Nintendo
From 1889 hanafuda cards to a global video game empire.
- Founded
- 1889
- Founder
- Fusajiro Yamauchi
- Headquarters
- Kyoto, Japan
- First product
- Hanafuda playing cards
- Recent flagship console
- Nintendo Switch (2017)
Founded in Kyoto in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, Nintendo originally made hand-painted hanafuda playing cards. For nearly seventy years the company remained a traditional card maker before gradually moving into toys and then home electronics.
Starting in the 1970s and 1980s, Nintendo became one of the leading forces in video games. With consoles such as the Famicom (NES), the Game Boy, the Wii and the Nintendo Switch, and franchises like Mario, Zelda and Pokemon, the company set lasting standards for the interactive entertainment industry.
From playing cards to consoles
In its early period, Nintendo specialised in hanafuda cards, which were very popular in Japan. In the 1960s and 1970s the company experimented with several sectors (toys, electronic games) before finding its path with video games.
In 1983, the release of the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan marked a turning point. Sold in the West as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it helped revive a struggling video game market and firmly established Nintendo as a benchmark.
Did you know
The name Nintendo is often translated with ideas such as leaving luck to heaven, although its exact meaning is still debated. This philosophy of play has accompanied the company since its beginnings.
Nintendo has also pioneered many innovations: the directional pad popularised by the Game Boy, the motion controls of the Wii in 2006, and the hybrid home and handheld concept of the Switch in 2017.
In the magazine
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