In September Nintendo celebrated its 125th anniversary.
If this seems like a remarkably long time for a game developer to be around, that is because the core focus of Nintendo has changed over the years.
Long before Shigeru Miyamato made such classic games as Mario and Zelda, Nintendo was making its name as a playing card company.
Thomas Whitehead of Nintendolife.com said, “It was a company that thrived on the hanafuda playing card craze in Japan.”
Over the years Nintendo would experiment in different areas of business.
It would eventually discover success in the arena of game developing.
Their first major breakthrough would be the development of the Game & Watch, the first handheld gaming system that Nintendo developed.
Philip Bergeron / Graphic Design Editor
It did not feature interchangeable games and thus only had one playable game.
In 1985 Nintendo would make the Nintendo Entertainment System, the company’s first home console.
The system would become wildly successful, selling over 60 million consoles worldwide, according to Nintendo.com’s archives.
In 1983 the entire video game market crashed. Various reasons contributed to the crash, but the most commonly cited, according to denofgeek.us, was the “sudden influx of both rival consoles and hurriedly-produced videogames.”
Nintendo was able to overcome this crash.
The system came bundled with Super Mario Bros. Mario Bros. was one of Nintendo’s biggest games of the time, selling over 40 million according to Gamecubical.com.
Mario would become an icon of the company after the game’s popularity.
Student Ken Redden recalled, “I used to be so obsessed with Mario Bros. that I was Luigi for Halloween two years in a row.”
One achievement of the Nintendo Entertainment System was the idea of third party developers.
Nintendo would let other game developers make games for their console.
This was a break from traditional in-house development of games and would revitalize the gaming industry.
While Super Mario Bros. continued the adventure of Mario and his brother Luigi, Nintendo would also be developing other iconic games such as The Legend of Zelda.
Zelda would feature the adventure of Link, a green-dressed swordsman that would become an icon and feature a game on every Nintendo gaming platform.
KSC student Evan Merril said, “Link is my favorite character.”
In 1989 Nintendo would release the handheld system, the Game Boy according to Nintendo company history.
This handheld device would improve upon the earlier Game & Watch and feature a cartridge slot of multiple games.
With the advent of higher 64-bit technology and 3D graphics, Nintendo created the N64 in 1996.
Another Japanese game developer, Sony, released a console two years prior and thus would begin a rivalry between the two developers for the same market.
People remember the console fondly. Merrill stated, “It brought myself and my friends together.”
“It was the first real video game system I had,” KSC student Raleigh Tacy said, “And it was a good way to distract myself, along with being incredibly fun.”
The next major innovation to come out of Nintendo would be the console the Wii. Featuring motion controls, the console would be a big hit in international markets.
The innovation in motion controls would eventually make its way onto other consoles in the form of the XBox Connect and the PlayStation motion controller.
The Wii has become a hot seller and continues the legacy of family friendly entertainment, according to nintendo.com.
Tacy added, “It’s always simple fun, not over complicated but far from easy, and it gets you involved quickly into the game.”
Joesph Jowett can be contacted at jjowett@keene-equinox.com
