Masayuki Uemura

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Masayuki Uemura
Born (1943-06-20) June 20, 1943 (age 78)
Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Alma materChiba Institute of Technology[1]
OccupationProfessor at Ritsumeikan University
Former General Manager of Nintendo R&D2
Known forDesigning the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Masayuki Uemura (上村雅之, Uemura Masayuki) (born June 20, 1943) is a Japanese professor and retired engineer and video game producer. A former employee of Sharp Corporation, he joined Nintendo in 1971[2] or 1972, working with Gunpei Yokoi and Genyo Takeda on solar cell technology for the Laser Clay Shooting System arcade game.[3][4][5][6] After becoming General Manager of Nintendo R&D2, Uemura served as the lead architect for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES game consoles.[7][8][9][10][11][12] He retired from Nintendo in 2004 and is currently director for the Center for Game Studies at Ritsumeikan University.[1][13]

Career[]

Uemura originally worked at Sharp Corporation after graduating from college, selling solar cell batteries. He sold photocell technology to several companies, including Nintendo, who used it for a light gun product, called a "ray gun".[14][15] Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo's main toy designer at the time, discussed with him the possibility of using Sharp's solar cells on interesting products, using their light-detecting capabilities for a shooting game. Thus, they, alongside Genyo Takeda, produced electronic light gun games where the gun would shoot a beam of light at the photocells, which would act as targets.[16][6][3] After Uemura was hired for Nintendo in 1972, they released the Laser Clay Shooting System in January 1973, an arcade game where players shot at projected images of pigeons, with shots registered by photoreceptors. Though it was initially successful, the 1973 oil crisis led to the cancellation of most orders for the machine, leaving Nintendo, which borrowed money to expand the business, approximately ¥5 million in debt.[4] As the company recovered, they then produced a miniaturized version of the concept for the home market, 1976's Duck Hunt, a success that would later be adapted into the 1984 video game of the same name.[4][17]

When then-Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi split Nintendo into separate research & development divisions, he appointed Uemara as head of R&D2, a division that focused on hardware.[14][13][18] Uemura led the development of the Color TV-Game line of dedicated consoles.[2]

In November 1981,[19] Uemura received a phone call from Yamauchi, who asked him to make "something that lets you play arcade games on your TV at home."[18] Collaborating with Ricoh, he and his team began creating a system that could run Nintendo's hit arcade game Donkey Kong.[20][21] Released in July 1983, this console became the Family Computer (commonly known by the Japanese-English term Famicom), an 8-bit console using interchangeable cartridges.[22] Despite his initial pessimism of the console,[23] it soon proved to be a success, selling 2.5 million units by the end of 1984.[24] Due to the video game crash of 1983, when consumers had little trust in game consoles due to poor quality control, the Famicom underwent a redesign when brought to the United States, its first Western market. The cartridge slot was changed to be front-loading to mimic tape deck of a VCR and to reduce the risk of static electricity in dryer climates, while the NES Zapper was bundled to appeal to Americans' interest in guns.[9][25] Rebranded as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the console would also prove successful overseas.[21] Uemura then designed the Famicom Disk System, a Japan-only add-on for the Famicom that played games on floppy disks.[15]

In 1988, Uemura began designing the Super Famicom, the Famicom's 16-bit successor, which would be demonstrated to the Japanese press.[26][27] He and his team worked with Ken Kutaragi, an engineer from Sony who designed the system's sound chip and would later develop the PlayStation.[28][29] First released in Japan in 1990, it would be christened the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the West. In 1995, his team released the Satellaview, an add-on for the Super Famicom that let players download content via satellite broadcast.[5]

During his time at Nintendo, he also produced video games, including Soccer, Baseball, Golf, Clu Clu Land, and Ice Climber.

