Gadgetory

although the name Nintendo didn't become super well known in the Anglosphere until the mid 1980s their history actually goes back a whole century before Mario became a worldwide phenomenon Nintendo started as a small Kyoto based business in 1989 where it made Hana Fuda a type of Japanese playing cards they quickly found success and in fact the business did so well that Nintendo pretty much only made playing cards until the mid 1960s when the company diversified into fields like toys taxis instant noodles and even hourly rate hotels hmm but these ventures didn't go so well for Nintendo and by this time folks in Japan weren't really buying playing cards much anymore so the company was suddenly in dire financial straits until employee gunpei Yokoi used his engineering background to develop a popular line of electronic toys including light guns in the early 1970s that could be considered the forerunners of the nest zapper that's responsible for the deaths of millions of digital ducks you can learn more about light guns in this episode but why make light guns if you don't make a game console well some of Nintendo's early light guns were used in game systems from other manufacturers because Nintendo wouldn't release its own console until 1977 the simply titled color TV game that was only marketed in Japan unlike most later systems the color TV game didn't use cartridges but instead came in several variations that featured different games built in and that wasn't the only primitive thing about it the first version didn't even have true controllers instead players controlled the game by fiddling with dials on the console itself making gameplay a little awkward but in spite of these limitations the color tv-game did fairly well though Nintendo's first real hit in the video game world came after Yokoi sat beside a passenger on a train who was fiddling with a calculator to pass the time suddenly he thought hey why can't people cure their boredom with handheld games instead with that the game and watch was born in 1980 a line of simple LCD games with clocks built in hence the name although each game and watch model only included one game due to their use of segment displays that could only show a limited number of images it sold over 43 million units worldwide before it was discontinued in 1991 Nintendo was also developing arcade games during this time including the original Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers released in 1981 and 83 respectively but home consoles continued to gain popularity during the early 80s so Nintendo came out with the family computer or Famicom in 1983 this was their first console that resembles what we're used to today with wired controllers and a cartridge system that allowed it to play lots of different games the Famicom sold very well leading Nintendo to look at releasing it in the United States but by this time the infamous video game crash of 1983 had happened a huge downturn in the video game industry that was caused in large part by the market being flooded with very poor quality games and consumer confusion that stemmed from dishonest boxart and inconsistencies in the game experience between consoles even when playing the same game so Nintendo redesigned the Famicom into the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES envisioning it as a single ecosystem using proprietary terms like control deck and game pack instead of console or video game cartridge Nintendo also introduced the feel of quality at this time to show that nest games had Nintendo quality control in an attempt to convince consumers they were only licensing worthwhile games for their console unlike competitors like Atari the nest finally made it to market in 1986 and was a runaway hit trouncing its competitors with games like Super Mario Brothers Metroid and The Legend of Zelda which became such enduring franchises that they continued to this very day so successful was the nest that the company rolled out Nintendo Power magazine two years later which served to hype upcoming titles and hardware but Nintendo didn't forget about the handheld market and Yokoi took his handheld game ideas to the next level when he designed the gameboy released in 1989 although it was rather simple featuring a black and white non backlit screen with a low 160 by 144 resolution it was inexpensive and durable allowing it to beat out more advanced rival handhelds like the Sega Game Gear with that the stage was set for a console war that would rage on for many more years but right now we're out of time so stay tuned for part 2 of our history of Nintendo where we have a look at the Nintendo Sega conflict of the 1990s ultra rare Charizard cards and 3d without dorky glasses speaking of being out of time fresh books are you a freelancer small business owner well it can be very rewarding but it can also be a lot of work keeping track of boring stuff like accounting with fresh books you can make all of that stuff easier and faster so you can spend your time 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