Nintendo

Nintendo is a company that makes video games
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Nintendo was founded in Kyoto, Japan in 1889 as a manufacturer of hanafuda playing cards, it went through several small niche businesses before becoming a video game company.
 

History

On September 23, 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai, a small Japanese business based in Kyoto, Japan which produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The company soon expanded due to the games popularity and Yamauchi had to hire assistants to keep up with demand.

In 1956, Fusajiro Yamauchi's grandson Hiroshi Yamauchi, went to visit and began talks the the leading playing card manufacturer in the the US, The United States Playing Card Company. Realizing the limitations of the playing card business, Hiroshi Yamauchi acquired the licenses to Disney's characters and put them on Nintendo's playing cards to help drive sales. The company was renamed in 1963 from Nintendo Playing Card Company Limited to Nintendo Company and began experimenting in other ventures and other areas of business. In just 5 years from 1963 to 1968, Nintendo expanded to include a taxi company, a "Love Hotel" chain, a TV station and a food company which sold instant rice, similar to the popular instant noodles in Japan. However, the new business ventures did not last and were eventually closed and Nintendo was left with 60 Yen in stock with a dwindling playing card market.

Undeterred by its failed business ventures, Nintendo refocused its business strategy to the Japanese toy industry. Nintendo's first toy was an extending arm which was developed by Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was promoted from the company's maintenance engineer to product developer in Nintendo's newly formed Nintendo Games department. 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's business strategy again re shifted in 1973 to family entertainment 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. Following some success, 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 untapped market.

Video Games


Nintendo's roots in the video game industry began in 1974 when they were given the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey Home Video Game system in Japan. It wasn't until 1977 that Nintendo began to make its own video game console, four systems to be exact each playing variations on a single game, for example, Color TV Game 6 featured six versions of Light Tennis. During this time, Nintendo hired student product developer Shigeru Miyamoto, who worked under Gunpei Yokoi. One of Miyamoto's projects at Nintendo was to design the casing for several of the Color TV Game systems and went on to create some of Nintendo's most famous video games and Miyamoto become one of the most recognizable faces in the video game industry today.

Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry in 1978 which produced little success. It was not until Nintendo launched the Game & Watch in 1980, (a hand held video game series developed by Yokoi) and the release of Donkey Kong in 1981, which was designed by Miyamoto, Nintendo saw worldwide success and a huge boost in profits.

The Family Computer, or the Famicom as it was more commonly called, was launched in 1983 in Japan with ports of its most popular arcade titles. The system launched in North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System, and was accompanied by Super Mario Bros., the best-selling video game of all time. The Nintendo Entertainment System was superseded by the Super Famicom, known outside Japan as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The Nintendo 64, most notable for its 3D graphics capabilities, introduced the analog stick and multi player for up to four players, instead of two. The Nintendo Game Cube followed, and was the first Nintendo system to use optical disc storage instead of cartridges. The most recent home console, the Wii, uses motion sensing controllers and has on line functionality, used for services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Virtual Console and Wii Ware.

Nintendo's hand held video game market grew in parallel with its home console counter part. After the Game & Watch, the hand held development continued with the Game Boy, followed soon after by the Super Game Boy and Game Boy Color, each differing in minor aspects. The Game Boy continued for more than a decade until the release of the Game Boy Advance, featuring technical specifications similar to the SNES. The Game Boy Advance SP, a front lit, flip-screen version with a lighted screen, introduced a rechargeable, built-in battery, instead of using AA batteries like its predecessors. The most recent Nintendo hand held console is the Nintendo DS, using two screens, the bottom of which is a touchscreen, with online functionalities and technical power similar to that of the Nintendo 64.

Today, Nintendo Company Ltd. is the longest-surviving video game console manufacturer to date and is considered one of "The Big 3" in the gaming industry with Microsoft and Sony.


