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The Complete History of Nintendo

SlappingOysters writes "Gameplayer are running a comprehensive feature on the history of Nintendo that runs through all 119 years of their existence, from humble card maker to gaming powerhouse. It is documented in chronological order and includes a stack of trivia about the company that will be thoroughly enjoyed by all Nintendo fans. As an interesting side note, it links to a sister article that explores how Mario can improve your sex life."

33 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Plumbers lead to greater sex? by Vertana · · Score: 5, Funny

    What does Mario leading to "greater sex" have anything to do with Nintendo's history? On a side note... I shoulda been a plumber. I never knew that plumbing and jumping would lead to better sex. Thanks for the life tip Slashdot!

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    1. Re:Plumbers lead to greater sex? by renegadesx · · Score: 2, Funny

      When you think about it, Mario does look sorta like Ron Jeramy!

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    2. Re:Plumbers lead to greater sex? by hkgroove · · Score: 5, Funny

      You haven't been reading craigslist http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/orl/740493470.html

    3. Re:Plumbers lead to greater sex? by electrictroy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      These stories really shouldn't be written by people who are younger than an NES/Famicom (the original Nintendo system). They are filled with too many errors & urban legend. Such as: - Donkey Kong was the first with an attract screen.

      False. Instead the articles should be written by the older generation who was actually THERE and remember the events as they unfolded.

      I am also surprised there is no mention about the Gaming Giant called Atari. Yes I know it's not an Atari article, but to ignore Atari is as silly as to write an article about Sony's PS1 without discussing Nintendo. Originally Nintendo asked ATARI to sell its Famicom in the U.S. and European market. Just imagine a console called the Atari Nintendo or Atari ES. Atari and Nintendo had all but sealed the deal, when suddenly Atari CEO Jack Tramel threw one of his famous hissy fits because of a trivial "insult" by the Japanese representatives.

      In effect the #1 videogame maker Atari lost a billion-dollar industry to Nintendo with one stupid temper tantrum.

      --
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  2. I wish it were true.... by Naughty+Bob · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Fellow geeks. Mario cannot 'improve' your sex life.

    Most mentions of Mario only have a deleterious effect on same.

    Instead, be cool, don't appear desperate, and lower your sights. Unless you are horrific, you'll do fine. Just don't rely on Mario.

    --
    "Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
    1. Re: I wish it were true.... by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 3, Funny

      Fellow geeks. Mario cannot 'improve' your sex life.

      How do you know? None of us have one to be improved.

    2. Re: I wish it were true.... by halsver · · Score: 3, Informative

      Exactly, we are all aware that geeks are the best lovers.

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    3. Re: I wish it were true.... by xaxa · · Score: 2, Funny

      Some of us want to remove the circular reference in our sex life.

  3. 8 pages? by magus_melchior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    8 pages worth of stuff, 1/3 of which is denied by Privoxy/Adblock, and no "print version" in sight?

    At least some of the big journos have done something right. Print version style sheets.

    Okay, rant over.

    --
    "We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
    1. Re:8 pages? by dafrazzman · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think he was pointing out how unprofessional this article is. I, for one, agree. Each of those pages has at most a few hundred words of text. It's a smallish article spaced out very unnecessarily.

      If I turn off adblock and script block, it's even worse. Nothing on there needs to work, it's all ad junk and clutter. It may be interesting, but the quality of the site is not so good. I feel like slashdot should maintain a higher standard than this.

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    2. Re:8 pages? by halcyon1234 · · Score: 2, Informative

      For anyone thinking this was a bastion of good reporting, it isn't. It's just a reprint of an article that appeared in Ultimate Nintendo (as referenced at the end of their 8 page long, ad filled reprint). So, yeah, here's the FTA, and fuck Game Player:

      119 years have culminated in that little white box that sits beneath your TV. No bigger than a DVD case, the Wii is essentially the same machine - albeit slightly prettier and technically more robust - that Nintendo would release back in 1985.

      Don't believe us? Well we're about to take you on a whistle-stop tour through the ins and outs, highs and lows, the laughter and tears of videogames' most prolific forefather. From playing cards to Pokémon: we'll even show you how Mario can improve your sex life! Here's the complete history of Nintendo.

      1889 - A card game business specialising in stylish Hanafuda (flora) cards is set up by Fusajiro Yamauchi under the name of Nintendo Koppai. The business struggles until the yakuza decide to adopt the cards for their high-stakes gambling. The yakuza would demand a new pack at the start of every game and would look to Yamauchi to supply them.

      Trivia - The name Nintendo is said to mean 'leave luck to heaven'.

      1907 - Nintendo Koppai partners with Japan Tobacco & Salt Corporation and becomes the first domestic Japanese supplier of Western-style playing cards.

