Masayuki Uemura, The Lead Engineer On NES and SNES, Passes Away

Masayuki Uemura, project engineer who spearheaded creating the iconic Famicom (NES) and Super Famicom (SNES) consoles, passed away on December 6 at the age of 78. Ritsumeikan University, where Uemura taught as a professor after retiring from Nintendo, announced his passing.

Uemura's impact on the gaming industry cannot be understated. NES released in 1983 and became remarkable for the way it revitalized the home video game market after Atari's crash and loss of consumer favor. The explosive popularity of the NES led to Nintendo's second hit console, the Super NES, in 1990.

Speaking to Famitsu (translated by Polygon), Uemura recounted the development process behind the NES. "One day, Hiroshi Yamauchi (then-Nintendo president) called me in and said 'Make me something that lets you play arcade games on your TV at home," he said. "Donkey Kong was a huge hit in the arcades by then, and I suppose he wanted to get our name into homes as well."

In an interview for Kotaku, Uemura revealed what life was like after the NES was a runaway hit. "Well, my salary went up. That’s a fact. So I was getting paid more, but the flip side was my job got a lot harder. President Yamauchi’s attitude played a big part in this, but my feeling was one of 'seize the day.' Just go for it," he said.

Post-Nintendo, Uemura retired from the company in 2004 and left to teach game design at Ritsumeikan University. He contributed to an important chapter in gaming history and leaves behind an impact that's hard to fully capture in words.