-
Fusajiro Yamauchi's Idea
On 23rd September 1889 Fusajiro Yamauchi came up with the idea of a company called Nintendo, his idea was to make a card game called Hanafuda, he would handmake this game. -
Period: to
Just a Card Game
The start of Nintendo -
Manufacturing
Mr. Yamauchi started manufacturing the first western-style playing cards in Japan. These were originally intended for export, but the product became popular in Japan as well as the rest of the world. -
Company take over
In 1929, Yamauchi retired from the company and allowed Sekiryo Yamauchi, his son in law, to take over the company as president. -
Company's Unite
In 1933, Sekiryo Yamauchi established a joint venture with another company and renamed the company Yamauchi Nintendo & Company. -
Branching out
Mr. Yamauchi began a distribution company, Marufuku Co. Ltd. -
Still in the family
Hiroshi Yamauchi took office as President and headed the manufacturing operation of Yamauchi Nintendo & Co. -
The Factories Pop Up
Many Nintendo factories were made in Kyoto, Japan. -
Sweet small victory
Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. became the first company to succeed in manufacturing mass-produced plastic playing cards in Japan. -
Little bit of Disney
The company started selling cards printed with Walt Disney characters, opening up a new market in children's playing cards and resulting in a boom in the card department. -
Period: to
New Era
-
More than just cards
The company changed its name to Nintendo Co., Ltd. and started manufacturing games in addition to playing cards. -
Expansion
Nintendo expanded and reinforced the game department and built a production plant in Uji City, a suburb of Kyoto, Japan. -
Shooting for the sky
The company developed a laser clay shooting system which rivalled bowling as a major pastime in Japan. -
Hitting the states and europe
Nintendo developed an image-projection system and employed the 16mm film projector in amusement arcades. The company began exporting these arcade machines to America and Europe. -
Going into homes
The company developed home-use videogames in cooperation with Mitsubishi Electric: "TV Game 15" and "TV Game 6". -
The big apple
Minoru Arakawa, son-in-law of Nintendo's Japanese chief Hiroshi Yamauchi, opened Nintendo of America in New York City. Nintendo started an operations division for coin-operated games. -
Early Mario
Nintendo artist Shigeru Miyamoto created the game Donkey Kong. The hero, originally called Jumpman, is a carpenter racing to save his girlfriend, Pauline, from a crazed ape. Jumpman was later renamed during the establishment of Nintendo of America's headquarters by Nintendo Co., Ltd. In honour of Jumpman's resemblance to their office landlord, Mario Segali, he was later renamed 'Mario'. -
Donkey Kong Hits the arcade
Nintendo developed and distributed the coin-operated video game "Donkey Kong." This video game quickly became the hottest-selling individual coin-operated machine in the business. -
Mario and Zelda
Nintendo developed and started selling the unique, twin-screen interactive coin-operated videogame "VS. System". At the same time, the company launched the Famicom system in Japan, later renamed Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) when it launched worldwide. Stellar software titles were developed one after another, from Excitebike, Super Mario Bros. and Metroid to The Legend of Zelda and Punch-Out! From these titles, it was Super Mario Bros. that quickly became a smash hit around the world.
