Did you know? Nintendo is over 100 years old
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Nintendo is one of the most well-known game developers in the world. They are responsible for franchises like Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, and Donkey Kong. To the surprise of many, Nintendo has been around for quite some time.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi. The company started off making Hanafuda cards for playing games. Fusajiro faced a lot of hardship when it came to the business, especially during the early years, due to competitors who also made Hanafuda cards. The business was also affected by natural disasters and wars.
The business made it through World War One and World War two but it wasn’t until the 1970’s at the advent of the home console boom, that Nintendo got into the video game industry.
Their first console was the Color TV-Game that debuted in 1977, with a few different models being produced up to 1980 and released only in Japan. The 1970s also marked Nintendo’s expansion into the US and from there, a broader global audience.
If the 1970s were the start of Nintendo’s foray into the video game industry, the 1980s was certainly the period that cemented the companies place in video game history. Many of the companies most important consoles were released in the 1980s starting with the Famicon in 1983 in Japan and the redesigned Famicon was released in the US in 1985 and marketed as the Nintendo Entertainment System or ‘NES’ as it was affectionately called. The Famicon and NES sold roughly 62 million units around the world.
The 1980s brought to life some of Nintendo’s most well loved and well recognised characters including Donkey Kong, Mario and Zelda which still hold a place in modern day games for Nintendo. Classic games like Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda became instant classics and the reason that the consoles sold so well is that everyone wanted to play these games!
However Nintendo didn’t stop there. At the tail end of 1980, the Nintendo Game Boy was conceived and released in 1989 as the first portable game console with swappable game cartridges and again became an instant success selling out its first production run.
The Game Boy featured classic games like Tetris, Super Mario and Pokemon.
The rest, as they say, is history. In 1990 came the Super Famicon and 1991 the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), then the Nintendo 64 in 1996, followed by the GameCube in 2001, the Wii in 2006, the Wii U in 2012 and the Nintendo Switch in 2017.
Nintendo has always been innovating in the gaming industry. The company has grown by making new consoles, new games, and by enhancing the gaming experience. Nintendo has grown into a gaming empire that has lasted for 3 decades. As of 2014, Nintendo has made over 661 million games. The company has grown by over 10 billion dollars in the same time period and looks set to continue their reign over the video games market well into the future. The future of Nintendo looks bright and we’re looking forward to seeing what the company has in store for the future. Here’s to another 100 years!