Nintendo Co., Ltd., based in Kyoto, Japan, is the acknowledged worldwide leader in the creation of interactive entertainment. To date, Nintendo has sold billions of video games worldwide, creating unforgettable icons such as Mario and Donkey Kong and franchises such as The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon. Nintendo manufacturers and markets hardware and software for its popular home video game systems, including Wii and Nintendo DS, the best selling video game systems in history.
Nintendo's Early History
Nintendo was founded as a playing card company in late 1889 and was originally named "Nintendo Koppai". Fusajiro Yamauchi, the father of Nintendo, began manufacturing "Hanafuda" Japanese playing cards in Kyoto, Japan.
The Hanafuda cards, which were made of mulberry tree bark, were instantly popular in the Kyoto area, becoming one of the most popular games in the region at the time. Fusajiro Yamauchi had to hire assistants to mass produce cards to satisfy demand.
Fusajiro retired in 1929, leaving his grandson Hiroshi Yamauchi in charge.
In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi visited the U.S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer in the U.S. at that time. He then gained access to Disney's characters and put them on playing cards to drive sales.
In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Company Limited to Nintendo Company Limited. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using the newly injected capital.
Between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a "love hotel" chain, a TV network and a food company trying to sell instant rice, similar to instant noodles. All these ventures eventually failed.
In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, an extending arm developed by its maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new "Nintendo Games" department as a product developer.
Nintendo continued to produce popular toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester and the Kousenjuu series of light gun games. Despite some successful products, Nintendo struggled to meet the fast development and manufacturing turnaround required of the toy market, and fell behind the well-established companies such as Bandai and Tomy.
Nintendo Enters the Video Game Market
In 1973, the focus shifted to family entertainment venues with the Laser Clay Shooting System, using the same light gun technology used in Nintendo's Kousenjuu series of toys, and set up in abandoned bowling alleys.
Nintendo developed several more light gun machines for the emerging arcade scene. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following excessive costs, Nintendo had found a new market.
1975 saw the development of a video game system using an electronic video recording (EVR) player by Nintendo in cooperation with Mitsubishi Electric. That very next year, Nintendo created and started selling coin-operated video games using microcomputers.
1980 was the beginning of Nintendo's first golden age. Nintendo announced a wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc. in New York, which sold the Game & Watch system. In 1983, Nintendo launched the 8-bit Famicom, which would be known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) when it launched in the U.S. in 1984.
The NES dominated the marked until its 16-bit successor, the Super NES, was released in 1991, a year after the successful Game Boy handheld launched.
Considered by many to be Nintendo's biggest failure, the Virtual Boy system was released in 1995. The system didn't sell well due to the lack of quality software. The system died a quiet death just six months after it was released.
Nintendo moved into 3-D gaming with the release of the Nintendo 64 in 1996, which saw the release of Super Mario 64, known by many as the greatest video game of all time. Two years later, the highly-anticipated The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time game was released.
In 2001, Nintendo launched the successful Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance systems, moving into using discs in their home consoles for the first time.
Nintendo's Ongoing Gaming Revolution
Nintendo started a gaming revolution and reinvented handheld gaming in 2004 with the highly successful Nintendo DS system, effectively replacing the Game Boy.
In 2006, continuing their gaming revolution, the very successful Wii system was launched, which quickly became the fastest-selling home console in video game history, outselling its competitors, the Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 nearly 3 to 1 overall.
With a successor to the Wii, known as the Wii U, to be released in 2012, along with their innovative new 3DS handheld, Nintendo will no doubt continue to innovate the video game industry into new worlds and new playgrounds. Their history has been one with ups and downs, but the company continues to move forward, creating new experiences for audiences of all ages.
Source: Wikia.com
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Article last updated June 23, 2011
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