The Complete History of Nintendo 118
SlappingOysters writes "Gameplayer are running a comprehensive feature on the history of Nintendo that runs through all 119 years of their existence, from humble card maker to gaming powerhouse. It is documented in chronological order and includes a stack of trivia about the company that will be thoroughly enjoyed by all Nintendo fans. As an interesting side note, it links to a sister article that explores how Mario can improve your sex life."
Not a history (Score:5, Informative)
No Gamecube (Score:1, Informative)
I actually rtfa and the Gamecube isn't even mentioned. They just go from GBA to DS to Wii.
Re:8 pages? (Score:5, Informative)
I think he was pointing out how unprofessional this article is. I, for one, agree. Each of those pages has at most a few hundred words of text. It's a smallish article spaced out very unnecessarily.
If I turn off adblock and script block, it's even worse. Nothing on there needs to work, it's all ad junk and clutter. It may be interesting, but the quality of the site is not so good. I feel like slashdot should maintain a higher standard than this.
Re:Not a history (Score:4, Informative)
1400 pages about Nintendo history (Score:3, Informative)
This looks like an enhanced version of the company history Nintendo gives to the press, the one you can see on the European site too:
http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/service/corporate_2001.html [nintendo.co.uk]
Much more interesting, at least if you speak French, is the "History of Nintendo", so far only one book has been published:
http://editionspixnlove.fr/collectiondetail.php?ID=6 [editionspixnlove.fr]
The book is 228 pages long and showcases 500 Nintendo toys and games prior to 1980 (took them 6 years of research!). The whole series will have 6 volumes totalling more than 1400 pages. Flabbergasting I daresay.
Re: I wish it were true.... (Score:4, Informative)
Exactly, we are all aware that geeks are the best lovers.
Re:No Gamecube (Score:2, Informative)
Also dont forget the PS2 won by a very large margin. In 2004 they were in 2nd place but in 3rd by the 360's launch. The PS2 really dominated towards the end due to titles like Singstar, all of a sudden teenage girls wanted PS2's which really skyrocketed sales by turning it into a glorified karaoke machine which is still going on.
The cube cold have gotten #2 but #1 was out of the question, the PS2 was always going to win that generation like the Wii seems poised to win this generation. The PS3 has potential to be a mass market device but its too expensive for the mass market/casual gamer.
The 360 I dont think has it, I think it has what it takes to be THE system for the hardcore market but the casual market is waaay to big these days to win a generation without them. I think Microsoft should be happy with what their machine is and be the hardcore system, its profitable for them now.
On those games, yeah I got them all except Tales. At my local retailer it was usually $10 cheaper to get the games on that platform so the cube racked up the majority of multiplatform titles in my home. It saved me alot in the long run
NES in 1987????????? (Score:4, Informative)
1987 - The Famicom is released in the US and Europe as the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). Selling for $300, it would sell 60 million units worldwide.
Uh... maybe i'm wrong.. but i remember getting my NES x-mas of 1985.... and wikipedia confirms this...
Great "article".. they can't even copy paste well.
Re:8 pages? (Score:3, Informative)
For anyone thinking this was a bastion of good reporting, it isn't. It's just a reprint of an article that appeared in Ultimate Nintendo (as referenced at the end of their 8 page long, ad filled reprint). So, yeah, here's the FTA, and fuck Game Player:
119 years have culminated in that little white box that sits beneath your TV. No bigger than a DVD case, the Wii is essentially the same machine - albeit slightly prettier and technically more robust - that Nintendo would release back in 1985.
Don't believe us? Well we're about to take you on a whistle-stop tour through the ins and outs, highs and lows, the laughter and tears of videogames' most prolific forefather. From playing cards to Pokémon: we'll even show you how Mario can improve your sex life! Here's the complete history of Nintendo.
1889 - A card game business specialising in stylish Hanafuda (flora) cards is set up by Fusajiro Yamauchi under the name of Nintendo Koppai. The business struggles until the yakuza decide to adopt the cards for their high-stakes gambling. The yakuza would demand a new pack at the start of every game and would look to Yamauchi to supply them.
Trivia - The name Nintendo is said to mean 'leave luck to heaven'.
1907 - Nintendo Koppai partners with Japan Tobacco & Salt Corporation and becomes the first domestic Japanese supplier of Western-style playing cards.
1927 - Hiroshi Yamauchi is born in the town of Kyoto, Japan.
1929 - Fusajiro Yamauchi retires, leaving control of the business to his son-in-law, Sekiryo Kaneda (aka Yamauchi).
1932 - Hiroshi's father walks out on his mother and Hiroshi is sent to live with his grandparents, Tei and Sekiryo Yamauchi.
1933 - The stop-motion classic King Kong is released in cinemas by Universal Studios.
1933 - Sekiryo Yamauchi establishes a joint partnership company named Yamauchi Nintendo & Co.
1947 - Not long after the Second World War, Sekiryo sets up a distribution company named Marufuku Co Ltd to distribute Nintendo's Western-style playing cards.
1949 - Owing to ill health, Sekiryo retires and leaves the company to his grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi. Hiroshi renames the company Nintendo Playing Cards Co.
1952 - Hiroshi decides to expand his business and move it to a newer premises in Kyoto, Japan. He would also begin streamlining his manufacturing plants.
1952 - Shigeru Miyamoto is born in the small town of Sonebe, outside of Kyoto in Japan.
Trivia - Nintendo was the first card manufacturer in Japan to lacquer its playing cards.
1953 - Yamauchi strikes a deal with Walt Disney that allows Nintendo to produce playing cards featuring popular Disney characters.
1963 - After raising more capital on the stock market, Yamauchi tries new ventures. Some of the least successful include instant rice, burlesque 'love hotels' and a taxi company. However, Nintendo's toy division begins to show promise when one of its employees, Gunpei Yokoi, creates the Ultra Hand and it proves
a huge success.
1970 - Nintendo continues to grow within the toy market. Its next big hit is The Beam Gun: an early variation of a light-gun game co-developed by Sharp and developed by Masayuki Uemura.
Trivia - The Beam Gun made Nintendo the first company in Japan to use electronic components inside toys for children.
1973 - Nintendo adapts its Beam Gun idea into electronic Laser Skeet Shooting ranges and instals them into bowling alleys across the country.
1974 - The Beam Gun technology is used again in the arcade game Wild Gunman (which would eventually be ported to the NES and later made famous in the movie Back To The Future Part II).
Trivia - According to the screenwriter Bob Gale, on his commentary for the Back To The Future Part II DVD, the Wild Gunman arcade cab that appears in the movie was especially built for the film.
1975 - Shigeru Miyamoto graduates from the Kanazawa College
of Art with a degree in Industrial Design.
1975 - Yamauchi-san negotiates a deal with Mag