History of Nintendo

The history of Nintendo, a Japan-based international video game company, starts in 1889 when Fusajiro Yamauchi founded "Yamauchi Nintendo", producing handmade hanafuda playing cards. Since its founding, the company has been headquartered in Kyoto.^[1] Sekiryo Kaneda was company president from 1929 to 1949, and succeeded by Hiroshi Yamauchi. Hiroshi Yaumauchi's Nintendo started producing toys like the Ultra Hand and operating love hotels. In the 1970s and 80s, they made arcade games and related accessories, as well as the Color TV-Game series of home consoles and the Game & Watch series of handheld electronic games.

The Nintendo logo since May 11, 2016

Shigeru Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo in 1977, and created Donkey Kong (1981) for arcades: the company's first international hit video game and the origin of Nintendo's mascot Mario. After the video game crash of 1983, Nintendo filled a market gap in the west by releasing the Japanese Famicom home console (1983) as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. The innovative NES games Super Mario Bros. (1985) and The Legend of Zelda (1986), both designed by Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, were highly influential to the games industry.

Mario, from the Super Mario game series, is the mascot of Nintendo

The Game Boy handheld (1989) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System home console (1990) were successful, while Nintendo had an intense business rivalry with Sega's competing consoles. Nintendo owned the Seattle Mariners baseball team from 1992 to 2016. The Virtual Boy stereoscopic 3D handheld (1995) was unpopular and a financial failure. The company entered 3D computer graphics with the Nintendo 64 ("N64", 1996) and its influential launch title Super Mario 64. The Pokémon media franchise, partially owned by Nintendo, has been a worldwide hit since the 1990s.

The Game Boy Advance ("GBA", 2001) was another success. The GameCube home console (2001), while popular with core Nintendo fans, had weak sales compared to Nintendo's new competitor consoles, Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox lines. In 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi was succeeded by Satoru Iwata, who saw the release of the Nintendo DS handheld (2004) with a touchscreen and the Wii home console (2006) with motion control, which were extraordinarily successful—Nintendo, now aiming for a wide audience including casual gamers and previously non-gamers, temporarily stopped competing with Microsoft and Sony, who targeted devoted gamers. Wii Sports (2006) remains the company's best-selling game.

The Nintendo 3DS handheld (2011) successfully retried stereoscopic 3D. The Wii U console (2012) sold poorly, causing the company's future prospects to be questioned and influencing Iwata to bring Nintendo into mobile gaming. Iwata also led development of the successful Nintendo Switch hybrid home/handheld console (2017) before his death in 2015. He was succeeded by Tatsumi Kimishima until 2018, followed by current president Shuntaro Furukawa.

1889–1949: Hanafuda cards

Nintendo poster from early Meiji Era, showing the company's hanafuda cards

Nintendo's first headquarters was in Kyoto (1889).

Nintendo was founded as Yamauchi Nintendo (山内任天堂) by Fusajiro Yamauchi on September 23, 1889.^[2][3] though it was originally named Nintendo Koppai. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed hanafuda. The name "Nintendo" is commonly assumed to mean "leave luck to heaven", but there are no historical records to validate this.^[4] The handmade cards soon gained popularity, so Yamauchi hired assistants to mass-produce cards. The Hanafuda Cards were an alternative for Playing Cards that were banned in Japan during the time.

Fusajiro Yamauchi did not have a son to take over the family business. Following the common Japanese tradition of mukoyōshi, he adopted his son-in-law, Sekiryo Kaneda, who then legally took his wife's last name of Yamauchi. In 1929, Fusajiro Yamauchi retired and allowed Kaneda to take over as president. In 1933, Sekiryo Kaneda established a joint venture with another company and renamed it Yamauchi Nintendo & Co.

In 1947, Sekiryo established a distribution company, Marufuku Co., Ltd.,^[5] to distribute the hanafuda and several other types of cards produced by Nintendo. Sekiryo Kaneda also had only daughters, so again his son-in-law (Shikanojo Inaba, renamed Shikanojo Yamauchi) was adopted into the family. Yamauchi later abandoned his family and did not become company president. Subsequently, his son Hiroshi Yamauchi was brought up by his grandparents and he later took over the company instead of his father.

1949–1965: Disney tie-in and public listing

Nintendo's second headquarters from 1933-1959

In 1949, Hiroshi Yamauchi attended Waseda University in Tokyo. However, after his grandfather suffered a debilitating stroke, he left to take office as the president of Nintendo.^[6] In 1950, he renamed Marufuku Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Karuta (任天堂かるた), and in 1951 to Nintendo Karuta (任天堂骨牌) (writing "karuta" as "骨牌" rather than "かるた").^[7][8][9] In 1953, Nintendo became the first company in Japan to produce playing cards from plastic.^[10]

In 1956, Yamauchi visited the U.S., to engage in talks with the United States Playing Card Company (USPCC), the dominant playing card manufacturer in the United States, based in Cincinnati. He was shocked to find that the world's biggest company in his business was relegated to using a small office. This was a turning point for Yamauchi, who then realized the limitations of the playing card business.^{[citation needed]}

In 1958, Nintendo made a deal with Disney to allow the use of Disney's characters on Nintendo's playing cards.^[8] Previously, Western playing cards were regarded as something similar to hanafuda and mahjong: a device for gambling. By tying playing cards to Disney and selling books explaining the different games playable with the cards, Nintendo could sell the product to Japanese households. The tie-in was a success and the company sold at least 600,000 card packs in one year. Due to this success, in 1962, Yamauchi took Nintendo public, listing the company in Osaka Stock Exchange Second division.^[9]

