What do Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” the Eiffel Tower, and… Nintendo have in common? They were released in the same year!
Yes, the “big N” has been with us since 1889, as surprising as that may sound. But the company’s first game console didn’t appear until 88 years later. So what were these Japanese guys doing before 1977, and why did they become so popular later? Let’s find out together!
Base
In 1889, craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai in Kyoto. At the time, Hanafuda playing cards—a variation of the Tensho Karuta deck—were gaining popularity. A Hanafuda deck consists of 48 cards divided into 12 suits, one for each month of the year.
But while such decks were produced in various places, Nintendo was the most savvy, producing hand-drawn cards that, while quite popular, didn’t bring in much money. However, in 1902, Yamauchi received permission to produce a Western-style deck, and business took off.
A little later, the yakuza, who controlled the gambling market at the time, took notice of Nintendo’s decks. There was simply no better way to advertise such a product. So the company began raking in money by the shovelful. Incidentally, the name also changed several times: in 1933, it was called Yamauchi Nintendo & Company, and in 1949, Nintendo Playing Card Company.
Nintendo began to transition to its current form after 1956. The founder’s grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi, visited the United States and signed a contract with Disney in 1959. Since then, two key company principles have emerged: a small management team and numerous signature characters.
After its final name change in 1963, Nintendo Company Limited began to explore its niche in the entertainment market. During this period, Nintendo Games took off. Together with Sharp, Nintendo released the Beam Gun light shooting range and delved into the development of electronic games.
Consoles
Nintendo Entertainment System
The first consoles, like the 1977 Color TV Game and Computer Othello, weren’t a success. But a couple of years later, the Game & Watch was released, becoming a true hit. And for good reason! It’s small, fits in your pocket, and doesn’t require any additional equipment to play recorded games. A total of 59 games were released for the Game & Watch, and total sales exceeded 10 million copies.
Nintendo owes much of its success to Shigeru Miyamoto. He joined the company in 1977 and released the Donkey Kong arcade game, based on Radar Scope. Donkey Kong became Nintendo’s first signature character, and in 1981, two more were added: Mario and Princess Peach.
But despite the success of the Game & Watch, the real banger was yet to come. While Shigeru Miyamoto was making money for the company with arcade machines, engineer Masayuki Uemura was hard at work introducing the Nintendo Famicom, also known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), in 1983.
The NES sold around 60 million units, and its games were hits. There were several reasons for this: a new approach to video games; a lack of serious competitors (Atari was already losing ground); a low price: $100 domestically and $199 internationally; and a simple, easy-to-use cartridge, which was highly reliable and allowed for sharing games with friends.
But most importantly, there were games! The NES featured Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, and other series that later grew into major franchises.
Game Boy
Nintendo succeeded in building on and repeating the success of the NES with the Game Boy, a portable monochrome console that later spawned the Color and the improved Advance versions. Combined with all versions, the Game Boy sold 115 million copies worldwide.
The release of the Pokémon series, which Nintendo had quickly acquired the license for, also contributed to this. Total sales of the series on the Game Boy alone surpassed 60 million copies.
Nintendo’s home systems began to lose ground a bit as competitors emerged from SEGA and then Sony. While the SNES still managed to defeat the Mega Drive, the N64 struggled against the PlayStation. And in many potential markets, there was another problem: pirated copies of their consoles, like the Dandy, were far more common.
The later GameCube struggled to stay afloat, selling only about 20 million copies in six years. While games were released rapidly and garnered positive reviews, the user base barely grew.
The Nintendo DS, released in 2004, saved the situation. It saved it so much that for a long time, it became Nintendo’s best-selling console, combining all versions.
Nintendo DS
The “DS” in the name stands for “Dual Screen.” The two screens became the portable console’s signature feature. The lower screen was also touch-sensitive, and the console included a built-in stylus for using it.
The DS’s popularity is so great that it’s one of the top three best-selling consoles in the world, behind only the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 2, and it remains relevant to this day. This is thanks to its vast game library and lightweight firmware, which allows piracy of DS games without soldering a chip, as is the case with the Switch.
Needless to say, when I started thinking about buying a 3DS myself and started looking for used or rebuilt consoles from China, I found that their price tags were comparable to those of a flashed Switch! The only difference is that the 3DS will only get more expensive, since it’s no longer in production. So… we’re crying our eyes out.
In fact, despite its modest start, the 3DS eventually became the most popular of the DS series. All thanks to the 3D effect of the screen and the wide catalog of games. Hey, one day I’ll get my hands on one, unless the prices go up even more.
Wii and Wii U
Development of the next home console began back in 2004. At the time, it was called Revolution, and there were no precise details about Nintendo’s future creation. At TGS in 2005, the public saw only a remote controller, and the full console itself was unveiled in May 2006 at E3.
