Masayuki Uemura, the former lead architect of the NES and SNES, has passed away. He was one of the genius minds behind some of our best game memories. pic.twitter.com/KO43DIGuTt

— Archipel | アルシペル (@SailToArchipel) December 9, 2021

Born June 20, 1943, in Tokyo. As a young man, Uemura attended the Chiba Institute of Technology and joined Sharp Corporation in 1972 as an engineer where he helped to sell photocell technology to other companies, one of which was Nintendo. He later met Nintendo designer Gunpei Yokoi, who would go on to create the Game & Watch, and the Game Boy, He also helped to implement Sharp's solar cells via a light gun, which was devised by Yokoi, and then used the light-detecting cells to create a shooting game. This was released as the Laser Clay Shooting System, and later, Duck Hunt. He retired from Nintendo back in 2004 and became a professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.

To all of us gamers from around the globe, we give Mr. Uemura's family our sincerest condolences and prayers. Thank you for being a part of and making our childhood great. Rest in peace.