Former Nintendo leader Hiroshi Yamauchi dies at 85

Hiroshi Yamauchi, the man who transformed Nintendo from a playing-card maker to a video game giant and led the company for 53 years, has died. He was 85.

Kyoto-based Nintendo said Yamauchi died Thursday of pneumonia at a hospital in central Japan.

Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a traditional playing card maker. Under Yamauchi's leadership from 1949 to 2002, the company created household name products such as the Wii and Wii U gaming consoles, Game Boy portable systems and the Super Mario and Pokémon franchises.

At 22, Yamauchi took over the family business from his ailing grandfather and went on to lead the company through massive global growth for more than half a century. Nintendo introduced the "Family Computer" in 1983, which set the stage for the creation of today's multi-billion dollar video-game industry.

Known abroad as the "Nintendo Entertainment System," the early console became an international phenomenon with the company's global success skyrocketing on the back of the legendary Super Mario series.

Reputed as a visionary and among the richest men in Japan, Yamauchi made key moves such as employing the talents of Shigeru Miyamoto, a global star of game design and the brainchild of hits such as Super Mario and Donkey Kong.

Yamauchi dropped out of the prestigious Waseda University in Tokyo in 1949 to take the helm of Nintendo. His raspy voice and tendency to speak informally in his native Kyoto dialect was a kind of disarming spontaneity rare among Japanese executives.

After being succeeded by President Satoru Iwata at the helm of Nintendo, Yamauchi stayed on as adviser, but his role increasingly diminished over the years.

Increased competition from mobile games on smartphones and tablets, coupled with a strong yen, have seen Nintendo flounder in recent years.

Yamauchi also owned the Seattle Mariners major league baseball club before selling it to Nintendo's U.S. unit in 2004. Yamauchi, who had little interest in baseball, was approached in 1992 to buy the Mariners, who may have had to move to Florida without a new backer. The acquisition made the Seattle club the first in the major leagues to have foreign ownership.

Yamauchi is survived by Katsuhito Yamauchi, his eldest son. A funeral is scheduled for Sunday at Nintendo, following a wake on Saturday.

Al Jazeera and wire Services