Remember that magical period between the late ’80s and early ’90s, when every boy in America received two controllers AND a Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridge FREE with his very first Nintendo Entertainment System?
Good times.
We all knew blowing on cartridges would make them work (eventually), that up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-Start was an ingenious hack, and that the Power Pad was a waste of money.
But there was so much we never know about Nintendo. Sit back, vintage gamers, and let’s press ‘Reset’ on the ole console.
Still the world’s largest video game company by revenue, Nintendo’s actually been in business for a staggering 125 years. It started as a Japanese playing card manufacturer in Kyoto, and produced flowery, painted cards made of mulberry bark.
The name ‘Nintendo’ roughly translates into “leave luck to heaven,” which is just what you thought every time you faced the fire-belching Bowser.
Although Nintendo ended up back in the gaming business a hundred years later, the company had myriad products over its long history; for awhile they had a chain of love hotels (the themed, by-the-hour motels designed exclusively for quickies), owned a television network, a taxi franchise, and even put out their own brand of instant rice. And despite their modern success with things like 3DS and Wii, they still have an interesting portfolio. (Did you know they own the Seattle Mariners?)
Nintendo as we know it came into existence in 1974, when the company shifted direction and launched a video game console. This evolved into arcade technology, and their first big hit was on (like) Donkey Kong, in 1981.
During the early ’80s they started to bring arcade action into the home with the production of the Family Computer, or FamiCom. The FamiCom begat the Super FamiCom as the Nintendo begat the Super Nintendo, and the rest, really, is history.
Super Mario Bros. came to North America in 1985 and, between bundling and marketing, quickly became the fastest-selling video game of all time.
The move from arcade to home was followed by the move to mobile, and Nintendo brought us the Game Boy in 1989. That enterprise took a bit of a back seat (we didn’t have Color Game Boys until nearly a decade later) during the ’90s in what’s known as the ‘console war’ — Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog, and it was no longer clear which side of history a boy wanted to be on.
Nintendo had a strict anti-sex-and-violence stance at the time Sega put out a version of Mortal Kombat with extra blood and gore, and the answer became abundantly clear — we sold our beloved NES, along with Keds shoeboxes FULL of cherished game cartridges (Double Dragon, I still miss you) at yard sales across the country. Soon after, the Legend of Zelda faded into the past.
Had we not been so greedy, a little hoarding may have paid off — complete NES systems, along with game cartridges, consoles and converters, are now hauling in serious coin on eBay. Vintage gaming is back in a big way, and Nintendo’s still trying to take part, by promoting throw-back products on their modern platforms.
So there you have it, friends — a brief history of Nintendo. Wii conclude today’s lesson so you can get back to your Mario Karting. Class dismissed.
