Masayuki Uemura, the creator of the primary Nintendo cartridge console that revolutionized the online game trade in each Japan and the US, has handed away at age 78, the college the place he retired has introduced.
The Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto stated on Thursday that Uemura, director of its Center for Game Studies, died on December 6.
Uemura is finest referred to as the lead architect for the console identified in Japan as Famicom and within the US because the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), in addition to its successor the Super Famicom/SNES.
“NES is the game console that I was most influenced by. Without this, it wouldn’t be here,” Masahiro Sakurai, creator of the Kirby and Smash Bros sport collection, tweeted in response to news of Uemura’s passing.
The console is credited as redefining residence gaming, first in Japan and later the US. The authentic console bought 20 million models in Japan, and one other 41 million worldwide.
Uemura started work on the Famicom/NES in 1981, after Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi requested him to create a tool able to taking part in arcade video games on a TV that used interchangeable cartridges.
“President Yamauchi told me to make a video game system, one that could play games on cartridges. He always liked to call me after he’d had a few drinks, so I didn’t think much of it. I just said, ‘Sure thing, boss,’ and hung up. It wasn’t until the next morning when he came up to me, sober, and said, ‘That thing we talked about – you’re on it?’ that it hit me: He was serious,” Uemura informed Kotaku in an interview printed final yr.
The console was launched in Japan in 1983, and examined within the US in 1985, that includes such video games as ‘Super Mario Bros,’ ‘Metroid’ and ‘The Legend of Zelda.’ The 8-bit cartridge console was succeeded in 1990 by the 16-bit Super Famicom/SNES, which Uemura additionally helped design. It bought virtually 50 million models earlier than it was discontinued in 2003 in favor of the Nintendo 64.
Uemura retired from Nintendo in 2004, to develop into a professor at Ritsumeikan.
(RT.com)