The new console’s distinctive feature was its wireless controllers, which could sense their position in space and respond to the player’s actions. In short, Nintendo began playing with the gyroscope and accelerometer. The Wii Remote boasts a unique form factor, and the Wii MotionPlus expansion module allows for more precise capture of complex movements thanks to its tuning fork gyroscope.
At the time of its release, the Wii became Nintendo’s most popular console, selling millions of units. To date, 101 million units have been sold.
Buoyed by the success of the Wii, Nintendo released the Wii U in 2012 and… failed. There were many factors: a weak starting lineup of exclusives, a small number of third-party games, and weak marketing. Users didn’t understand how the console differed fundamentally from the Wii, other than the inclusion of a tablet-style controller with a touchscreen.
Wii U sales were so poor that only the Virtual Boy, released in 1995, sold worse. Fortunately, revenue from previous console generations helped Nintendo survive the crisis, but they suffered losses, and their upcoming project could either completely destroy the company or propel it to the top.
Nintendo Switch
The company took a major risk with the Switch (and earlier, the NX). It wasn’t so much the crisis following the Wii U’s release that was at issue, but the device’s form factor itself. It was both a portable and a home console, complete with joysticks, gyroscopes, and a touchscreen. It seemed like an almost impossible dream, but in 2017, Nintendo pulled off a near-miracle by bringing all of this together in the Switch.
The company took into account the positive feedback about the Wii Remote and the criticism of the Wii U. In the former case, users liked the idea but wanted smaller controllers, while in the latter, criticism centered on the fact that the tablet controller was tethered to the console, while users wanted to play anywhere. This inspired the creation of a hybrid console.
They also took into account the creators’ desire to make the upcoming console a device suitable for all players: from those playing games with children to fans of co-op games and “large” titles. Furthermore, the console received a whole bunch of top-selling systems at launch and in the coming months: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe , Super Mario Odyssey , Splatoon 2 , The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , and dozens of other games.
Despite the technical flaws of the initial version, the Switch was a hit. Sales in its first weekend exceeded 330,000 units in Japan alone, comparable to the PlayStation 4 launch. And in its first month, 2.74 million units were sold worldwide, accounting for almost a quarter of all Wii U sales. In short, the new console got off to a great start.
The Switch truly marks a new beginning for Nintendo, as it’s been almost 10 years since then, and sales are still soaring. The original Switch is expected to become the best-selling console in the world, based on combined sales of all versions. Unless, of course, Sony manages to add a few more “forgotten” millions to the PlayStation 2.
Games
But no matter how great a console is, it won’t go far without games. In this regard, Nintendo did the most obvious, yet brilliant thing: they equipped their consoles with a selection of exclusives. And not just one-offs, but entire series.
Mario on the NES is the same Mario on the Switch, just with modern graphics, just as Link will always be present in The Legend of Zelda. Nintendo games remain the primary reason people buy them throughout the entire system cycle.
Personally, I’ll say I’m one of those people who got hooked on Zelda and bought a Switch. And then a Switch 2… I once played Breath of the Wild on an emulator, but my gaming laptop, while not the most powerful, barely handled the emulation. With a Switch in your hands, you can experience the magic of this game much more deeply.
Speaking of magic… I’d love to know who Nintendo sold their soul to for optimizing Tears of the Kingdom ! Because when you find yourself in a celestial labyrinth and dive straight down into caverns without a single loading screen or interruption, gazing at the clouds and Hyrule from above—it’s incredibly cool! And the game could do that on the original Switch in “manual” mode. Black magic! Japanese sorcerers!
Overall, Nintendo’s lineup of exclusives is so strong that the games themselves sell in the millions. And what sets Nintendo apart from its competitors is its truly exclusive titles, which aren’t available on other consoles.
What’s even worth mentioning here, when the first thing users did after the PlayStation 5’s major tweak, which allowed emulators to be installed on the console, was install Zelda? You can call Nintendo “Agusha-gaming” all you want, but the company’s results speak for themselves.
Innovations
But when talking about Nintendo games, it’s impossible not to mention how innovative they were. For example, the Metroid series (along with Castlevania) laid the foundations for the “Metroidvania” genre, which also includes hits like Hollow Knight and Dead Cells .
Ocarina of Time not only received the highest Metacritic score ever, but also forever changed the landscape of adventure games. Here are the key innovative ideas Nintendo incorporated into this game:
- Target acquisition system;
- Day and night cycle that affects gameplay;
- Secondary quests;
- Open world exploration;
- Context-sensitive control.
Nintendo didn’t replicate Ocarina of Time’s success until Breath of the Wild, a whopping 18 years later. While it didn’t have the same impact on the gaming world, Botva became the most high-profile and successful entry in the series since Ocarina. Still, some games drew inspiration from it, too. Yes, I’m looking at you, Genshin Impact.
The end result is a story of how Nintendo built its business long and hard, climbing to the top through successes and failures. Now the company is one of the big three console gaming companies and faring better than its competitors.
