in heaven we trust: nintendo

Nintendo Company, Limited has been around for quite a lot longer than its gamer fanbase. Starting up in September of 1889 by a man named Fusajiro Yamauchi to create hanafuda cards (flower-decorated cards for use in a card game of the same name), Nitendo has now become the oldest, and one of the most powerful, game producing companies in the gaming industry.

For nearly 80 years, Nintendo was known as simply a trading card company. In 1959, Nintendo was allowed by Disney to produce Disney characters on the hanafuda cards, which soon gained Nintendo plenty of popularity across Japan. However, that success would not carry over into other ventures, such as love hotels and taxis. Both businesses were failures, and were stopped within two years. Everything would soon change, however, when in 1965 Nintendo hired assembly line worker Gunpei Yokoi. Yokoi worked in the assembly line for several years before gaining recognition within the company when he helped develope "The Ultra Hand" gaming toy, which would soon sell over a million units. Nintendo soon pulled Yokoi out of assembly, and he would soon develope such successful toys like a, baseball toss 'n catch game and an arcade light gun.

In the 1970's, another future legend was hired, Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto was mentored by Yokoi, and the two soon began to tinker in videogame devlopement together. In the late 1970's, the games Othello (Japan only), Sheriff (aka Bandido), and Space Firebird were released before the shooting game Radar Scope was put on the market in 1980. Soon, the pair were creating not just arcade games, but home-based console videogames, as well.

The early 1980's produced big changes for Nintendo. The videogame division of Nintendo, led by Yokoi, created some outstandingly popular games during this era, including Donkey Kong (mainly thought-up by Shigeru Miyamoto). Donkey Kong was a major success, and was released on arcade systems such as the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and ColecoVision systems. During this time, Nintendo was also testing the handheld market with the Game & Watch handheld videogame.

July 1983 saw the release of the Famicon (Family Computer) system in Japan, which was an instant hit among gamers. The system sold over 500,000 units in two months! Good pricing and great graphics (for the time) helped to boost the Famicon to a high position in the game market. However, after several motnsh, Nintendo receieved some complaints about the system freezing, and it was eventually recalled. By 1985, however, the problem in the Famicon had been fixed, and the system was again gaining success. Yet another problem was run into at this point: Nintendo could not produce games as fast as the were selling them. This created a huge problem for the company. So, to combat this, the company was split into three Research & Developement sections, each working on a small number of high quality games. Though they were not producing the amount of games they once had, the games they did produce were become better and better.

In 1985, Nintendo announced they were to release the Famicon in the United States and across the globe. The system - now under the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) - had a new name and new design, but was still going to play the highly rated games Nintendo was known for. In October of 1985, Nintendo began testing the NES in New York, and after having great success in the testing market, shipped the NES nationwide in February of 1986 with 15 games available for playing. Also in 1985, Metroid and Super Mario Bros. 2 were released in Japan.

By 1989, Nintendo had seen plenty of success from the NES and Famicon units and their great games. To generate even more success, Nintendo released the Game Boy, a new handheld gaming system. Along with the release of Tetris, one of the most loved games of recent history, the Game Boy saw grand success, and still holds the record for best selling portable game system of all time. A while after the Gameboy's release, Super Mario Land was put on the market, which later sold 14 million worldwide.

In late 1989, Nintendo announced a major plan: to release a sequal to the Famicon/NES, called the Super Famicon, or SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). In late 1990, the Super Famicon was released in Japan, with the release of the SNES following in August 1991 in the US, and a 1992 release in Europe. Like the Famicon/NES, the SNES was priced reasonably, and soon took over the gaming market in Japan. However, with competition from the Sega Genesis in America, Nintendo saw it's market shares drop dramatically. In years to come, however, the SNES would over take the Genesis in annual sales, thanks to games such as The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World, and the Final Fantasy series.

1993 brought on the plans to produce a new system, something better than those released before, and on June 23, 1996, the Nintendo 64 gaming system was released in Japan. The 64-bit system, capable of graphics not achievable by previous systems, sold over 500,000 units on its first day. Success followed in Septemember of the same year as Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in Canada and the US. During this time, Nintendo was engaged in a full out advertising war with competitor company, Sony. Due to the lack of games released by Nintendo following the 64's release, Sony was gaining extreme amounts of popularity at a fast pace. To overtake Sony, Nintendo came out with the Game Boy Pocket, a smaller version of the Game Boy, and in 1996, Nintendo released one of its most popular franchises: Pokémon (or Pocket Monsters). This game was so popular, Nintendo successfully took back the number one spot in the gaming industry over Sony. On October 13, 1998, the Game Boy Color was released in Japan, with releases in North America and Europe following a month later. Following the Game Boy Color came the Game Boy Advance in March of 2001, and the eventual release of the GameCube in 2001. Games for the Gamecube included The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Luigi's Mansion, and Animal Crossing.

In May of 2004, Nintendo accounced they were only months away from releasing a new handheld brand of gaming system that was unrelated to the Game Boy systems. In November of 2004, the Nintendo DS was released to over 3 million pre-orders. In additon to two screens, one of them being a touch-screen, the DS was capable of creating 3D graphics like the Nintendo 64 but with a little less quality. Also during May of 2005, Nintendo announced at E3 they were revealing their newest gaming system: the Nintendo Revolution (now named the Wii).

Nintendo will continue to be a leading power in the gaming idustry as long as they keep making high-quality videogames that please gamers worldwide. Nintendo has had a long and successful legacy that will continue on for years to come.


history compiled and written by Haley