In 1963, Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd. was renamed to Nintendo by Yamauchi.^[9] Nintendo started to begin experimenting in other areas of business using the newly injected capital. This included establishing a food company in partnership with two other firms with a product line featuring instant rice (similar to instant noodles),^[11] a vacuum cleaner, and Chiritory (which later appeared in a two-player minigame in WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$ in 2003). All these ventures eventually failed, except toymaking, based on some earlier experience from selling playing cards.^[12] In 1964, while Japan was experiencing an economic boom due to the Tokyo Olympics, the playing card business reached saturation. Japanese households stopped buying playing cards, and the price of Nintendo stock fell from 900 yen to 60 yen.^[13]

In 1965, Nintendo hired Gunpei Yokoi as a Maintenance Engineer for the assembly line. However, Yokoi soon became famous for much more than his ability to repair conveyor belts.^[14]

1966–1972: Toy company and new ventures

The Ultra Machine and Love Tester are two commercial toys made by Nintendo in the late 1960s.

During the 1960s, Nintendo struggled to survive in the Japanese toy industry, which was still small at this point, and already dominated by already well-established companies such as Bandai and Tomy. Because of the generally short product life cycle of toys, the company took the approach of introducing new products at a quicker rate, marking the start of a major new era for Nintendo.

In 1966, Yamauchi, upon visiting one of the company's hanafuda factories, noticed an extending arm-shaped toy, which had been made by one of its maintenance engineers, Gunpei Yokoi, for fun. Yamauchi ordered Yokoi to develop it as a proper product for the Christmas rush. Released as the Ultra Hand, it became one of Nintendo's earliest toy blockbusters, selling over hundreds of thousands units. Seeing that Yokoi had potential, Yamauchi pulled him off assembly line work. Yokoi was soon moved from maintenance duty to product development.

Due to his electrical engineering background, it soon became apparent that Yokoi was quite adept at developing electronic toys. These devices had a much higher novelty value than traditional toys, allowing Nintendo to charge a higher price margin for each product. Yokoi went on to develop many other toys, including the Ten Billion Barrel puzzle, a baseball throwing machine called the Ultra Machine, and a Love Tester.

Nintendo released the first solar-powered light gun, the Nintendo Beam Gun,^[15] in 1970; this was the first commercially available light-gun for home use, produced in partnership with Sharp.^[16]

In 1972, Nintendo released the Ele-Conga, one of the first programmable drum machines. It plays pre-programmed rhythms from disc-shaped punch cards, which can be altered or programmed by the user, to play different patterns.^[17]

1972–1982: Arcade games, Color TV-Game, and the Game & Watch era

Main articles: Color TV-Game and Game & Watch

Further information: List of Nintendo arcade games

Released in 1972, the first commercially available video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, has a light gun accessory, the Shooting Gallery.^[18] This was the first involvement of Nintendo in video games. According to Martin Picard in the International Journal of Computer Game Research: "in 1971, Nintendo had—even before the marketing of the first home console in the United States—an alliance with the American pioneer Magnavox to develop and produce optoelectronic guns for the Odyssey (released in 1972), since it was similar to what Nintendo was able to offer in the Japanese toy market in 1970s".^[19]

In 1973, its focus shifted to family-friendly arcades with the Laser Clay Shooting System,^[20] using the same light gun technology used in Nintendo's Kousenjuu series of toys, and set up in abandoned bowling alleys. Gaining some success, Nintendo developed several more light gun machines for the emerging arcade scene. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following excessive costs, Nintendo had founded a new market.

Nintendo also entered the video game market. Its first steps were to acquire the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan in 1974 and to release its first video arcade game, EVR Race,^[21] in 1975. In 1977, Nintendo released the Color TV-Game 6 and Color TV-Game 15, two consoles jointly developed with Mitsubishi Electric. The numbers in the console names indicate the number of games included in each.^[9]

Shigeru Miyamoto created the 1981 game Donkey Kong.

In the early 1980s, Nintendo's video game division was led by Yokoi to create some of its most famous arcade games. The massively popular Donkey Kong was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and released in arcades in 1981. Home releases soon followed, made by Coleco for the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and ColecoVision video game systems. Some of Nintendo's other arcade games were ported to home consoles by third parties, including Donkey Kong Jr., Sky Skipper, Mario Bros., and Donkey Kong 3. Nintendo started to focus on the home game market. It stopped manufacturing and releasing arcade games in Japan in late 1985,^[22][23] and withdrew its membership from the Japan Amusement Machinery Manufacturers Association (JAMMA) on February 28, 1989.^[24] On July 31, 1992, Nintendo of America announced it would no longer manufacture arcade equipment.^[25][26]

The release of Donkey Kong caused Universal Studios, Inc. to take legal action and sue Nintendo for copyright infringement on their character King Kong, which was actually in the public domain. The court sided with Nintendo in Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.. Nintendo thanked their lawyer, John Kirby, by giving him a $30,000 boat called the Donkey Kong, along with "exclusive worldwide rights to use the name for sailboats," and named the character Kirby after him.^[27]

In addition to the arcade game activity, Nintendo was testing the consumer handheld video game market with the Game & Watch. It is a line of handheld electronic games produced by Nintendo from 1980 to 1991. Created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi, each Game & Watch features a single game to be played on an LCD screen in addition to a clock or an alarm. It is the earliest Nintendo product to garner major success, with 43.4 million units sold worldwide.