The Nintendo Logo

In 2006 Nintendo dropped the well know red Nintendo log for the same but in grey.

Nintendo
Classic red Nintendo Logo
The new Nintendo logo announced 27 November 2009 (with added white borders to be square)
The new Nintendo logo in use since 2006













Nintendo Recently Published Games

Name Platforms Developer
Mario & Luigi RPG 3
released on Feb. 11, 2009 		DS AlphaDream Corporation, Ltd.
Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat?
released on Nov. 24, 2008 		DS
Personal Trainer: Cooking
released on Nov. 24, 2008 		DS
Animal Crossing: City Folk
released on Nov. 16, 2008 		WII Nintendo EAD
Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
released on Nov. 10, 2008 		DS HAL Laboratory, Inc.
Art Style: ROTOHEX
released on Oct. 27, 2008 		WSHP Skip, Ltd.
Wagamama Fashion Girls' Mode
released on Oct. 23, 2008 		DS
Wii Music
released on Oct. 20, 2008 		WII Nintendo R&D1
Art Style: CUBELLO
released on Oct. 13, 2008 		WSHP Skip, Ltd.
Art Style: ORBIENT
released on Sept. 29, 2008 		WSHP Skip, Ltd.

Nintendo Recently Developed Games

Name Platforms Publisher
My Pokémon Ranch
released on June 9, 2008 		WSHP Nintendo
Brain Age²: More Training in Minutes a Day!
released on Aug. 20, 2007 		DS Nintendo
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree
released on April 26, 2007 		WII Nintendo
Lunar Knights
released on April 13, 2007 		DS Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH, 8-4, Ltd.
Wii Sports
released on Nov. 19, 2006 		WII Nintendo
Game & Watch Collection
 DS Nintendo
Big Brain Academy
released on June 5, 2006 		DS Nintendo
New Super Mario Bros.
released on May 15, 2006 		DS Nintendo
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!
released on April 17, 2006 		DS Nintendo
Tetris DS
released on March 20, 2006 		DS Nintendo
Trivia
Nintendo used the slogan "Nintendoes what Segcan't!" as a marketing slogan in the early nineties.
  • True
  • False

Images





















General Information Edit
Company Name Nintendo
Street Address 4820 150th Ave NE
City Redmond
State WA
Country USA
Website www.nintendo.com
Contact Email
Phone Number 1-800-255-3700
Date Founded 1889-09-23 00:00:00
Count of Games Published 541
Count of Games Developed 97
Aliases
Associated News
Japanese Newspapers Talk of New DS, Nintendo Clears Throat and Taps "No Comment" Sign
Is Nintendo getting ready to announce a new DS with a built-in camera and MP3 support? Maybe?
Confirmed: Nintendo's 2010-2011 Lineup to be Totally Badass
That 2008-2009 window, though, is maybe a little less certain.
Recurring Appearances
The Mushroom Kingdom
first in Super Mario Bros.
60
Cave
first in
52
Castle
first in
51
Space
first in Spacewar!
41
Earth
first in
28
The Beach
first in
27
Jungle
first in
26
Underwater
first in
26
Hyrule
first in The Legend of Zelda
23
Bowser's Castle
first in Super Mario Bros.
22
Best-Selling Games
first in Pong
191
Game Over
first in
126
Boss Fight
first in
121
Health
first in
109
Jump
first in Donkey Kong
106
2D
first in Computer Space
93
Minigames
first in SwordQuest: EarthWorld
87
Turtle
first in
73
3D
first in Elite
72
Koopa
first in Super Mario Bros.
71
Mustache
first in Donkey Kong
106
Bomb
first in B-17 Bomber
80
Coin
first in Mario Bros.
71
Key
first in
70
Sword
first in
70
Lava
first in
66
Bob-omb
first in Super Mario Bros. 2
53
Water
first in
52
Super Mushroom
first in Super Mario Bros.
45
Starman
first in Super Mario Bros.
44

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