Well, you may not know his name, but chances are you know his legacy.
Hiroshi Yamauchi, the man credited with transforming Nintendo from a family-owned Japanese business into a global byword for video games, died Thursday from pneumonia. He was 85.
Yamauchi was just 22 when he took over the family business in 1949, when it was a small producer of Japanese and western trading cards.
The shrewd and at times ruthless businessman led the company through several transitions, spanning across toys, arcade games and eventually, home consoles.
The Nintendo 64 was just one of several gaming systems the company released during Hiroshi Yamauchi's 53 years at the helm.
But it truly took off in 1983, with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System.
It was originally known as the "Famicom," or Family Computer back when it was first sold in Japan.
By the time it hit Australia's shores, the NES had amassed a huge global following that revolutionised the way games were developed and sold.
"Before the Nintendo Entertainment System came out, videogames were in a very dark place," said Mark Serrels from Kotaku Australia.
"Absolutely loaded with these terrible games that weren't checked or played. People didn't trust videogames so what Nintendo did was they were very strict in what their parties would be making and selling. They made videogames trustworthy again."
After running Nintendo for 53 years, Yamauchi stepped aside in 2002 as he brought in current chief Satoru Iwata.
Yamauchi's death comes just two days after Eiji Toyoda, a member of Toyota's founding family who oversaw the automaker's global ascent and helped drive a revolutionary production process, died at the age of 100.
