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The Beginning
Founded in 1889 as Nintendo Co., Ltd. by Fusajiro Yamauchi in Kyoto, Japan. The company produced custom designed Hanafuda paying cards. These playing cards contained hand-drawn designs. -
A New Era
In 1959, Nintendo Co., Ltd. made a deal with Disney to use their characters on the Hanafuda cards introducing them to the Japanese market. This successful partnership was capped with a name change by Hiroshi Yamauchi. From here on the company would simply be known as “Nintendo”. -
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Broadening Their Horizons
In the 1960’s the toy companies Bandai and Tomy were well established. Nintendo broadened their horizons and dabbled in other businesses that included a taxi company and an instant rice company. They also expanded further into the toy business with the developments of electronic toys that include the Ten Billion Barrel Puzzle and a Love Tester. -
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The First Game Consoles
In 1972 Nintendo joined forces with American company Magnavox to create the first commercially available video game console known as the Magnavox Odyssey. The console included a gun accessory known as the “Shooting Gallery”. In 1975 they obtained the rights to distribute the console in Japan. That same year they partnered with Mitsubishi Electric to create the “Color TV-Game Machine”. -
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The Early 80's
Through 1980 and 1981, Nintendo got involved in the demand for arcade cabinets. This led to the development of Donkey Kong, the bestselling coin-operated machine, by Shigeru Miyamoto. In that time, they also created the Game & Watch series that included a single game, clock and alarm. In 1983 Nintendo released the first iteration of the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, in Japan. -
Introducing NES to the USA
In 1985 Nintendo prepared to release Famicom in the United States. Prior to this release they changed the name to Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short. Included with the console was the wildly popular Super Mario Bros game. -
Gameboy
In 1989 Nintendo introduced the Gameboy. This was the first handheld and portable video gaming system. It eliminated the need to have units plugged in at all times. -
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The 90's
As technology changed, Nintendo continued to thrive by changing with the times. In 1991 they introduced the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES). In 1996 they introduced the Nintendo 64 along with the Super Mario 64 game. In 1998 Nintendo launched Gameboy Color, the handheld game was now available in color. -
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2000's and Beyond
Nintendo continues to grow with the development of new consoles and handheld games. They introduced the Nintendo Game Cube, the first to use discs instead of cartridges, and the Nintendo DS, a dual screen handheld gaming system. Through the 2000’s they introduced the Gameboy Advance, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite. All to the delight of Nintendo fans.