Masayuki Uemura, lead architect of Nintendo's cartridge-based consoles passes away at 78

Japanese engineer Masayuki Uemura, the lead architect behind Nintendo's cartridge-based gaming consoles that allowed users to carry popular games in form of cassettes, passed away at the age of 78 on Monday, December 6, AP reported, citing a statement by Kyoto-based Ritsumeikan University where Uemura was a visiting professor.

"We offer our heartfelt appreciation for Mr. Uemura's huge contributions to the development of the game industry by introducing a variety of video game consoles including family computers," Ritsumeikan University said in its statement.

Steve Myers, executive vice president at iRacing.com, wrote on Twitter, "RIP to the man who shaped my entire life - Masayuki Uemura."

Masayuki Uemura's work in Nintendo

Born in Japan's Tokyo in 1943, Masayuki Uemura was an electronic engineering graduate from Japan's Chiba Institute of Technology. He joined Nintendo in 1971.

Ten years later, in 1981, Japan's then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi tasked him with developing a home console for games like Donkey Kong, which was a huge hit in the US at the time but was only available for arcade use, AP reported, adding that Uemura's extraordinary work at the Nintendo Entertainment System led to the grand success of the Kyoto-based company.

The Japanese engineer had visited the UK-based National Videogame Museum in February 2020, the Museum informed while expressing sadness at the gaming industry pioneer's demise. "The team at the National Videogame Museum is devastated to hear the news today that Masayuki Uemura has passed away," the National Videogame Museum wrote on Twitter on December 9.

Masayuki Uemura's contribution to gaming

Nintendo's Disk System (Famicom) gaming console hit the Japanese market in 1983 as the company's first cartridge-based console. Two years later, the gaming console reached the United States of America and eventually became a global sensation with more than 100 million consoles sold worldwide.

Uemura upgraded the Famicom to Super Famicon in a few years time. The new console reached the Japanese market in 1990 and became a revolution that helped Nintendo garner international fame. 

Uemura took voluntary retirement from the gaming firm and started working as a visiting professor at the Ritsumeikan University in 2004.

(With inputs from AP, Image: AP)