Nintendo

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Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Native name
任天堂株式会社
Company typeKabushiki gaisha
TYO: 7974
Headquarters
Kyoto
,
Japan[1]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
Consoles list
Franchises list
Services
List
Total equityDecrease ¥ 1.1 trillion (FY 2013)[2]
Subsidiaries
List
Websitenintendo.com

Nintendo Co., Ltd.[a] is a famous Japanese company known for making video games and video game consoles. Before this, they made playing cards and other toys. Nintendo's main office is in Kyoto, Japan. They are known for several video game series, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid. Most Pokémon games are only released for Nintendo game consoles.

Nintendo made many of the most popular and best-selling consoles of all time, like the Game Boy, Nintendo DS, Wii and Nintendo Switch. Altogether, Nintendo has sold over 700 million consoles (2018)[4] and over 5 billion games (2022).[5]

History

Before video games

Nintendo's building in 1889

Nintendo was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi on September 23, 1889 as a company that made a special type of playing cards known as karuta.[6]

Fusajiro Yamauchi intended for Nintendo to remain a family-run business. At the time, it was tradition in Japan for a son to inherit his father's company, though Yamauchi did not have a son. To resolve this, a marriage was arranged between his daughter, Tei, and Sekiryo Kaneda, whom Yamauchi deemed a worthy successor. As part of the arrangement, Sekiryo adopted the Yamauchi surname to continue the family line. In 1929, Sekiryo Kaneda became the new president of Nintendo.[7] Sekiryo remained president for two decades until 1949, when he had a stroke, and Hiroshi Yamauchi (grandson of Fusajiro) was asked to take over, which meant Hiroshi had to quit his law studies at Waseda University earlier than he had expected.[8]

Nintendo grew much larger under the leadership of Hiroshi Yamauchi. In 1959, the company secured its first major licensing deal when Disney allowed them to produce playing cards featuring Disney characters. Beyond the company's origins in playing cards, Yamauchi also explored a diverse range of business ventures, including the Daiya taxi service, instant race, and a "love hotel".[7] Despite these efforts, none of Nintendo's other ventures achieved major success.

Toys and games

Nintendo began producing toys in 1963.[9] The Ultra Hand was one of their first successful toys. In 1969, the company expanded its "Games" division, led by Gunpei Yokoi, and it was a major step toward Nintendo becoming the company it is today.[10][9]

In 1970, Nintendo released the Beam Gun. It was the first electronic toy in Japan and used light gun technology.[9] After the Beam Gun was successful, Nintendo made more electronic entertainment. In 1973, bowling was becoming less popular in Japan. Yamauchi decided to change several bowling alleys into light-gun shooting ranges. These ranges let people practice shooting at targets that looked like clay pigeons.[10]

First video games

In 1975, Nintendo made a landmark pivot toward video games by acquiring the Japanese distribution rights for the Magnavox Odyssey.[11] Two years later, in 1977, Nintendo released its first home console, the Color TV-Game 6. This launched the Color TV-Game line, which eventually included the Color TV-Game 15, the Color TV-Game Racing 112, and the Color TV-Game Block Kuzushi. During this period, Nintendo also began developing arcade games, releasing its first original title, Sheriff, in 1979. That same year, Nintendo expanded into the United States, establishing its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Minoru Arakawa, the son-in-law of Hiroshi Yamauchi, was appointed as the first president of Nintendo of America.[9] Nintendo of America struggled during their first few years. Their other arcade title of the time, Radar Scope, was a commercial failure in the United States.

8-bit and 16-bit eras

In 1980, Nintendo entered the handheld market with the Game & Watch line, a creation of Gunpei Yokoi. While the handhelds were successful, it was the 1981 release of the arcade game Donkey Kong that made Nintendo famous in America, and soon other parts of the world. Donkey Kong became a global phenomenon, rivaling Pac-Man in popularity and establishing Nintendo as a major force in the American market.