Uemura retired from Nintendo in 2004, remaining an advisor in the Research and Engineering Department. He became a professor at Ritsumeikan University, researching and teaching about video games.[2][30]

On February 26, 2020, Uemura spoke at the National Videogame Museum in the United Kingdom about his career.[31]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "「ファミコン生みの親」、大学教授に". imidas (in Japanese). November 2002. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "UEMURA Masayuki". Japan Media Arts Festival Archive. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b O'Kane, Sean (October 18, 2015). "7 things I learned from the designer of the NES". The Verge. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Plunkett, Luke (February 3, 2015). "The Gun Game That Nearly Broke Nintendo". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Mago, Zdenko (2008). "THE "FATHER" OF THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM IN SLOVAKIA FOR THE FIRST TIME- Interview with Masayuki UEMURA" (PDF). Acta Ludologica. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Grajqevci, Jeton (October 23, 2000). "Profile: Gunpei Yokoi". nsidr. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  7. ^ Brightman, James (November 24, 2015). ""Nintendo has always been like that, we are like indies"". gameindustry.biz. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  8. ^ Ahmed, Sayem (December 23, 2020). "Feature: NES Creator Masayuki Uemura On Building The Console That Made Nintendo A Household Name". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Parish, Jeremy (December 11, 2018). "NES Creator Masayuki Uemura on the Birth of Nintendo's First Console". USgamer. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  10. ^ "Designing the Nintendo Entertainment System - Masayuki Uemura talk". Juicy Game Reviews. January 31, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  11. ^ Stark, Chelsea (October 19, 2015). "How Nintendo brought the NES to America — and avoided repeating Atari's mistakes". Mashable. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  12. ^ The NYU Game Center Lecture Series Presents Masayuki Uemura. YouTube. NYU Game Center. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Alt, Matt (July 7, 2020). "The Designer Of The NES Dishes The Dirt On Nintendo's Early Days". Kotaku. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Robinson, Martin (March 15, 2020). "The man who made the NES". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b "上村氏インタビュー" (in Japanese). Nintendo. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  16. ^ "【任天堂「ファミコン」はこうして生まれた】" (in Japanese). The Nikkei. September 30, 2008. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  17. ^ Kohler, Chris (February 27, 2007). "Video: 1976 Duck Hunt". Wired. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Famicom's creator reflects on 30 years of 8-bit bliss". Polygon. July 10, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  19. ^ "Volume 2 : NES & Mario". Iwata Asks. Nintendo. p. 1. Bringing Video Games Home. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  20. ^ "Volume 2 : NES & Mario". Iwata Asks. Nintendo. p. 2. Playing Donkey Kong at Home. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b "Witness History - Nintendo's Family Computer". BBC. July 18, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  22. ^ Liedholm, Marcus; Liedholm, Mattias. "History of the Nintendo Entertainment System or Famicom". Nintendo Land. Archived from the original on May 25, 2009. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  23. ^ Bogos, Steve (April 30, 2013). "Famicom (NES) Creator Had No Faith In The Console's Success". The Escapist. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  24. ^ Goldberg, Marty (October 18, 2005). "Nintendo Entertainment System 20th Anniversary". ClassicGaming.com. Archived from the original on November 24, 2005. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  25. ^ Packwood, Lewis (February 28, 2020). "NES Creator Reveals The "Shocking" Story Behind That Infamous Flap". Nintendo Life. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  26. ^ Covell, Chris. "The First Super Famicom Demonstration". Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  27. ^ Covell, Chris. "The Second SFC Demonstration". Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  28. ^ "Father of PlayStation Ken Kutaragi on Rumors, the Industry, and Nintendo". Siliconera. March 20, 2021. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  29. ^ Fahey, Rob (27 April 2007). "Farewell, Father". Eurogamer. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  30. ^ "Volume 5 : Original Super Mario Developers". Iwata Asks. Nintendo. p. 6. The Super Mario Preservation Society. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
  31. ^ "The National Videogame Museum welcomes legendary Nintendo engineer Masayuki Uemura - creator of the NES and SNES - to Sheffield". Games Press. February 14, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2021.
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