1982–1989: Nintendo Entertainment System era

Main articles: Nintendo Entertainment System and History of the Nintendo Entertainment System

The most popular logo used as a primary logo from 1984 to 2004 became secondary since 2004.

In 1982, Nintendo developed a prototype system called the Advanced Video System (AVS). Its accessories include controllers, a tape drive, a joystick, and a lightgun. The system can be used as a simple home computer. It was never released and is on display at the Nintendo World Store in New York.^[28][29][30] In July 1983, Nintendo released the Family Computer console in Japan, as its first attempt at a cartridge-based video game console. More than 500,000 units were sold within two months at around $100 each. After a few months of favorable sales, Nintendo received complaints that some Famicom consoles would freeze on certain games. The fault was found in a malfunctioning chip and Nintendo decided to recall all Famicom units that were currently on store shelves, at a cost of approximately $500,000.^{[citation needed]}

During this period, Nintendo redesigned the Famicom as the Nintendo Entertainment System for its launch in the United States. Since the company had very little experience with the US market, it had previously attempted to contract with Atari for the system's distribution in 1983. However, a controversy involving Coleco and Donkey Kong soured the relationship between the two during the negotiations, and Atari refused to back Nintendo's console.

In 1983–1985, a large scale recession in video game sales hit the market which amounted to a 97% decrease primarily in the North American area. The recession known as the video game crash of 1983 was caused by a few main factors including the flooding of the console market, competition of home computers, inflation, and loss of publishing control. The video game crash of 1983 soon took out not only Atari, but the vast majority of the American market itself. Over time, dominance in the market shifted from America to Japan. Nintendo began exporting to America and had virtually only one major competitor in the market, Sega, which was another Japanese company.

Nintendo was determined not to make the same mistakes in the US that Atari had. Because of massive influxes of games that were regarded as some of the worst ever created, gaming had almost completely died out in America. Nintendo decided that to avoid facing the same problems, they would only allow games that received their "Seal of Quality" to be sold for the Famicom.

From 1984 until 2004, Nintendo's employees were divided into four research & development (R&D) divisions; Research & Development 4, as it was named at its founding, was created in 1984 as the team behind most internal game development, led by Shigeru Miyamoto. It was renamed Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD) by 2004.^[31][32]

In 1985, Nintendo announced the release of the Famicom (Family Computer) worldwide with a different design under the name the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It used a creative tactic to counter the bad press on video games, and released the NES with R.O.B. units that connect to the games. To ensure the localization of the highest-quality games by third-party developers, Nintendo of America limited third-party developers to five game releases in a single year. Konami, the first third-party company allowed to make Famicom games, later circumvented this rule by creating a spinoff company, Ultra Games, to release additional games per year. Other manufacturers soon employed the same tactic. Also in 1985, Super Mario Bros. was released for the Famicom in Japan and became a large success, along with it also releasing in America which caused the video game industry to be revived and became the most successful and popular Nintendo and Mario game until Mario Kart 8 released in 2014.^{[citation needed]}

Nintendo test marketed the Nintendo Entertainment System in the New York area on October 18, 1985. They expanded the test to Los Angeles in February 1986, followed by tests in Chicago and San Francisco. They would go national by the end of 1986, along with 15 games, sold separately. In the US and Canada, it widely outsold its competitors. Also in 1986, Metroid and The Legend of Zelda were released to much critical acclaim.

In 1988, Nintendo of America unveiled Nintendo Power, a monthly news and strategy magazine from Nintendo that served to advertise new games. The first issue is July/August, which spotlights the NES game Super Mario Bros. 2 (Super Mario USA in Japan). Nintendo Power has since ceased publication with its December 2012 edition.^[33]

1989–1996: Game Boy, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Virtual Boy era

Main articles: Game Boy and Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Game Boy and Super Nintendo Entertainment System are Nintendo's fourth generation video game consoles.

In 1989, Nintendo (which had much success from the Game & Watch) released the Game Boy (also created by Gunpei Yokoi), along with the accompanying game Tetris. Due to the price, the game, and its durability (unlike the static and screen rot of the prior Microvision from Milton Bradley Company), the Game Boy line eventually amassed sales of 118 million units.^[34] Super Mario Land was released with the system, and 14 million copies were sold worldwide. Also in 1989, Nintendo announced a successor to the Famicom, the Super Famicom.^[35]

The last major first-party game for the NES was Super Mario Bros. 3, which was released in early 1990 in North America, with more than 18 million units sold.^[36] It was followed by a licensed television adaption named The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, which was released by DIC Entertainment and Viacom Enterprises in that year to capitalize on the game's immense popularity.

The Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990. The launch was widely successful, and the Super Famicom was sold out across Japan within three days, with 1.6 million units sold by June 1991.^[37] In August 1991, the Super Famicom was launched in the US under the name "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" (SNES), followed by Europe in 1992.^[38]

Like the NES, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System has high technical specifications for its era. The SNES controller had also improved over that of the NES, as it now had rounded edges and four new buttons, a standard which is evident on many modern controllers today.