Nintendo's first major video game system was the Family Computer, an 8-bit home console released in Japan on July 15, 1983.[12] An equivalent version for the Western world, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), was released in North America on October 18, 1985.[13] Following the video game crash of 1983, Nintendo is credited with bringing back the North American market through the success of the NES and its best-selling titles, such as Super Mario Bros..[14]

In 1989, Nintendo released its next handheld device, the Game Boy. It was also designed by Gunpei Yokoi. The system was a very big success and sold many units.[15] One reason for this success was that Nintendo included the game Tetris with every Game Boy.[16]

In 1990, Nintendo released the Super Famicom in Japan. It was the 16-bit successor to the Family Computer. It competed with the Sega Genesis. The system was released as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in North America on August 23, 1991,[17] and in Europe in 1992.[18] Around 1994, the PlayStation became a major rival to Nintendo. Originally, Nintendo and Sony planned to work together. They wanted to make a CD-ROM device for the SNES, similar to the Sega CD. However, this deal failed in the early 1990s.[19] Instead, Nintendo made a different deal with Philips. This allowed Philips to make a few games with Mario and The Legend of Zelda characters for the Philips CD-i system.[19]

In 1992, Nintendo bought a majority stake in the Seattle Mariners,[20] but later sold their shares in 2016.[21]

Nintendo ultimately won the 16-bit console wars with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Toward the end of the system's lifespan in 1994, this success was further cemented by the release of Donkey Kong Country.[22] The following year, in 1995, Nintendo released a successor to the Game Boy titled the Virtual Boy; however, it was the company's first major commercial failure, selling poorly enough to be discontinued in 1996.[23]

Nintendo 64 era

Despite the failure of the Virtual Boy, Nintendo transitioned successfully to the Nintendo 64, which was their first console capable of true 3D gameplay. The Nintendo 64 was originally scheduled to release in 1995. However, it was delayed until 1996 to give developers more time to learn how to make games for the system.[24] Alongside first-party hits like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the console's success was supported by Rareware, which produced titles such as GoldenEye 007 and Banjo-Kazooie.[25] Ultimately, the Nintendo 64 was outsold by the PlayStation, partly because the latter utilized CD-ROMs, which offered significantly more storage than Nintendo's cartridges.[26]

The Game Boy stayed popular during the Nintendo 64 era. Its last major games were Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998[27] and Pokémon Yellow in 1999.[28] These games started the massively successful Pokémon franchise, which soon become a multimedia franchise spawning anime, manga, and the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Before releasing in America, Pokémon first began in Japan on February 27, 1996, with the games Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green,[29] their version of what would be Pokémon Red and Blue overseas.

In late 1998, Nintendo released the Game Boy Color. It was very similar to the original Game Boy, but it had a color screen.[30] It was released at the same time Pokémon became a success in America, soon to be followed by the rest of the world. The Game Boy Color was a very big success,[30] and it overshadowed the failure of the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's first attempt at making a successor to the Game Boy.

First half of the 2000s

In early 2001, Nintendo released its next handheld console, the Game Boy Advance, which featured 32-bit graphics. Two years later, in 2003, Nintendo launched an updated model called the Game Boy Advance SP, which introduced a front-lit, folding design. In 2005, the company released a further enhanced Game Boy Advance SP model with a brighter backlit screen, alongside a second redesign: the Game Boy Micro.

Nintendo's next-generation home console was the GameCube. It was Nintendo's first console to utilize optical discs, specifically the MiniDVD format. The Nintendo GameCube was positioned as a cheaper alternative to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox due to having fewer features. Hiroshi Yamauchi justified this choice by stating that the software is the reason people play, distancing Nintendo from Microsoft by emphasizing software quality over hardware specifications.[31]

Two major events happened in 2002. Hiroshi Yamauchi retired as president of Nintendo and passed the role to Satoru Iwata.[32] Nintendo's partnership with Rareware ended on September 24, 2002 when Microsoft bought the latter for US$375 million.[33]

The Nintendo GameCube, while not a market failure, was ultimately outsold by both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.[34] In 2003, Nintendo announced their first losses since 1962.[35] However, Nintendo was successful with the Game Boy Advance, which sold a lot of units as with earlier systems in the Game Boy line.[34] However, the Game Boy Micro sold poorly.[36]

Second half of the 2000s

In 2004, Nintendo announced the Nintendo DS, notable for having two screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen.[37] It sold over 154 million units during its lifetime,[38] which further helped them as the Nintendo GameCube struggled to sell. In 2006, the system received an updated version named the Nintendo DS Lite, which has the same clamshell design but has a brighter backlit screen. Nintendo also released a more dedicated version in 2009 named the Nintendo DSi (as well as a larger version, the Nintendo DSi XL), which has a very different system software from the Nintendo DS and even featured downloadable titles collectively known as DSiWare.

