Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies (RCGS) announced on Thursday that Masayuki Uemura, the creator of Nintendo and Super Nintendo, passed away on Dec 6, 2021, at the age of 78. Uemura’s cause of death was not disclosed.

【訃報】 上村雅之先生逝去のお知らせ

当センター発起人の一人で、初代センター長を務められた、立命館大学映像学部客員教授の上村雅之先生が2021年12月6日ご逝去されました。78歳でした。 故人のご冥福を心よりお祈りするとともに、謹んでお知らせいたします。https://t.co/u9ieZcMW6i

— 立命館大学ゲーム研究センター (@rcgstudies) December 9, 2021

His family held a funeral.

Uemura was born on June 20, 1943, in Tokyo. He graduated from Chiba Institute of Technology’s department of electronic engineering in 1967.

A former employee of Sharp Corporation, Uemura joined Nintendo in 1971 working with Gunpei Yokoi and Genyo Takeda on solar cell technology for the Laser Clay Shooting System arcade game.

After becoming General Manager of Nintendo R&D2, Uemura served as the lead architect for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES game consoles.

He retired from Nintendo in 2004, and became director for the Center for Game Studies at Ritsumeikan University. He eventually founded RCGS and became its first director in 2011.

Source: RCGS via ANN