      1927 - Hiroshi Yamauchi is born in the town of Kyoto, Japan.

      1929 - Fusajiro Yamauchi retires, leaving control of the business to his son-in-law, Sekiryo Kaneda (aka Yamauchi).

      1932 - Hiroshi's father walks out on his mother and Hiroshi is sent to live with his grandparents, Tei and Sekiryo Yamauchi.

      1933 - The stop-motion classic King Kong is released in cinemas by Universal Studios.

      1933 - Sekiryo Yamauchi establishes a joint partnership company named Yamauchi Nintendo & Co.

      1947 - Not long after the Second World War, Sekiryo sets up a distribution company named Marufuku Co Ltd to distribute Nintendo's Western-style playing cards.

      1949 - Owing to ill health, Sekiryo retires and leaves the company to his grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi. Hiroshi renames the company Nintendo Playing Cards Co.

      1952 - Hiroshi decides to expand his business and move it to a newer premises in Kyoto, Japan. He would also begin streamlining his manufacturing plants.

      1952 - Shigeru Miyamoto is born in the small town of Sonebe, outside of Kyoto in Japan.

      Trivia - Nintendo was the first card manufacturer in Japan to lacquer its playing cards.

      1953 - Yamauchi strikes a deal with Walt Disney that allows Nintendo to produce playing cards featuring popular Disney characters.

      1963 - After raising more capital on the stock market, Yamauchi tries new ventures. Some of the least successful include instant rice, burlesque 'love hotels' and a taxi company. However, Nintendo's toy division begins to show promise when one of its employees, Gunpei Yokoi, creates the Ultra Hand and it proves
      a huge success.

      1970 - Nintendo continues to grow within the toy market. Its next big hit is The Beam Gun: an early variation of a light-gun game co-developed by Sharp and developed by Masayuki Uemura.

      Trivia - The Beam Gun made Nintendo the first company in Japan to use electronic components inside toys for children.

      1973 - Nintendo adapts its Beam Gun idea into electronic Laser Skeet Shooting ranges and instals them into bowling alleys across the country.

      1974 - The Beam Gun technology is used again in the arcade game Wild Gunman (which would eventually be ported to the NES and later made famous in the movie Back To The Future Part II).

      Trivia - According to the screenwriter Bob Gale, on his commentary for the Back To The Future Part II DVD, the Wild Gunman arcade cab that appears in the movie was especially built for the film.

      1975 - Shigeru Miyamoto graduates from the Kanazawa College
      of Art with a degree in Industrial Design.

      1975 - Yamauchi-san negotiates a deal with Mag

  4. Not a history by Darundal · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is more of a timeline of the company that ends at 2006. Although, if anyone is interested in a good account of Nintendo's history, check out the book Game Over: Press Start to Continue by David Sheff. It is a bit dated, and doesn't cover anything newer than the n64 (and that depends on when the copy you look at was produced) but it goes into great depth regarding Nintendo's history.

    1. Re:Not a history by bigbigbison · · Score: 3, Informative

      Unfortunately, it is also out of print. It is a pretty fun book and more or less the best Nintendo book. Maybe one of these days it will be back in print.

      --
      http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
    2. Re:Not a history by Jorophose · · Score: 2, Interesting

      For the sake of preservation, I'm sure there's got to be someone out there with a copy and close to an OCR device. Either that or it's sitting around in the belly of the internet, along with every other book (and a clockwork orange of course).

      It's a shame to see books out of print. Wasn't there a startup that designed and started selling these printers intended to print out books at a time for libraries and such, as a sort of on-demand-printing for them to make some money? Sort of like Lulu.com but this one is decentralised and local.

    3. Re:Not a history by Haoie · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yes, that's a good book.

      The Ultimate History of Video Games [Steve Hunt] is also a very worthy read. The focus isn't on Nintendo, but still worthwhile.

      --
      If each mistake being made is a new one, then progress is being made.
  5. busy schedule by emart · · Score: 5, Funny

    video gaming has never, doesn't, and will never improve the sex life of any one. unless it happens to be a female who plays video games, in which case every male video game player wishes to have sex with her.

    --
    "they didn't know it was impossible, so they did it!" - Mark Twain
  6. Re:..... what? by larry+bagina · · Score: 3, Funny

    You've never had a short, hairy, italian guy shove a plunger up your ass while you masturbate?