Nintendo had begun development on a CD-ROM attachment for the SNES/Super Famicom. Its first partner in this project was Sony, which had provided the SNES with its SPC sound chip. Development on the Nintendo PlayStation CD-ROM add-on and SNES/SFC standalone hybrid console began. However, at the last minute Nintendo decided to pull out of the partnership and instead go with Philips, and while no CD-ROM add-on was produced, several Nintendo properties (namely The Legend of Zelda) appeared on the Philips CD-i media console. Upon learning this, Sony decided to continue developing the technology they had into the PlayStation. The exact reason Nintendo left its partnership with Sony has been the subject of speculation over the years, but the most common theory is that Sony either wanted too much of the profits for the machine or the rights to the CD-ROM attachment itself.

In Japan, the Super Famicom easily took control of the gaming market. In the US, due to a late start and an aggressive marketing campaign by Sega (based around by Sega's new mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, their answer to Mario), Nintendo's market share plunged from 90 to 95% with the NES to a low of approximately 35% against the Sega Genesis. Across several years, the SNES in North America eventually overtook the Genesis, due to franchise games such as Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Street Fighter II, and the Final Fantasy series. Total worldwide sales of the SNES reached 49.10 million units,^[34] eclipsing the estimated 40 million unit sales of the Genesis.^[39]

As the SNES battled the Sega Genesis, Nintendo had problems caused by its own aggressive marketing behavior. In 1991, Nintendo agreed to a settlement regarding price-fixing allegations brought by the Federal Trade Commission and attorneys general in New York and Maryland. Nintendo had been accused of threatening to cut off shipments of the NES to retailers who discounted the price of the system. The estimated cost of the settlement was just under $30 million.^[40]

The Virtual Boy is a hybrid video game console that uses a stereoscopic 3D display to produce virtual reality images.

In 1992, Gunpei Yokoi and the rest of R&D 1 began planning on a new stereoscopic 3D console which became the Virtual Boy. Hiroshi Yamauchi also bought majority shares of the Seattle Mariners in 1992.^[41] By May 1993, Nintendo had reportedly become one of the top ten leading companies in the world.^[42]

In 1993, Nintendo announced plans to develop a new 64-bit console codenamed Project Reality, capable of rendering fully 3D environments and characters. In 1994, Nintendo also claimed that Project Reality would be renamed Ultra 64 in the US. The Ultra 64 moniker was unveiled in arcades on the Nintendo branded fighting game Killer Instinct and the racing game Cruis'n USA. Killer Instinct was later released on the SNES. Soon after, Nintendo realized Konami owned the rights to the "Ultra" name. Specifically, only Konami had rights to release games for the new system with names like Ultra Football or Ultra Tennis. Therefore, in 1995 Nintendo changed the final name of the system to Nintendo 64, and announced that it would be released in 1996. The system and several games were previewed, including Super Mario 64, to the media and public. Also in 1995, Nintendo purchased part of Rare.

In 1994, after many years of Nintendo's products being distributed in Australia by Mattel since the NES in 1985, Nintendo opened its Australian headquarters and its first managing directors were Graham Kerry, who moved along from Mattel Australia as managing director and Susumu Tanaka of Nintendo UK Ltd.

In 1995, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy in Japan. The console sold poorly, with a record of less than 500,000 units but Nintendo still said they had hope for it and continued to release several other games and attempted a release in the US, which was another disaster.

Also in 1995, Nintendo found themselves in a competitive situation. Competitor Sega introduced their 32-bit Saturn, while newcomer Sony introduced the 32-bit PlayStation. Sony's fierce marketing campaigns ensued, and it started to cut into Nintendo and Sega's market share.

1996–2001: Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color era

Main articles: Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color

Nintendo 64 black console with blank game cartridge and grey controller

On June 23, 1996, the Nintendo 64 (N64) was released in Japan, with more than 500,000 units sold on the first day.^[20] On September 29, 1996, the Nintendo 64 was released in North America, selling out the initial shipment of 350,000.^[20] Many said that the advertising onslaught by Sony at this time did not truly begin to take effect until many of the consumers who held out for the Nintendo 64 became frustrated at the lack of software following the first few months after the system's release. Nintendo's extremely competitive climate was pushed by many third-party companies immediately developing and releasing many of their leading games for Nintendo's competitors. Many of those third-party companies cited cheaper development and manufacturing costs for the CD format, versus the cartridge format. On December 1, 1999, Nintendo released the 64DD add-on peripheral to the Nintendo 64 in Japan, although it was never released elsewhere.

Nintendo followed with the release of the Game Boy Pocket, a smaller version of the original Game Boy, designed by Gunpei Yokoi as his final product for the company. A week after the release of the Game Boy Pocket, he resigned from his position at Nintendo. He then helped in the creation of the competing handheld WonderSwan.

In 1995, Pocket Monsters (known internationally as "Pokémon") was released in Japan to a huge following. The Pokémon franchise, created by Satoshi Tajiri, was proving so popular in America, Europe, and Japan, that for a brief time, Nintendo took back their place as the supreme power in the games industry.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, Gunpei Yokoi died in a car accident at the age of 56.^[14] That year, the European Economic Community forced Nintendo to drastically rework its third-party licensing contracts, ruling that Nintendo could no longer limit the number of games a license could release, require games to undergo prior approval, or require third-party games to be exclusively manufactured by Nintendo.^[43]

On October 13, 1998, the Game Boy Color was released in Japan, with releases in North America and Europe a month later.

