The Creator of the NES and SNES, Masayuki Uemura, Passes Away at 78

Masayuki Uemura, an influential member of Nintendo from its early days in the video game industry, passed away on December 6th at the age of 78. Uemura left his mark on the company by being the head of the development team that created the Famicom and Super Famicom. Those of us in the West would better know these systems under their re-release names: Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The vast majority of Nintendo’s most popular franchises, including The Legend of Zelda, got their start on these systems.

Uemura joined Nintendo in 1971. The company hired him after taking an interest in the photocell light sensor technologies that Uemura and the company Sharp were selling. Nintendo had Uemura, alongside lead designer Gunpei Yokoi, use these sensors to develop a light-sensitive gun simulation game. After several revisions, the concept would eventually be used for the early shooting game Duck Hunt (later adapted for the NES in 1984). In 1981, Uemura was tasked by then-Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi with leading the development staff for a home arcade console. After two years of work, Uemura and his team finished the Famicom.

The eight-bit console sold well in Japan, but Uemura needed to make significant revisions to make the Famicom appealing to the American market. One of these changes involved moving the cartridge slot from the top of the system to a VHS-styled slot in the front. This decision was brought about through a fear that the system would create static shocks in dry climates, such as the American Southwest. After the revisions, the newly christened Nintendo Entertainment System debuted in 1985. After an initially rocky start, the console got a surge of popularity in the Christmas season of 1987. Uemura served as a producer on several games for the NES, including Ice Climber, Clu-Clu Land, Baseball, Golf, and Soccer.

From 1988 to 1990, Uemura’s team developed a new sixteen-bit system to keep Nintendo competitive in the video-game industry. The result was the Super Famicom (Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the West) in 1990. The Zelda game for this console, A Link to the Past, is well regarded in the community for establishing many of the norms that would carry the series for the next several decades. After working on the SNES, Uemura received a rather unique task. In the days where the internet was not as readily available, Nintendo wanted to find a way to publish post-launch content without requiring physical sales. Uemura lent his expertise in helping to design the Satellaview. This technology used satellites to transfer limited amounts of data to home consoles, as seen with the BS Legend of Zelda titles.

Masayuki Uemura retired from Nintendo in 2004. He still remained attached to the company as an advisor while serving as a professor at Risumeikan University giving lectures about video games and design.

Have you played any of Masayuki Uemura’s works, either on the original consoles or through digital rereleases? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Oricon News (via Kotaku).

Featured image via Gamepur, Reuters