The Japanese businessman credited with transforming Nintendo into a world-leading maker of video games, Hiroshi Yamauchi, has died at age 85.

Mr. Yamauchi ran the firm for 53 years and acted as its second highest shareholder during the time of his death. He died of pneumonia at a hospital in central Japan, according to a spokesperson from the company, who then added that a funeral will take place this Sunday.

He was responsible for running the company from 1949 until 2002. When he began with Nintendo, it was only a small-time collectable trading card company, according to the BBC. During his time with Nintendo, he turned it into one of the most recognizable brands in the videogame industry internationally.

"Hiroshi Yamauchi transformed a run-of the-mill trading card company into an entertainment empire in video games," said Ian Livingstone, co-founder of Games Workshop and former chairman of publisher Eidos. "He understood the social value of play, and economic potential of electronic gaming. Most importantly he steered Nintendo on its own course and was unconcerned by the actions of his competitors. He was a true visionary."

"You cannot overestimate the influence the man had on the games industry," said Rob Crossley, associate editor of Computer and Video Games magazine. He spearheaded Nintendo as they moved into the arcade business, with hits such as Donkey Kong. This man was the president of Nintendo during the NES, the SNES, the N64 and the Gamecube - the first two were transformative pieces of electronic entertainment."

Yamauchi took over Nintendo after his grandfather suffered from a stroke. After several years developing the firm's trading card business, he turned to electronic entertainment. He signed on Shigeru Miyamoto who had previously made Donkey Kong and later became responsible for the development of iconic Nintendo characters and games like "Super Mario Bros.," "The Legend of Zelda" and "Starfox."

When he passed, Yamauchi was one of Japan's richest men, in fact, BBC news reports he used to own the Seattle Mariners major league baseball club before selling it in 2004 to Nintendo's U.S. operations base.