Nintendo, global icon in the video game industry and creator of Super Mario, one of the most iconic characters in the video game world, turns 134 today.
Founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi On September 23, 1889, Nintendo went through an incredible journey of transformation from a manufacturer of playing cards to a giant of the video game industry.
The beginnings: the Hanafuda cards
Nintendo was initially based in Kyoto and started its business as a manufacturer of Japanese playing cards called “Hanafuda” or daitoryo. These were famous because each paper was made using the bark of mulberry trees (or mitsu-mata). The cards, decorated with images of flowers, birds and historical figures, became very popular in Japan and were used for popular traditional Japanese card games.
Expansion into new sectors
In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi, Fusajiro Yamauchi's nephew, took control of the company. Hiroshi had a bold vision for the company and wanted to diversify Nintendo into new industries.
One of the first steps was entering the toy sector, with the production of games such as “Love Tester” and “Ultra Hand”.
The turning point: entry into the world of video games
The turning point for Nintendo came in the 70s when Hiroshi Yamauchi decided to enter the emerging video game industry. He began producing the first Arcade games in 19874 and in 1975 became the distributor of the Magnavox Odyssey console.
In 1977, the Japanese company launched the Color TV Game, one of the first video game consoles. Thanks to the enormous success achieved in Japan, it arrived on the North American market in 1985 and the following year it arrived in Europe.
The real success came in 1981 with the creation of Donkey Kong (in which the character Mario also appears for the first time), an arcade game that conquered the world.
The worldwide success: the Nes
In 1985 a new product was introduced on the market that would revolutionize the video game landscape: the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console which would be sold with its flagship game Super Mario Bros.. The success was sensational and global, bringing the Nintendo name to the fore.
The Game Boy and the Pokemon phenomenon
In the 90s, Nintendo continued to innovate with the introduction of the Game Boy, the first successful portable gaming system, and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which further solidified its position in the video game industry. He subsequently introduced (more or less successfully) new consoles such as the Nintendo 64 or GameCube.
In 1996, Nintendo launched Pokémon, a cultural phenomenon that has influenced video games, anime, films and merchandising.
The new consoles
In 2006 the Nintendo Wii who revolutionized the video game industry with its motion-sensitive controller, opening the world of gaming to a wider audience. Its success relaunched the company after a period of decline at the beginning of the 2000s, also due to the competition from Sony's Playstation.
The latest success of the Japanese company is the Nintendo Switch, launched in 2017, which became a global success thanks to its versatility as a home and portable console.
Nintendo's numbers
Since the 500s, Nintendo has produced over 64 games and seven tabletop consoles: the Famicom/NES, the Super Famicom/SNES, the Nintendo 3, the Nintendo GameCube, the Wii, the Wii U and the Nintendo Switch. In addition to tabletop consoles, the century-old company has produced various portable consoles, including seven versions of the legendary Game Boy, four versions of the Nintendo DS, six versions of the Nintendo XNUMXDS, the Virtual Boy, the Game & Watch, the Pokémon mini and Nintendo Mini Classics.
Nintendo has sold over 700 million consoles around the world and beyond 4 billion copies of directly developed video games. There Best-selling game series by Nintendo is Mario, with over 850 million copies sold. Followed by Pokémon, with over 500 million copies sold, and The Legend of Zelda, with over 260 million copies sold.
From 1983 it is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Today the CEO and president of the company is Shuntaro Furukawa, after the death in 2015 of Satoru Iwata, former president and creator of the great Wii exploit.