History of

1889 - 2012

OriginsNintendo started out as a small business,founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi,in 1889.

Nintendo’s Fate• Riddled with debt, Nintendo struggled to

survive in the Japanese toy industry. It was still small at this point, and dominated by already well established companies such as Bandai and Tomy.

• In 1977, Nintendo saw the hiring of Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who would become a living legend in the world of gaming and the secret to Nintendo's longevity. His creative vision was instrumental in determining the path Nintendo's future would follow to beat all other companies.

Electronic Games• The early 1980s saw Nintendo's video game

division (led by Yokoi) creating some of its most famous arcade titles. The massively popular Donkey Kong was created in 1981, with Miyamoto as its mastermind.

This release method would be used on several later Nintendo arcade games of this same period, including the original Mario Bros.

• 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 and an alarm.

• In 1979, Gunpei Yokoi saw a bored businessman playing with an LCD calculator by pressing the buttons. Yokoi then thought of an idea for a watch that doubled as a miniature game machine for killing time.

• 43.4 million copies of the 59 games were sold worldwide. It was the earliest Nintendo product to garner major success.

• In July 1983, Nintendo released their Famicom (Family Computer) system in Japan, which was their first attempt at a cartridge-based video game console. The system was sold over 500,000 units within two months at a price around $100 USD.

• 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 1988, Nintendo of America unveiled Nintendo Power, a monthly news and strategy magazine from Nintendo that served to advertise new games.

Differences Between Famicom and NES

NES Cartridge

Famicom Cartridge

NES Accessories

118 Million of Units Sold

• In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, along with the accompanying game Tetris. Due to the price, the game and its durability, the Game Boy sold extremely well. It eventually became the best selling portable game system of all time.

• The Super Famicom was released in Japan on November 21, 1990. The system's launch was widely successful, and the Super Famicom was sold out across Japan within three days. In August 1991, the Super Famicom was launched in the US under the name "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" (SNES). The SNES was released in Europe in 1992.

Super Famicom

• The Super Nintendo Entertainment System followed in the steps of its predecessor, with high technical specifications for its era. The controller of the SNES 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.

Super Nintendo

Differences between Super Famicom and SNES

SNES Cartridge

Super Famicom Cartridge

SNES Accessories

32 Million of Units Sold

• On June 23, 1996, the Nintendo 64 (N64) was released in Japan and became a huge hit, selling over 500,000 units on the first day of its release. On September 29, 1996, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in North America, and it too was a success.

• On December 1, 1999, Nintendo released an add-on to the Nintendo 64 in Japan, titled the Nintendo 64DD, although it was never released elsewhere.

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

118 Million of Units Sold

• Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance in Japan on March 21, 2001. This was followed by the North American launch on June 11 and the European launch on June 22.

• Nintendo released the GameCube home video game console on September 14, 2001, in Japan. It was released in North America on November 18, 2001, Europe on May 3, 2002, and Australia on May 17, 2002.

• It was also the first DVD-Based Nintendo console, with Mini DVD games.

• The GameCube controller was voted as the best videogame controller of all time.

• On September 20, 2004, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo DS would be released in North America on November 21, 2004 for US$149.99

• Later, they announced Nintendo DS Lite, DSi and DSiXL versions.

96 Million of Units Sold

• On September 14, 2006, Nintendo announced the release information for Japan, North and South America, Oceania, Asia and Europe, including dates, prices, and projected unit distribution numbers. It was announced that the majority of the 2006 shipments would be allotted to the Americas, and that 33 titles would be available at the time of launch. The Wii was launched in the United States on November 19, 2006 at $249.99.

• Nintendo sold its entire allotment of 400,000 Nintendo 3DS units during its February 2011 release in Japan amid reports of queue outside retailers and pre-order sellouts. The 3DS sold about 300,000 units during the launch weekend of 26 February.