Remembering Masayuki Uemura – The Quiet Genius Behind NES & SNES
It’s a sad day for gamers everywhere – the brilliant mind behind Nintendo’s NES and SNES, Masayuki Uemura, passed away on December 6, leaving us 78 years of worthy tribute to his work.
From Sharp to Nintendo: The Engineer Who Made Gaming History
- 1972: Uemura joined Nintendo as an engineer after leaving Sharp.
- He dived straight into the fun – even helped set up early location‑based light‑gun games.
Building the NES: A Dream Turned Reality
- Uemura became head of R&D2, steering the development of the pioneering “Colour TV‑Game” systems – basically play‑in‑built consoles.
- In 1981, under the mentorship of Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi, he took the helm of the writing the Famicom (later the NES).
- Result? The NES sold a staggering 61.91 million units worldwide – a record that still oozes legend.
Beyond the Console: The Man Behind Memorable Games
- Uemura didn’t just design hardware; he produced games too: titles like Ice Climber and Clu Clu Land grew under his watch.
- After a lifetime of turbocharged gaming, he retired in 2004.
- He then taught at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, passing on his wisdom to new generations of tech whizzes.
The Legacy Lives On
Masayuki Uemura’s work is still in your living room, on your screen, or even in your hands. Nintendo’s consoles didn’t just change games – they changed how we see them. Let’s honor his memory by keeping the nostalgia alive, one pixel‑perfect adventure at a time.
