(Image: TheGebs24)

Masayuki Uemara, known as the "father" of the Nintendo Famicom and Super Famicom, and veteran video game programmer, passed away at the age of 78. 

Uemara began working for Nintendo in 1971 and he played a vital role in providing photocell technology, essential for the production of "light guns". This lead to the development of the arcade game Laser Clay Shooting System, released in 1973. Uemara became the leader on Nintendo's second Research & Development team when then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi began implementing ideas on how to expand access to games, producing and releasing the TV Color Game-6 in 1976.

"I suppose those CES visits were him setting up the project for us, looking back," Uemura said in an interview with Polygon in 2013 on the eve of the Famicom's 30th anniversary. "One day, Yamauchi called me in and said 'Make me something that lets you play arcade games on your TV at home.' Donkey Kong was a huge hit in the arcades by then, and I suppose he wanted to get our name into homes as well. His reasoning was that, after all, we were a company that started with playing cards and got into toys later on, so unless we did something that no one's done before, it wouldn't have much value as a product."

While he was initially sour on the concept, the NES became a very successful commodity. Seeing a redesign and distribution to the United States under the name "Nintendo Entertainment System, the NES, along with Sega, became one of the pioneers for interactive entertainment and pulled the US gaming industry back from the gaming crash of 1983. He would also program titles for the NES such as CluClu Land, F-1 Race, Pinball, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr., and Ice Climbers. Uemara began development of the Super Famicom in 1988.

Uemara retired from Nintendo in 2004 and became a professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. He has since done many interviews reflecting on his time in the video game industry during his tenure with Nintendo up until 2020. He passed away at age 78.