Hiroshi Yamauchi, the former President of Nintendo and the man considered the driving force behind Nintendo's dominance of the video game market in the late 80's and early 90's, has passed away today at the age of 85.

Mr. Yamauchi was in charge of Nintendo for 53 years, from 1949 to 2002, and oversaw their transition from a trading card maker to a global power house in Video Games. The NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube were released under his tenure, as well as the GameBoy and its many iterations.

A spokesperson from Nintendo has said the company is in mourning over the "loss of the former Nintendo president Mr Hiroshi Yamauchi, who sadly passed away this morning."