Nintendo

Nintendo began in Kyoto in 1889, when Fusajiro Yamauchi started producing handmade hanafuda playing cards. The company later moved through products including western-style playing cards, toys, and electronic entertainment, but its modern identity was shaped by video games. Hiroshi Yamauchi, who led Nintendo for decades, pushed the business toward toys and games after taking over in 1949. In the 1960s and 1970s, Nintendo worked with designers such as Gunpei Yokoi, whose inventions included the Ultra Hand toy and, later, the Game and Watch series. The first Game and Watch, Ball, arrived in 1980. Yokoi’s use of inexpensive calculator technology and a directional control pad helped establish ideas Nintendo would develop further. Nintendo’s arcade game Donkey Kong, released in 1981, gave Shigeru Miyamoto his breakthrough as a game designer and introduced Jumpman, the character who became Mario. In 1983, Nintendo launched the Family Computer, usually called the Famicom, in Japan. Its redesigned international version, the Nintendo Entertainment System, reached North America in 1985. Games including Super Mario Bros., designed by Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, became central to the system’s success and established the Mushroom Kingdom as a major Nintendo setting. The company repeatedly paired distinctive hardware with long-running software series. The 1989 Game Boy, designed under Yokoi’s supervision, was bundled with Tetris in many markets and became a landmark portable system. Nintendo later introduced the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, and Switch OLED Model. The Wii, released in 2006, used motion-sensing controllers and attracted audiences beyond conventional game players. The Switch, launched in 2017, combined television play with handheld play through its dock and detachable Joy-Con controllers. Nintendo owns or manages some of gaming’s most recognizable franchises, including Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, Metroid, Kirby, Fire Emblem, and Pikmin. Pokémon is jointly connected to Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures; Nintendo publishes and distributes many Pokémon titles, while The Pokémon Company handles brand management. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launched alongside Switch in 2017, while its sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, arrived in 2023. Nintendo has also expanded beyond games through theme-park collaboration: Super Nintendo World opened at Universal Studios Japan in 2021. In film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, produced with Illumination, was released in 2023. Nintendo remains headquartered in Kyoto and continues building its business around dedicated hardware, internally developed games, and carefully managed characters.