The Evolution of Nintendo.

Nintendo: Since 1889.

Where it all began, Playing cards

When I started to look into the history of Nintendo I was quite shocked to see that they were founded in 1889. Nintendo is a Japanese company and started with making Hanafuda Cards which translates to flower cards.Nintendo remained as a card company up until 1956. Nintendo sits in front with the leading video game companies these days as it has for decades although to get to where they are today they went through various unsuccessful business enterprises like a cab company that failed. 

Nintendo Steps Onto The Video Gaming Platform.

The first console sold by Nintendo in 1974, Magnavox Odyssey.

In 1974 Nintendo got into the video gaming business with the company gaining the rights to sell the Magnavox Odyssey Video Game Console which was the first video game console available for the public to own in their home. Over the first year, Nintendo saw the potential the video gaming industry has and stepped into the arcade game industry in 1975. Nintendo had little success in the arcade industry but it in 1981 that all changed with the release of Donkey Kong skyrocketed Nintendo's profits and opened many doors and licensing opportunities. Donkey Kong also had the introduction of Mario who was at the time known as Jumpman in Japan.

Game & Watch released in 1980

With Nintendo's rolling success they had the idea of a handheld gaming device that they made happen with the Game and watch which was a simple device that played one game that was built into the system which contained 5 buttons and a pixilated B&W screen. An upgraded version was released with Donkey Kong built into it and a different layout of the buttons increasing functionality. 




The Family Computer is also known as Famicom was released in 1983 and was a video game console with changeable cartridges with all the tp arcade games at the time in Japan. Two years later Nintendo upgraded version in North America known as the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)  and made Super Mario one of the highest selling video games in history.

The Original Nintendo GameBoy.

After the Game & Watch & the Advancement of the interchangeable cartridges in the NES lead to the release of the GameBoy five years later in 1989, the GameBoy was developed by Gunei Yokoi and a team from Nintendo R&DI. Nintendo combined the technology they used to develop the Game & Watch handheld device) and the NES (interchangeable game cartridges) to create the GameBoy.

The NES Console

The SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) would be the next to be released with the Nintendo team updating the NES from an 8-bit processor to a 16-bit processor. Along with the faster running system, the graphics and sound were also improved. The SNES was released around the world over a period of 2 years with it being first released in Japan and rolling out in North America and Europe from 1990 - 1992. It was around this period that the rivalry between Nintendo and Sega started with both companies competing to have the best gaming system on the market.

In 1993 an announcement was made by the Nintendo company that the next console available would be a new system with the name NES-101 but there were delays with the console and it was not released until 1995. The NES-101 came with a 64-bit processor in a smaller console to those previous. Nintendo also announced a CD drive named the Super NES CD-ROM Adaptor which was cancelled later to become the PlayStation. The real-time graphics on the NES-101 saw a massive gain in sales for Nintendo and their first game released with the system was Donkey Kong Country.

Nintendo 64

The Nintendo 64 was a great success from Nintendo released in 1996 in JAmpan and North America with a high-performance console Nintendo was in the lead with its competition Sega and PlayStation and released a "Play it Loud" campaign costing $185 Million. In the same year, Nintendo released several other products including the  GameBoy Pocket and a smaller redesigned system on the SNES calling it the SNS-101.

The GameBoy colour would be the next product to be released by Nintendo in 1998 with the GameBoy accessories The GameBoy Camera and the Printer released the same year. 3 short years later Nintendo releases the GameBoy Advance and the GameCube in 2001. Nintendo then redesigned the GameBoy again in 2003 with the release of the GameBoy Advance SP which also changed the shape of the GameBoy as we knew it.

Nintendo GameCube

Nintendo's fourth handheld system to come was the Nintendo DS featuring a dual screen and a touchscreen for one of the screens, the touchscreen worked with either the user's finger or a stylus. The GameBoy Advance was given a makeover in 2005 along with the release of a new GameBoy called the GameBoy Micro which was a flop and was only released in North America.

The following year Nintendo won over the public again with the release of the Nintendo DS Lite, which was an upgrade of the original DS with better brightness, weight and battery life. Also being released in 2006 was the Nintendo Wii again winning over consumers selling more than 100 million consoles. Rolling off the back of the success of the DS Nintendo took the opportunity to enhance the capabilities of the DS and released the DSi featuring two cameras, more storage space and a faster running system altogether.

Nintendo 3DS

Nintendo 3DS would be the next handheld gaming console to be released with the capabilities of playing games in a 3D model without the aid of 3D glasses just a year later the next console was released this time being the Wii U with sales starting off slow but picking up within the next year. Nintendo seemed to be on a roll with their products and released another cheaper handheld console this time to label it the 2DS without the 3D capability of the 3DS along with a Wii Mini without being able to connect to a WiFi network.

Nintendo has grown and grown over the years with loyal fans having to have every product released, in 2015 Nintendo made a leap into the Mobile Gaming world making games for smart devices. Mimento was the first smart device release but Pokémon Go (2016) & Mario Run (2016)  would have to be their biggest and most well-known game even to know.

Different GameBoys from Nintendo

2015 was the year for Nintendo to continue to gain its momentum with the announcement of partnering with Universal Parks & Resorts creating an amusement park based on Nintendo. The park will be called Super Nintendo World and will not be open until 2020 but construction started last year in 2016.

Nintendo's latest console is the Nintendo Switch and can be used as a handheld or in the home console from single player to multiple players. It uses a touchscreen device that is all screen and has remotes that click into the side when playing as a handheld device or can be used wirelessly when playing it at home on the TV, the remotes have several layout formats and can be connected together to make a bigger remote or for different uses. The Switch was released late 2016 and in March this year had sold 2.74 million hardware units and 5.46 million software units.

Over their time in the gaming business, Nintendo has acquired company after company from software development companies to production companies growing and making their company stronger and more resilient in dominating the gaming world.

Nintendo Switch Control can be used as one remote or separated to make two.

Michael Jennings.

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