From a small business to a multi-billion dollar company Nintendo has sold over 1.8 million games world wide, created industry icons as Mario and Donkey Kong, and also launched such franchises as The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon. Nintendo also manufactures and markets hardware and software including, the Nintendo 64 and Gameboy. But how did this company start, and what are they doing today?.
One of the biggest entertainment businesses today didn't start out as a major conglomerate, but actually quite the contrary. It started out as a small business selling playing cards in Japan. The cards were known as Hanafuda in 1889. These cards became big all over Japan and soon famous abroad too. Fuajiro Yamahuchi, the great grandfather of Nintendo, was the first one to pave the roadway to a giant business. It wasn't until 86 long years later Nintendo brought out their first hand-held system. It was known as the "Game & Watch- series. These handheld video games were the first Nintendo product in America. A year later Nintendo came out with the famous "Donkey Kong- which became an instant hit, and also the hottest selling coin-operated arcade in the industry. These two games made Nintendo a hit in America.
To further reach consumers Nintendo started their first home gaming system, the Famicon, which was released in the US as the Nintendo Entertainment System 2 years later. The game that the system came with and made the system a toy desire was Super Mario Brothers. In 1987 Nintendo became the #1 selling toy in America and the Legend of Zelda was the first game to sell 1 million copies. In '89 Mario was even more famous than Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny. And the release of the Gameboy made Nintendo Power magazine the largest paid subscription in its age category. The next year (1990) the 8-bit gaming ended with the release of the 16-bit system the Super Famicon in Japan and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the US.