Nintendo's next-generation home console, the Revolution, was announced at E3 2005.[39] It was eventually renamed to the Wii and released in November 2006.[40] As with the Nintendo DS, Nintendo also designed the Wii with its own innovative gimmicks, which included the user being able to use the Wii Remote to point and click at objects on the screen as well as for motion detection. The system was another major success for Nintendo and sold over 100 million units.[38]

Part of why Nintendo did well with the Nintendo DS and Wii is because of the Touch! Generations brand that was designed to appeal to people besides typical gamers, such as elderly people.[41]

On May 14, 2005, the Nintendo World Store opened in New York City to replace its previous iteration, the Pokémon Center New York, and provide Nintendo merchandise in general, rather than just Pokémon.[42]

Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

On March 23, 2010, Nintendo announced the Nintendo 3DS, a successor to the Nintendo DS capable of displaying 3D images without the need for special glasses.[43] They showed a prototype of it publicly for the first time at E3 2010.[44] Nintendo released the console a year later, in 2011.[45] Throughout the 2010s, Nintendo made many other Nintendo 3DS models, such as the Nintendo 3DS XL, the New Nintendo 3DS, and the Nintendo 2DS. The Nintendo 2DS cannot display 3D images, removing the system's namesake feature, as this was Nintendo's way to both market the system to even younger audiences and have a slightly cheaper model.[46] Nintendo warned about the 3D feature potentially damaging little kids' eyes in as early as 2010.[47]

Following their success with the Wii, Nintendo released a successor in 2012 called the Wii U.[48] The system sold only 13.5 million units and was not very successful compared to the Wii, which sold over 100 million units.[38]

On July 11, 2015, Satoru Iwata died from bile duct cancer.[49] Two months later, on September 14, 2015, Tatsumi Kimishima became the next president of the company.[50]

Nintendo has made mobile games since 2016, with the release of Miitomo.[51] They soon released other mobile games, such as Super Mario Run and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp.

Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2

On March 3, 2017, Nintendo released their first hybrid console, the Nintendo Switch, which can alternate between a handheld game console and a home console, hence the name. In 2020, the Nintendo 3DS was discontinued, leaving the Nintendo Switch to be Nintendo's only console that busily earned them profits. The Nintendo Switch was ultimately a massive success, and spawned two models: the Nintendo Switch Lite in 2019 and the Nintendo Switch OLED Model in 2021.

On June 5, 2025, a direct successor to the console was released, the Nintendo Switch 2.

List of video game consoles

Portable and semi-portable devices

The latest console of Nintendo, the Switch 2 on display in April 2025.