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  7. rosey palms by globaljustin · · Score: 3, Funny

    video gaming has never, doesn't, and will never improve the sex life of any one

    hmm... DOA Volleyball... I'd say it doesn't improve any two people's sex lives

    --
    Thank you Dave Raggett
  8. Re:No Gamecube by Rhapsody+Scarlet · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Well who can blame them? I'd detail my experiences with the GameCube, but I might as well just write a review of Super Smash Bros. Melee instead, that was the only truly remarkable game I played on it. Super Mario Sunshine? Patently inferior to Super Mario 64. Soul Calibur II? Can't match the original. Mario Kart: Double Dash? Simply couldn't hold my interest.

    I know I'm missing some good stuff (Metroid Prime, why did I never play that?), but my experiences were poor. SSBM is the only game to not be surpassed before or (maybe) since. I'm still forming my final opinion on SSBB...

  9. Re:No Gamecube by Sabz5150 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    One word sums up my GameCube experience: Ikaruga. Incredible sounds, beautiful graphics, gameplay rivaled only (ironically enough) by Radiant Silvergun. There is no better game for the 'Cube IMHO.

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  10. Re:No Gamecube by renegadesx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As somebody who owned all 3 consoles (4 if you include the Dreamcast) I must say the cube did have its place deserved in my living room.

    Metroid Prime was extremly well done, props to Retro Studio's for that one, Prime 2? Good but didn't do anything new. Double Dash wasn't a major step up but still an improvment

    There were quite a few awesome games that were either Cube exclusives or timed exclusives, RE4 being the best of them (IMO best game of last gen). Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Eternal Darknes, Ikaruga (now on XBLA!) and for 1st party you are missing Wind Waker (once you get around the cartoonly look its actually quite good), F-Zero-GX and Pikmen.

    Why the cube bombed was because it just wasn't enough, they didn't have that killer app (like Final Fantasy for Playstation and Halo for Xbox) and they're marketing lacked in the West (they did quite OK in Japan). Marketing is alot, and lack of marketing can be a major factor in getting wiped out of the race (go ask Sega!)

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  11. 1400 pages about Nintendo history by FornaxChemica · · Score: 3, Informative

    This looks like an enhanced version of the company history Nintendo gives to the press, the one you can see on the European site too:
    http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/service/corporate_2001.html

    Much more interesting, at least if you speak French, is the "History of Nintendo", so far only one book has been published:
    http://editionspixnlove.fr/collectiondetail.php?ID=6

    The book is 228 pages long and showcases 500 Nintendo toys and games prior to 1980 (took them 6 years of research!). The whole series will have 6 volumes totalling more than 1400 pages. Flabbergasting I daresay.

  12. Re:No Gamecube by renegadesx · · Score: 2, Informative

    Nah, it was never going to get #1, devs were still burnt after the way Nintendo treated them during the first period so they were never going to get all the major multiplatform hits and less exclusives than say Sony.

    Also dont forget the PS2 won by a very large margin. In 2004 they were in 2nd place but in 3rd by the 360's launch. The PS2 really dominated towards the end due to titles like Singstar, all of a sudden teenage girls wanted PS2's which really skyrocketed sales by turning it into a glorified karaoke machine which is still going on.

    The cube cold have gotten #2 but #1 was out of the question, the PS2 was always going to win that generation like the Wii seems poised to win this generation. The PS3 has potential to be a mass market device but its too expensive for the mass market/casual gamer.

    The 360 I dont think has it, I think it has what it takes to be THE system for the hardcore market but the casual market is waaay to big these days to win a generation without them. I think Microsoft should be happy with what their machine is and be the hardcore system, its profitable for them now.

    On those games, yeah I got them all except Tales. At my local retailer it was usually $10 cheaper to get the games on that platform so the cube racked up the majority of multiplatform titles in my home. It saved me alot in the long run

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  13. Re:No Gamecube by Jorophose · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The only problem with Nintendo's methodology is that they don't want shit games.

    When Sony opened the floodgates you got all the shovelware games. Haven't you noticed that?

  14. Re:No Gamecube by Darkness404 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The PS2 had an early head start with the DVD format. At the time of its launch, it was an affordable DVD player that played games. Secondly, it was backwards compatibly with all the PS1 games giving it a larger library of games. Third, it had a lot of exclusive system selling titles such as Final Fantasy. The Xbox had Halo which was a system seller. But the Gamecube had a lot of exclusive titles but just never managed for them to sell systems, Melee was a great game, and Tales of Symphonia is one of the best RPGs I have ever played, but Sunshine was mediocre, Luigi's Mansion was an average launch game, Double Dash was decent, but not a system seller. And the console had so many Mario Party games that were essentially the same to be even considered. The thing that I really liked about the gamecube was the short load times compared to the PS2 and Xbox. Seriously, it seemed to take at least a minute to go back to the world map after a battle in Final Fantasy...

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  15. Re:..... what? by schon · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't judge me. Everybody experiments in college.

