Nintendo History
Nintendo’s History
Nintendo was started by Fusajiro Yamauchi, Nintendo started out making a playing card game called Hanafuda. The cards were handmade and they soon began to gain popularity. So the company started to grow. Soon Fusajiors Yamauchi’s adopted son-in-law Hiroshi Yamauchi took over the company. He was only 21 years old. Hiroshi soon renamed Yamauchi Nintendo & company to Nintendo playing card company. In 1953, they started to make their playing cards out of plastic which was a huge hit in Japan because of their durability. And Nintendo playing card company soon dominated the playing card market. In 1956, Hiroshi paid a visit to the U.S., to engage with U.S. playing card company. He saw how small their main office was a realized the extent of the playing card business. In 1963, they changed their name again from Nintendo playing card, limited to just Nintendo. They soon tried their hands at some different products including: a taxi company, a love hotel chain, and a vacuum company. All of the companies failed except for toy making. Then in 1964, then playing cards lost their popularity and they stopped making them. In 1970, