The History of Nintendo

917 Words2 Pages

Nintendo has been around for a long time. 125 years, to be exact. This report will explain how Nintendo got so deeply rooted in our culture by examining the moves they made with their consoles, including both successes and failures.
Fusajiro Yamauchi was a skilled craftsman, he made karuta, playing cards. He would often make hanafuda cards, flower cards that people often used in various games. (Interesting tidbit, Nintendo offers hanafuda cards as a reward for a service called Club Nintendo to this day.) Once he sold the cards to shops in Kyoto, they became extremely popular. He sold them under the name of Nintendo Koppai.
Generations later, Hiroshi Yamauchi and Gunpei Yokoi added a Games division to Nintendo, after Yamauchi dropped the koppai, and started work on electronic toys. With the help of Masayuki Uemura, that evolved into making laser gun games for arcades. They became popular with 'laser shooting ranges', as they were called.
They also worked on the Color-TV Game 6. Never heard of it? Nintendo's history is very obscure before they made the NES, or Famicom in Japan. Based off Pong and the Magnavox Odyssey, another game console, the games were supposed to be various ball games, but they couldn't make circles, so the balls were square with two rectangles and plastic overlays for different games. They couldn't make it themselves, so they had it manufactured by Mitsubishi.
Yamauchi had the idea to make a small game from calculators, as they were becoming very popular, not to mention cheap. Similar inventions would later be known as handhelds. Uemura made the Game and Watch from this idea. It pretty much bombed in America. They tried to market it as a toy, which made many people not want to buy it.
Inspired by the Magnavox Od...

... middle of paper ...

...because Nintendo shaped many of our childhoods with its lovable characters, innovative systems, and child-friendly content. They house some of our favorite franchises and kick-started others. They saved the American video game market. Sure, it had some flops, but we still love the company to this day.

Works Cited

Cohen, D.S. "The History of Nintendo." Major Video Game History Makers and Milestones. 2 March 2014

Jones, Tegan. "The Surprisingly Long History of Nintendo." 2 March 2014
Sheff, David. Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped An American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children New York: Random House, 1993
"The History of Nintendo." Wikipedia 2 March 2014 Google.

Show More
Related

  • Impact Of Mario 64

    1347 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1990’s the video games were constantly changing. This decade saw tons of innovations in the gaming industry. The creation of 32-bit games and 3D games dominated the virtual world: Contra, Battletoads, Mortal Kombat, etc. Video game genres developed and branched out, creating some of the popular genres in video games today, such Role-playing games(RPGs), 3D platformers, first person shooters, etc. During this time, the industry was ruled by Nintendo and it’s President, Hiroshi Yamauchi, who ruled with an iron fist.

    Read More

  • Video Games in Popular Culture: an Exposition

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    An examination of videogames in popular culture is a complicated one. There is a large debate as to what is the very first video game. The supposed earliest known video game was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube in 1947. The game was a missile simulator similar to radar displays from World War II, and overlaid sheets of paper were used for targets since graphics were unknown at this time. On May 5, 1951, the NIMROD computer was presented in Britain. It used a panel of lights for its display and was used to play a game called “NIM”. Later, in 1952, Alexander S. Douglas made the first compu...

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: Persuasive Video Games

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    Video games started as arcade machines with simple graphics and even simpler stories, soon evolving into home gaming with The Magnavox Odyssey, the world’s first home-gaming console. It invaded living rooms in 1972, selling 300,000 units. Since then there has been many consoles and games released, some have been huge commercial successes which

    Read More

  • Microsoft Xbox

    1645 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the console-gaming world people know Sony and Nintendo. Microsoft may be the largest and richest software company in the world, but it’s unknown when it comes to console gaming. Microsoft is counting on the Xbox to change that perception. Gamers may not be willing to take a chance with the Microsoft Xbox, even if it is far superior to any console ever made. Nintendo Gamecube is nothing if charismatic. Nintendo’s new machine is half the size of any other console and looks like a toy with its brightly colored plastic shell and handle. It’s destined to be home of such popular games as Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikachu, and Kirby. Nintendo Gamecube seems mismatched as it goes up against the Microsoft Xbox and the Sony Playstation 2 (a multimedia mayhem that Sony says it’s supposed to be “The Future Of Entertainment”). All this makes you think; what makes Nintendo believe it can possibly go up against the ultra-sophisticated Xbox.

    Read More

  • Internal Analysis Of Nintendo In The Video Game Industry

    1366 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a result of the increasing demand on Wii, Nintendo’s management decided to make W...