Retro Studios' first headquarters in Austin, Texas, before they moved to a different building in the city in 2011

In 1998, as Nintendo was developing its next home console, codenamed Dolphin at the time, the company worked with American game producer Jeff Spangenburg (of Acclaim Entertainment, then-publisher of the Turok game series) to found Retro Studios, a game development studio based in Austin, Texas. Spangenberg was fired from Acclaim earlier that year, and then secured a deal with Nintendo of America to develop for the Dolphin; Nintendo funded Retro's 40,000-square-foot studio. Within a few years, Retro Studios had about 150 employees.^[44]

In December 1998, Nintendo sued the owner of the "zelda.com" domain, which linked to pornographic images.^[45] In December 1999, magician Uri Geller sued Nintendo for £60 million over his likeness represented in the Pokémon species Alakazam.^[46][47] The lawsuit was dropped in 2003, and Geller sued multiple times after; in 2020, he apologized for the legal battle.^[48] In March 2000, Nintendo made an $80 million USD settlement with the New York Attorney General over hand injuries sustained by children while rotating the N64 joystick in five different mini-games within Mario Party (1998). The company issued game gloves to prevent future injuries.^[49] In June 2000, Nintendo announced that they had gotten Apollo Ltd., a major Hong Kong company who had produced pirated versions of Nintendo games, shut down by Hong Kong law enforcement.^[50][51]

2001–2004: Game Boy Advance and GameCube era

Main articles: Game Boy Advance and GameCube

The original Game Boy Advance released in 2001, in its Indigo version

Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in Japan on March 21, 2001, followed by North America and Europe in June.^[52][53] The system played games with a much larger screen and more colors than the Game Boy Color was capable of, and had backwards compatibility with every Game Boy game. In North America, the system was highly successful at launch, becoming Nintendo's fast-selling system at the time, with 500,000 models sold in around a month.^[53]

Nintendo's next home video game console, the Dolphin, was announced at E3 1999, when Nintendo of America president Howard Lincoln declared the console would "equal or exceed anything our friends at Sony can come up with for PlayStation 2" (PS2). Sony became Nintendo's main competition in the console field when Sega stopped making their own consoles, after to the financial failure of the Dreamcast.^[54] The first Sonic the Hedgehog game on a Nintendo system was Sonic Advance for the Game Boy Advance in 2002.^[55]

GameCube with controller and 251-block memory card

In August 2000, more details on the Dolphin, now renamed as the "GameCube", were revealed at the SpaceWorld event.^[52][56] While developing the system, Nintendo built a device separate from the console itself which included an LCD screen and could display stereoscopic 3D.^[54] They were able to run the game Luigi's Mansion (2001) on the device, but mass-producing it would have been too expensive.^[54] The Game Boy Advance was instead used as a second screen for certain games, using a link cable.^[56]

The Japan-only Panasonic Q version of the GameCube

The GameCube was released in September 14, 2001, in Japan; North America in November 2001; and Europe in May 2002. The system had a more ergonomic controller and included a handle for easy carriage. It used mini-discs to play games, as to prevent piracy and not pay fees to the DVD Forum consortium, who made DVD technologies. The lack of a DVD player hurt sales, as the PS2 included one. The Panasonic Q edition of the console, which could play DVDs, was only released in Japan.^[57] The mini-disc format meant a GameCube disc could only store 1.6 gigabytes of data, but the system still had enough power to attract third-party developers back to the system after the comparative weakness of the N64 to the first PlayStation.^[54][57] The system had a strong launch^[58]—Nintendo claimed it was stronger than those of the PS2 and Microsoft's new Xbox^[59]—but its success was unsustainable, partially because Luigi's Mansion was seen as an underwhelming launch title.^[54]

Satoru Iwata was made president of Nintendo in 2002

In January 2002, Minoru Arakawa resigned as president of Nintendo of America, and Nintendo named Tatsumi Kimishima as his successor.^[60] In May 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi stepped down as the president of Nintendo, naming Satoru Iwata as his successor.^[61] In September 2002, the company sold its 49% share in Rare to Microsoft, who had Rare develop games for the Xbox.^[54][62] This was likely a part of Nintendo's strategy to not rely on second-party development. Instead, they would better utilize its subsidiaries like HAL Labs, and Yamauchi was building a "war chest" to fund third-party development.^[63] Rare had also made up little of Nintendo's profits for 2001 and 2002. Multiple writers, as well as Rare designer Martin Hollis, later criticized Nintendo's decision to sell the studio, either because they consider Rare's releases on the original Xbox and Xbox 360 to be subpar, or they believe Nintendo removed themselves of a valuable asset.^{[64][65][66][67]}

Despite the GameCube's technological improvements, third parties generally still kept away from the system. Nintendo was late in giving development kits to third-party developers in the run-up to the system's launch.^[54] Nintendo was still targeting its core demographic who played family-friendly games, while Sony "expertly co-opted anxious teenagers desperate to distance themselves from childish things".^[54][68] The handle on the console and the cartoon-like, cel shaded art style of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (2002) contributed to the idea that the system was for children. That perception was another reason third-parties avoided the console.^[54][68]

The GameCube did not feature any major "distinguishing features" from its competing consoles, except for Nintendo's acclaimed, first-party titles like Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) and Super Mario Sunshine (2002).^[68] Third-party developer Capcom's Resident Evil 4 (2005) was also exclusive to the GameCube,^[54] one of the five games that were promised by Capcom in December 2002 to be GameCube exclusives. One month later, Kotaku writes, the promise was revealed to be some type of "PR miscommunication", when it was announced the four titles besides Resident Evil 4 were planned to be multi-platform. Resident Evil 4 was eventually released for the PS2.^[69] Metroid Prime (2002), the first finished game from Retro Studios, saved the studio from potential collapse after they had had multiple unfinished projects. Nintendo had riskily given them the Metroid property to work with. After Prime was a success, with multiple publications later labeling it one of the greatest games of all time,^[70][71][72] the studio's future was secured, and they began development on Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004).^[73][74]

