to families. May he rest in peace, ”the university said in a statement.