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The lead architect of the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Masayuki Uemura, has died. The Ritsumeikan Center for Game Studies at Ritsumeikan University announced Uemura’s death on Thursday, saying he died Dec. 6 at the age of 78.

Uemura first joined Nintendo in 1972, and worked with the company to build light-gun games, helping to create the predecessor to Duck Hunt. After moving to Nintendo’s new R&D2 team, he headed up the squad’s home console initiative — a mandate from then-president Hiroshi Yamauchi.