  16. In Florida?? by EEBaum · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From TFA: 1989 - The Wizard movie is released in the US. Starring Fred Savage, Christian Slater and Beau Bridges, it chronicles the story of a young boy with a talent for videogames who enters a Nintendo tournament in Florida. Nintendo uses it as a vehicle to promote the NES and unveil Super Mario Bros 3 in the West.

    The tournament was in California (Universal Studios, Hollywood, to be precise), thank you very much. Hence the protagonist incessantly whining "California!" through half the film.

    Yes, I saw it in theatres. The announcer's cry of "Super... Mario... Brothers... THREE!!!!" remains one of the more memorable moments of my childhood.

    --
    -- I prefer the term "karma escort."
  17. Re:No Gamecube by CronoCloud · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, what I notice is the fact that I can get more than 1 or 2 RPG's a year, and the fact that more games from Japan are released in the US. Sony respected the US market in a way Nintendo never did. Sony actively recruited non-Japanese devs early in the PSones life, hell they even encouraged ports of some PC games. List the "greatest" N64/Gamecube games, and then list the greatest PS1/PS2 games. There's more diversity of developers and gameplay in the PS1/PS2 list, while for the N64/Gamecube they're almost all first party Nintendo games. Have you seen the used N64/Gamecube market? The stores will have 10 copies of zelda, 10 copies of goldeneye, 10 copies of Metroid, because N64/Gamecube owners all pretty much bought the same first party games. The PS1/PS2 gamers are far more diverse.

  18. NES in 1987????????? by keepper · · Score: 3, Informative

    1987 - The Famicom is released in the US and Europe as the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Selling for $300, it would sell 60 million units worldwide.

    Uh... maybe i'm wrong.. but i remember getting my NES x-mas of 1985.... and wikipedia confirms this...

    Great "article".. they can't even copy paste well.

    1. Re:NES in 1987????????? by PKFC · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Yeah I'm reading this and finding things just from my memory that are incorrect. (So yeah if I'm wrong, a little wikipedia would help that)

      1985 - Nintendo releases the Famicom (Family Computer) in Japan priced at 54,800 yen. Designed by Masayuki Uemura, it is released with 20 software titles, including a home port of Donkey Kong. The machine was originally beige and maroon and its game cartridges had to be slotted in through the top.

      It was released in Japan in 1983 with three games. Donkey Kong, Mario Bros. and maybe Donkey Kong, Jr. (That's something to check on wikipedia)

      Trivia - The Legend Of Zelda was a launch title for the NES in North America. It came encased in special gold cartridges containing an internal battery to facilitate save games - the first game cartridge to offer this.

      Pretty sure it was 87-88 - aka definitely not a launch title.

      1987 - The Famicom is released in the US and Europe as the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Selling for $300, it would sell 60 million units worldwide.

      You already mentioned the 1985 release (no idea about Europe), but I'm more than sure that every Nintendo home console except the Wii has been launched at $199 USD.

      1991 - After a collaboration with Sony to help develop a CD add-on for the SNES turns sour, Nintendo decides to partner with Sony's rivals, Philips Electronics NV. Nintendo grants the company permission to use Mario and Zelda in a series of games for the Philips CD-i console, and in exchange Philips agrees to work on a CD add-on for the SNES. But the add-on is later dropped.

      I want to say that the CD add on development started later than that, but 1991 then switching to Phillips in 1992, back to Sony in 1993 and then Sony releasing the PSX in 1994 after being thrown out sort of makes a reasonable timeline..

      Ok I think that's enough nitpicking. Most of the other stuff sounds right even if it isn't :P Or I don't remember enough to point it out. I shouldn't have all this shit in my brain, but it's there... Totally agree that it didn't need to be 8 pages, but adblock helps.

  19. media companies... by cpotoso · · Score: 4, Insightful
    My favorite line in the saga (from the article):

    1982 - Nintendo vs Universal

    Donkey Kong's success caught the eye of Universal Studios, which felt the character was a direct infringement of its film King Kong. Nintendo was taken to court by the studio, but the judge ruled in Nintendo's favour after it was brought to light that in a previous court case Universal fought to prove that the character of King Kong was within the pubic domain so it could make its movie. Nintendo was awarded $1.8 million from Universal.

    Quite amazing how media companies want to have their cake and it it too... Unbelievable: to sue someone for infringement for something they fought to be in the public domain (they were presumably the original infringers, eh?). This is one of the (many) reasons I am in a war against media companies. I have been violating their copyrights as much as I can. If they do not respect the rights of others I won't respect theirs either.

  20. Wow, never seen this before by gravis777 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The site is slashdotted. Same content available here