Non-portable devices

See also: List of best-selling video games

List of Nintendo products

Main page: List of Nintendo products

Nintendo Media

References

  1. ↑ International Distributors - Company ListNintendo. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Consolidated Results for the Years Ended March 31, 2012 and 2013 (2013-04-24)Nintendo Co., Ltd.. Retrieved 2013-04-27.
  3. ↑ 会社概要 (in Japanese)Nintendo Co., Ltd.. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  4. ↑ Life, Nintendo. Nintendo Has Sold Over 700 Million Video Game Consoles To Date (in en-GB). Nintendo Life (2018-08-13). Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  5. ↑ Nintendo has sold over 5.3 billion games in 38 years (in en-US). TweakTown (2022-02-05). Retrieved 2022-09-03.
  6. ↑ MacNeil, Jessica. Nintendo is founded, September 23, 1889 (September 23, 2019)EDN. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Burns, James. The Early Years of Nintendo (December 22, 2020)Medium. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  8. ↑ Schofield, Jack. Hiroshi Yamauchi obituary (September 19, 2013)The Guardian. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Nintendo HistoryNintendo.com. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Burns, James. Nintendo’s Road to the NES (November 3, 2020)Medium. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  11. ↑ Malinski, Gilly. From Playing Cards to ‘Super Mario Bros.,’ Here's Nintendo’s History (March 18, 2019)Business Insider. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  12. ↑ This day in history: Nintendo releases the NES (July 14, 2016)ABC7 Los Angeles. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  13. ↑ Kohler, Chris. Oct. 18, 1985: Nintendo Entertainment System Launches (October 18, 2010)Wired. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  14. ↑ Josephson, Kimberlee. The 1983 Video Game Crash and a History Lesson for Lina Khan (August 5, 2023)Foundation for Economic Education. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
  15. ↑ MacDonald, Keza. The Game Boy at 35: a portal to other magical worlds (April 21, 2014)The Guardian. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  16. ↑ Hoad, Phil. Tetris: how we made the addictive computer game (June 2, 2014)The Guardian. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  17. ↑ Couch, Aaron. Super Nintendo Turns 25: Inside Its Uphill Battle for U.S. Domination (August 23, 2016)Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  18. ↑ Super NintendoNintendo UK. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Kohler, Chris. The Weird History Of The Super NES CD-ROM, Nintendo’s Most Notorious Vaporware (September 6, 2018)Kotaku. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  20. ↑ Scullion, Chris. That Time When… Nintendo bought a baseball team (January 11, 2021)Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  21. ↑ Mulkerin, Tim. Nintendo sells the majority of its stake in the Seattle Mariners for $661 million (August 22, 2016)Business Insider. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  22. ↑ Buchanan, Levi. Genesis vs. SNES: By the Numbers (March 20, 2009)IGN. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  23. ↑ Macy, Seth G.. Looking Back at the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's Most Famous Failure (July 21, 2013)IGN. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  24. ↑ Fisher, Lawrence M.. Nintendo Delays Introduction Of Ultra 64 Video-Game Player (May 6, 1995)New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  25. ↑ 25 years of the N64: Rareware's incredible N64 run (September 13, 2021)Retro XP. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  26. ↑ Holland, Luke. PlayStation vs. Nintendo 64 Was the Last Console War That Mattered (March 20, 2015)VICE. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  27. ↑ Game Boy's Pokémon Unleashed on September 28!Nintendo.com. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  28. ↑ NINTENDO'S LATEST POKéMON GAME SMASHES COMPANY SALES RECORDNintendo.com. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  29. ↑ Celebrate Pokémon Day on February 27, 2023 (February 15, 2023)Pokemon.com. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Craddock, Ryan. Anniversary: The Game Boy Color Turns 21 Today (October 21, 2019)Nintendo Life. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
  31. ↑ Lake, Max. NCL President Yamauchi on GameCube, Post E3 (May 26, 2001)Nintendo World Report. Retrieved April 23, 2026.
  32. ↑ Walker, Trey. E3 2002: Yamauchi steps down (May 24, 2002)GameSpot. Retrieved April 23, 2026.
  33. ↑ Microsoft Acquires Video Game Powerhouse Rare Ltd. (September 23, 2002)Microsoft. Retrieved April 23, 2026.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Bashir, Dale. How the Game Boy Advance Kept Nintendo Afloat in the Early 2000s (March 21, 2022)IGN. Retrieved April 23, 2026.
  35. ↑ Nintendo Reports Loss (November 14, 2003)IGN. Retrieved April 23, 2026.
  36. ↑ Snow, Blake. Feature: The 10 Worst-Selling Handhelds of All Time (July 30, 2007)GamePro. Retrieved April 23, 2026.
  37. ↑ Harris, Craig. DS Touch Screen Innovation (March 24, 2004)IGN. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 IR Information : Sales Data - Dedicated Video Game Sales UnitsNintendo.co.jp. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  39. ↑ Adams, David. E3 2005: Official Revolution Details (May 17, 2005)IGN. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  40. ↑ Gallagher, Brendan. Nintendo of America Releases Details of November NPD (December 7, 2006)Nintendo World Report. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  41. ↑ Skylar, Gremillion. ‘Touch Generation’ brings new gamers (January 24, 2008)The Daily Reveille. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  42. ↑ Sarrazin, Marc-André. Nintendo World Store Opening Party (April 21, 2005)Nintendo Spin. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  43. ↑ Re: Launch of New Portable Game Machine (March 23, 2010). Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  44. ↑ Kohler, Chris. Live Blog: Nintendo 3DS Debuts at E3 Conference (June 15, 2010)Wired. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  45. ↑ Parker, Laura. Nintendo 3DS dated, priced (March 2, 2011)GameSpot. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  46. ↑ Salas, Randy. Nintendo targets younger gamers with new 2DS (October 11, 2013)The Minnesota Star Tribune. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  47. ↑ Nintendo warns that playing new 3DS handheld in 3-D mode may damage young children’s eyes (December 30, 2010)New York Daily News. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  48. ↑ Ortutay, Barbara. Wii U: New console launches in a sea of gadgets (November 23, 2012)MPR News. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  49. ↑ Dwyer, Colin. Nintendo Chief Satoru Iwata Dies At 55 (July 12, 2015)NPR. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  50. ↑ Byford, Sam. Nintendo’s New President Is Tatsumi Kimishima (September 14, 2015)Vox. Retrieved April 24, 2026.
  51. ↑ Kohler, Chris. Mii Avatars Star in Nintendo's First Mobile Game This March (October 28, 2015)Wired. Retrieved April 24, 2026.

Notes

  1. ↑ Japanese: 任天堂株式会社 Hepburn: Nintendō kabushiki gaisha?

Other websites

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