The Cobalt Blue version of the Game Boy Advance SP

Nintendo's aggressive business tactics in Europe caught up to them in October 2002, when the European Commission determined that they had engaged in anti-competitive price-fixing business practices, dating at least as far back as the early 1990s. This resulted in a heavy fine being laid against the company: €149 million, one of the largest antitrust fines applied in the history of the commission.^[75] The company was kept afloat in this era by its sales from the handheld market,^[54] which they had "essentially cornered".^[76] In January 2003, an updated version of the GBA, the Game Boy Advance SP, was announced. It released in Japan in February and the U.S. in March 2003.^[77] Nokia's N-Gage handheld tried to compete with the GBA when it launched in October 2003, but it was unsuccessful.^[78][79]

Production of the GameCube was temporarily stopped for the summer of 2003, as Nintendo needed to sell models that were filling up warehouses. Iwata announced simultaneously that the company would stop developing "increasingly sophisticated and time-consuming games", as a response to the industry-wide decline in game sales for the year of 2002. Nintendo had also started experiencing competition from the Xbox.^[80] Nintendo of America allocated $100 million to the GameCube for the 2003 holiday season, dropping the console's recommended price to $99.99, way below the Xbox and PS2 which were selling for $179.99.^[81] Despite this change, the system was still Nintendo's lowest selling console at the time, being far outpaced by the PS2, which sold 118 million more units than the GameCube, at 21 million.^[57][68]

The iQue Player, a device working as both a console and controller, which released in 2003 in China

In 2003, Nintendo and Chinese-American scientist Wei Yen co-founded the company iQue, a joint venture to manufacture and distribute official Nintendo games within mainland China.^[82] In 2000, the country's Ministry of Culture had banned the sale of game consoles within China. This led national video game sales to be made up of pirated games running on counterfeit consoles. Wishing to combat piracy of their games, Nintendo created iQue to work with the government to legally sell games for the China-exclusive gaming console, the iQue Player. Only 14 games were released for the system. The iQue Player was ultimately unsuccessful, in terms of its own sales, as well as combating piracy.^[83] However, iQue still sells Nintendo games in China to this day.^[84] By 2011, the Ministry's ban had become so minimally enforced that Sony and Microsoft had started selling their consoles as they would in other countries.^[83]

2004–2011: Nintendo DS and Wii era

Main articles: Nintendo DS and Wii

In 2004, Satoru Iwata restructured Nintendo by replacing the company's four Research & Development divisions with four new divisions, but EAD was kept in operation. Still led by Miyamoto, EAD was split into eight teams (EAD 1-8) who each developed separate games. The employees of the previous Research & Development 1 and 2 games were put into EAD. Two departments were made to work on hardware: Integrated Research & Development (IRD) for consoles, and Research & Engineering Development (RED) for handhelds. The fourth division, Software Planning & Division (SPD), developed titles with smaller scopes than the EAD teams, and supervised external first-party development (employees within Nintendo but based outside their Kyoto office). This structure existed until 2015.^[31][32]

At a pre-E3 2004 press conference in Los Angeles, Nintendo announced the "Revolution", the codename for the GameCube's successor. The console, which started development shortly after the GameCube's launch, was made to be a "small, quiet and affordable console" which would not focus on graphics; Iwata claimed visuals were less important than the gameplay of the Revolution's games, which was going to cause a "gaming revolution".^[85]

On May 12, 2004, Nintendo revealed the Nintendo DS (or "dual-screen") handheld, saying that the system displayed games on either or both of two screens, one screen above the other. The system can be folded closed when its user is not playing. The company announced that the DS could: use Wi-Fi to wirelessly communicate with 15 other nearby devices; support a new 3D graphics engine; play multiplayer modes of games they do not own through wireless connectivity, provided a nearby device is running the game (like the GBA link cable, except wireless); receive messages from nearby devices; and play GBA cartridges. Also detailed was a microphone, which allows players to interact with DS games audibly. The announcement of the new connectivity features led The Register to write that "it looks like Nintendo is thinking beyond the console to a more general youth-oriented communications device". The company said that 100 developers had signed up to make games for the DS.^[86]

The original model of the Nintendo DS released in 2004, in blue

On September 20, 2004, Nintendo announced that the DS would launch on November 21 in the U.S. (at $149.99); then Japan; and by the first quarter of 2005, Europe and Australia. IGN wrote that the DS was launching in the U.S. due to significant consumer excitement in the country, and so the launch was to benefit from the 2004 American holiday season. The company also noted that despite playing GBA games, the DS would not include a link cable port, so it could not play GBA games' system-link multiplayer modes. PictoChat, a text- and drawing-based messaging app between nearby DS systems which was installed on every device, was revealed as the aforementioned form of wireless messaging. Nintendo had begun development on twenty games for the system.^[87]

