< The video game pioneer behind Nintendo's groundbreaking console has died

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

You may not be familiar with the name Masayuki Uemura, but odds are high you've spent hours with his revolutionary work.

(SOUNDBITE OF KOJI KONDO'S "SUPER MARIO BROS. THEME SONG")

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

With games like Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong, the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, dominated the home video game industry in the '80s and '90s. Uemura was its chief architect.

CORNISH: He died this week at the age of 78. Uemura grew up in Tokyo. He became an electrical engineer. He joined Nintendo in 1972 and was soon working on the predecessor to early hit Duck Hunt.

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KELLY: In the early '80s, he was tasked with creating a home console to rival Atari. Nintendo's president asked Uemura to come up with a game using cartridges.

CORNISH: The result was Famicom, or the Family Computer. It hit the U.S. market in 1985. And if Santa didn't hook you up, the 8-bit gaming system ran around $150.

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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: When you play the system with the most arcade hits, you're playing with power.

KELLY: Back before we were worried about screen time. We're remembering the work of Masayuki Uemura. He died this week.

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