Masayuki Uemura, architect of the NES and Super Nintendo, passes away at the age of 78

Masayuki Uemura, who helped design the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Nintendo that led Nintendo to worldwide gaming dominance, has passed away at the age of 78. To say his work for Nintendo and gaming as a whole is vital is putting it kindly.

40 years ago in 1981, Uemura began work on the Famicom – what would become known as the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America. Sidestepping the video game crash of 1983 that almost destroyed the industry as a whole, the NES proved a massive hit worldwide and made home gaming consoles a must-have accessory. Uemura also came out of retirement to design its follow up in the late ’80s, as Sega and Turbografx16 launched their 16-bit systems in response. With massive hits like Super Mario World, Legend Of Zelda: ALTTP, and many more, it was the SNES’s controller that proved just as iconic. Notably, Uemura also helped design the Satellaview, an SNES add-on released only in Japan that allowed an early form of online gaming as well as downloads. Keep in mind, this was revolutionary because this was still years off from Xbox Live even being a thing, for example.

ファミリーコンピュータの生みの親、上村雅之さんが亡くなられたことが発表されています。ご冥福をお祈りします…
ファミコンは、私がもっとも影響を受けたゲームハードです。これがなければ、いまもなかった。

— 桜井 政博 / Masahiro Sakurai (@Sora_Sakurai) December 9, 2021