Nintendo's primary logo from November 21, 2004, to May 11, 2016

Targeted at teenagers and young adults—in opposition to the Game Boy line's perceived younger demographic—the DS was advertised at its US launch with a series of sexually suggestive TV commercials, with the tagline "Touching is Good."^[88][89][90] The system launched with seven games. Two of them were developed by Nintendo: a remake of Super Mario 64, Super Mario 64 DS; and Metroid Prime Hunters: The First Hunt, which was a demo version of the 2006 DS game Metroid Prime: Hunters—the demo was only a pack-in game with the system at launch.^[91][92] The company was overwhelmed by the number of DS pre-orders. On November 2, 2004, the company halted further pre-orders for the system—it was reported on the 15th that two million handhelds had been ordered, whereas Nintendo had only prepared one million to be available at launch. By that point, two factories in China had been allocated to produce the DS; on November 16, it was reported that Nintendo added a third to meet consumer demand.^[93][94][95] The GBA and DS competed with Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld system, after the latter launched in December 2004 in Japan.^[96][97]

The Nintendo World Store in New York City, pictured in 2012

On May 14, 2005, Nintendo opened its first retail store accessible to the general public, Nintendo World Store, at the Rockefeller Center in New York City. It consists of two stories, and contained many kiosks of GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS games. There are also display cases filled with things from Nintendo's past, including hanafuda cards. They celebrated the opening with a block party at Rockefeller Plaza.

The Game Boy Micro, released in 2005, in silver

On May 17, 2005, at E3, Nintendo showed the Revolution's design, though not its eventual motion-sensing controller. They said the console would launch in 2006—notably, this was after the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3's releases in late 2005. The Revolution would have online gaming through Wi-Fi, and could run GameCube games. Iwata said the system would be "where the big idea can prevail over big budgets"; Nintendo World Report later wrote that in hindsight, this was likely referring to the system's motion-controlled games. The company said their plan with the DS and Revolution was to make games for both Nintendo's traditional audience, and a potential wider audience of casual gamers.^[98][99] They also revealed the Game Boy Micro, a smaller version of the GBA with a brighter screen, and a faceplate which could be easily detached and replaced with a different design. The Micro was announced for release that fall.^[100][101]

On September 16, 2005, at the Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo revealed the design for the Revolution's controller, later named the Wii Remote, which was shaped like a TV remote and could be controlled alongside an attachable joystick; the latter device was later named the Wii Nunchuck. The controller can be held vertically like a TV remote, or horizontally like a traditional gaming controller. Nintendo said that they intended it to be understood by both traditional and casual gamers, and with its internal gyroscope, to be used for motion control within games. The Register wrote that the controller seemed to represent Nintendo moving away from competing with Sony and Microsoft, whose consoles "are likely to be pitched heavily toward hard-core gamers."^[102][103] On April 27, 2006, the company announced that the Revolution would ultimately be named the "Wii". The name was also intended to appeal to casual audiences, and it was initially was highly controversial among Nintendo fans.^[104]

On January 26, 2006, Nintendo announced a new version of the DS, the Nintendo DS Lite, designed to be smaller and lighter, with a brighter screen. It was launched in Japan on March 2, 2006, and three months later in North America and Europe on June 11 and 23, 2006, respectively.

On May 25, 2006, Reggie Fils-Aimé was promoted to president and CEO of Nintendo of America, Inc. The former president, Tatsumi Kimishima, was promoted to chairman of the board and CEO.^[105]

On July 7, 2006, Nintendo officially established a South Korean subsidiary, Nintendo Korea, in the country's capital, Seoul, replacing Daewon Media as the official distributor of Nintendo products there.^[106]

In early August 2006, it was revealed that Nintendo, along with Microsoft, was made the target of a patent-infringement lawsuit. Leveled by the Anascape Ltd., the suit claimed that Nintendo's use of analog technology in their game controllers constituted a violation of their patents. The lawsuit sought to recover damages from both corporations and possibly force them to stop selling controllers with the violating technology.^[107] Microsoft settled with Anasacape, while Nintendo went to trial, initially losing and being ordered to pay US$21 million in damages.^[108] Nintendo appealed, and on April 23, 2010, the Federal Circuit reversed the ruling.^[109] In November 2010, Anascape's appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States was denied.^[110]

Original Wii console with Wii Remote

In September 2006, Nintendo announced launch details for its Wii console, and demonstrated features of the "Wii Menu" GUI. The system was first released in November in the US, followed by Japan, Australia, and Europe launches in December.^[111] The console sold fast and was a big breakthrough for Nintendo,^[112] picking up the pace lost from the GameCube. Its unexpected success was attributed to the expanded demographic Nintendo had targeted. In response to the Wii, in 2010, Sony and Microsoft released various PS3 and Xbox 360 add-ons targeting the same wider demographic as Nintendo.^[113]

In 2007, Nintendo stopped making first-party games for the GameCube.^[57]

On September 17, 2007, Nintendo of America closed its official forums, the NSider Forums, indefinitely due to a major overhaul of their site. For months prior, cutbacks in Nintendo of America's online department led to the trimming back of NSider's chat hours and the replacement of their annual Camp Hyrule event — held during August — with a sweepstakes. In the meantime, Nintendo encouraged fans to run their own forums. Nintendo-Europe's forum section of their site was also officially closed down a week later due to a site revamp, however it had been offline citing "security issues" since June of that year. On December 19, 2007, Nintendo opened a forum for technical support only.

In October 2007, Nintendo announced Nintendo Australia's new managing director, Rose Lappin. She is Nintendo's first female head of one of its subsidiaries and worked for Nintendo before it started in Australia as Director of Sales and Marketing for Mattel and had that role until she was announced managing director.

