VGFacts

Nintendo is an amazing company that has always re-invented itself. How many companies can you name that started in one area but because titans in a totally different industry? It's an interesting story behind Nintendo. But, as we shall see, it did not happen all at once. It was a series of mini-revolutions that led to Nintendo becoming a video game giant.

First, let's look at Nintendo's beginning in hand painted playing cards. However, even before the 1900s had rolled around, Nintendo made it's first change in focus: from pricy hanafuda to lower quality tengu cards. What is the difference here? Well, the price of the cards is a large shift in itself: lowering quality for lower sale price is a dramatic change most companies would not be willing to make. But, hanafuda cards are associated with multiple card games; tengu cards are associated with illegal gambling. That is not a small change, but Nintendo rode the wave. It also got them out of a sales slump and made quite a large amount of money for the company. Eventually, playing cards and the pricier hanafuda cards did catch on, but it was the focus on tengu cards that saved the company.

However, the same style of playing cards would not always make money. In 1959, after a visit to the US, then Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi struck a deal with Walt Disney that granted them access to several Disney characters. They soon created cards with Disney characters on them. This is an important shift: Until this point, playing cards (especially Nintendo cards) were viewed as a tool for gambling. However, by putting Disney characters on the cards, they were no longer a gambling tool; they were a toy. Not only this, but Nintendo used television as an advertising medium for the first time in association with these new cards. Another shift in focus proved to be wildly successful. It gained Nintendo enough profits to join the Kyoto and Osaka stock exchange and go public.

With newly injected capital, Nintendo tried to reach out into other ares. They figured the surge in popularity was a fad; this did prove to be true. Playing cards alone would not keep profits high. So, with high hopes, new areas were explored. Nintendo made instant rice, vacuum cleaners, ran a taxi service and a love hotel, among other things. But, the would prove to make money with toys. In fact, a single maintenance worker was highly responsible for their success. Gunpei Yokoi was killing time on the assembly line by playing with a toy he had made himself when president Hiroshi Yamauchi noticed him. This toy was then ordered to be made in production. It was not just any toy, but The Ultra Hand. The bored assembly line worker created Nintendo's first major success in the toy industry, selling over a million units in Japan. Yokoi would actually create many successes for Nintendo, including a light gun game. In another business venture, in 1973, Nintendo would first release the Laser Clay Shooting System. It was a simulation clay shooting game with a light gun that operated in old bowling alleys. A home version was even released of it. In fact, it would be remade for Nintendo's first home console; Duck Hunt is the video game equivalent of this game. But, this step allowed them to move to their first arcade game in 1975. By 1981, Nintendo had released Donkey Kong, which made them giants in the gaming industry.

But what about getting smaller units into people's homes and hands? Again, we have to thank Gunpei Yokoi. One day, he noticed a bored businessman punching random buttons on a calculator. He desired to make an electronic game that could be held like a calculator after seeing this. In 1980, under Yokoi's supervision, the first Game and Watch was released. In 1983, higher quality consoles for home use were released in Japan with the Famicon system. The Nintendo Entertainment System hit the US in 1985.

So, what do we even take from all of this? Nintendo historically does not back down from challenges. They will never stop innovating, re-inventing. That is their legacy. New ways to use hardware and challenging how we play video games has been their focus for a long time. The day that changes will be the day Nintendo disappears. Say what you will about asymmetrical game play and the Wii U, I hope Nintendo never leaves their mold. Because always changing and trying new thing is deeply involved in the roots of their company. Sometimes it fails; many times it succeeds. When they succeed, we all benefit. I certainly wish to see them keep succeeding.