    Read More

  • How Did Nintendo Get The Right For Tetris?

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    This invention became known as the Game Boy. It was a handheld console that was widely received by everyone, especially adults. Around this time, the game “Tetris” appeared in the form of a coin-operated game. Nintendo and others raced to get the rights to this game so they could claim it for their own (David Sheff, 1999). Chapter 14: The “Tetris” Song

    Read More

  • Pokemon Research Paper

    694 Words  | 2 Pages

    Later the series releases manga for the audience to enjoy the game and aired a TV show based off the game. One of the more popular segments of the show was the “Who’s that Pokemon?” questionnaire at the middle of every episode “Pokemon combined the popular elements of anime and Japanese technology, quickly becoming a hit with children worldwide” (Elizabeth 1). Not to even mention the attention the series received when they aired their first movie. “To take off school one day,just one day to see the brand new Pokemon movie was immense back then. The Company also had an issue dealing with one of its episodes giving a lot of children seizures due to the flashing lights and colors at a high speed” (History of Pokemon

    Read More

  • Pokemon Show Research Paper

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    What this game has allowed us to do is communicate , trade and make new friends all over the world, bringing us together. In fact Pokemon a few weeks ago had their twentieth anniversary ! Not only that it helped connect people. One person could only of played the game while others only saw the show but still have a decent conversation ( Wikipedia). It connected people and still today ,even if it was someone with no knowledge of pokemon to the biggest fan of it.

    Read More

  • Nintendo

    1712 Words  | 4 Pages

    Nintendo has been a good steward of its intellectual properties. It's been very careful to protect the image of its most beloved characters. In fact, some would say the company has occasionally been too protective of its strongest franchises.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Myamoto Vs Nintendo

    619 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most people argue that Xbox or PSP is better than Nintendo, but I disagree. Nintendo as changed from the old Atari games to 3D, third person, adventure games. At first glance this may seem too geeky or nerdy, but I can assure you this is very interesting. In the beginning, Atari games were more popular. Games like Pac Man, Space Invaders, and Dig Dug were more liked than other games of the time period. But before this Myamoto was a child have adventures of his own and exploring the land of Japan.

    Read More

  • The Video Gaming Culture in Japan

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gamers are gamers regardless of where they live. There are many gamers around the world, and one of the largest gaming populations is located in Japan. Niizumi Japan has been, and continues to be, one of the largest developers and creators of both video gaming consoles and video games around the world. Japanese video games are beneficial to society and are an excellent source of employment for many in Japan. To understand how video gaming relates to Japanese culture, we need to understand more about the country of Japan.

    Read More

  • Nintendo History

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    This Nintendo console bring with some of the best games of the century,in my opinion, game titles that have been around for decades like Super Mario Bros, The Legend Of Zelda, Metroid, Megaman, Punch Out, Pitfall etc. I have personally played and enjoyed this library of games myself. The next instalment in the Nintendo franchise was the gameboy which came with tetris in 1989. it became an instant hit, selling over 150 million copies worldwide.

    Read More

  • The Legacy Of The Nintendo 64

    610 Words  | 2 Pages

    In late 1900’s then they started project reality, what this was is they were going to use the best things you could buy on the market which at the time was the 64. The 64 pieces were what first gave this console it's name three years later the N64 was born. This is so fascinating because when everyone thought they would not be able to make it in three years it was the biggest selling console in the world. Why was this so you might ask well it's because of the games that made the spark of it.

    Read More

  • Nintendo’s Innovative Resource Strategy

    2236 Words  | 5 Pages

    The case study highlighted that the new game Wii introduced by the company had the ability to attract individuals considered non-gamers or casual gamers. The Wii was not as powerful or technologically advanced as the Xbox 360 and the PS3, but its success lies in its ability to provide a new means of playing video games. The innovative design of the Wii’s controller, which had built in motion sensors, created a whole new gaming experience for users - on...

    Read More

  • Benefits of Playing Video Games

    1776 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...e dealing with technology everywhere and their whole lives. Video games help make kids feel comfortable with technology. Video games now provide a fun and social form of entertainment and are used all over the world for positive effects. Gaming has had positive effects on aiding weight loss, improving the efficiency of visual skills, controlling anger, creating fun interactive learning environments, and has become a new way of therapy to help rehabilitate patients. The new Wii programs will certainly develop and continue to perform more incredible effects on different people.

    Read More

More about The History of Nintendo

Open Document