On November 1, 2008, Nintendo released an updated version of the Nintendo DS Lite in Japan; the Nintendo DSi. It includes all features of the Nintendo DS Lite, but it includes a camera on the inside and outside of the system, and newer features. It is the first handheld game system manufactured by Nintendo that allows downloadable gaming content to the system. The Nintendo DSi was released April 2, 2009, in Australia and Asia, April 3, 2009, in Europe, and April 5, 2009, in North America.

2011–2017: Nintendo 3DS and Wii U era

Main articles: Nintendo 3DS and Wii U

The Wii U console with Wii U GamePad

Nintendo announced Project Cafe in 2011, revealed later as the Wii U, an HD console with a new controller called the GamePad. That same year, Nintendo released the 3DS, the first Nintendo handheld with autostereoscopic 3D graphics. Nintendo enjoyed continued success in the handheld market, with the 3DS selling 75 million units during its decade-long run. By contrast, the Wii U suffered confusing marketing, a lack of third-party support, and very slow consumer adoption. Thus Nintendo experienced declining revenues throughout the mid-2010s. Nintendo discontinued the Wii U in 2017 as the lowest-selling Nintendo home console with only about 13.5 million sales. On July 11, 2015, Satoru Iwata died from a bile duct tumor at 55. On September 16, Nintendo named Tatsumi Kimishima as his replacement.

During the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U era, Nintendo's profits fell to lows not seen during their history as a video game manufacturer,^[114] reporting their first net loss as a video game company in 2012.^[115] Though initially claiming that mobile gaming was incompatible with Nintendo's identity,^[116] Iwata established a partnership with mobile developer DeNA to create mobile games based on Nintendo properties prior to his death.^[117][118]

2017–present: Nintendo Switch era

Main article: Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch (pictured in handheld mode), introduced in 2017, is a hybrid console that allows for both portable and home console play.

After beginning the conceptual phase of development in 2012,^[119] Nintendo announced in a March 2015 press conference that they were developing a dedicated video game system, codenamed "NX".^[120] According to Fils-Aimé, the system was a "make or break" console for the company's success, as it was apparent that the Wii U's lifespan would be considerably shorter than average.^[121] In April 2016, they revealed that the NX was set for a March 2017 release.^[122] The NX was formally unveiled as the Nintendo Switch in October 2016, a hybrid console able to switch between portable and home console play.^[123] In a January 2017 event, Nintendo revealed more details about the Nintendo Switch.^[124] The Nintendo Switch was released on March 3, 2017^[125][126]—in April 2019, Tencent received approval to sell it in mainland China,^[127] and the Switch released in the country that December.^[128]

Following the failure of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film, Nintendo was wary of creating films based on their franchises,^[129] though the Virtual Console service inspired them to pursue other utilizations of their popular software, including film.^[130] A partnership between Nintendo and Sony Pictures for an animated Mario film was leaked in 2014,^[129] though Nintendo announced in January 2018 that they would be partnering with Illumination to produce an animated Mario film, produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri, and distributed by Universal Pictures.^[131] Titled "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", the film was released on April 5, 2023,^[132] starring Chris Pratt as Mario.^[133]

Nintendo announced its acquisition of the Japanese animation studio Dynamo Pictures, Inc. in July 2022, renaming it to Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd. following the closure of the acquisition in October.

In April 2018, Shuntaro Furukawa succeeded Kimishima as Nintendo President,^[134] and in February of the next year, Doug Bowser replaced Fils-Aimé as President and COO of Nintendo of America.^[135] ValueAct Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, announced in April 2020 that they had purchased US$1.1 billion worth of Nintendo stock, or a 2% stake of the company.^[136] In May 2022, the Public Investment Fund of the Saudi government purchased a 5% stake in Nintendo.^[137] Furukawa claimed in February 2021 that the Nintendo Switch was "in the middle of its life cycle".^[138] In 2021, Furukawa said Nintendo plans to explore animated adaptations of their franchises beyond The Super Mario Bros. Movie.^[139] Nintendo announced its acquisition of SRD Co., Ltd. in February 2022, who had worked with Nintendo for over 40 years, primarily as a support studio.^[140] In July, Nintendo announced its acquisition of the Japanese animation studio Dynamo Pictures, Inc.,^[141] and renamed the studio to Nintendo Pictures Co., Ltd. following the closure of the acquisition in October.^[142]

In January 2020, hotel and restaurant development company Plan See Do announced their intent to refurbish the former headquarters of Marufuku Nintendo as a hotel set to open midway through 2021,^[143] and in June 2021, Nintendo announced that the Uji Ogura plant in which the company's playing cards were produced would be transformed into a museum titled the "Nintendo Gallery", to be completed by the end of the 2023 fiscal year.^[144]

Nintendo announced the Nintendo Switch's successor, the Nintendo Switch 2, on January 16, 2025. The new console is expected to launch later in the year. A Nintendo Direct about the new system will be on April 2, 2025.

Logo history

• 
  1889-1957
• 
  1963-1971
• 
  1970-1974
• 
  1972-1984
• 
  1984-2004 (primary); 2004-present (secondary)
• 
  2004-2016 (primary); 2016-present (secondary)
• 
  2016–present

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Further reading

• Sheff, David (1993). Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. New York, New York: Random House. ISBN 0-7881-6320-5.

• Gorges, Florent; Isao Yamazaki (2010). The History of Nintendo: 1889-1980 From playing-cards to Game & Watch. Paris, France: pix'n love publishing. ISBN 978-2-918272-15-1.

External links

• History of Nintendo article at Gameplayer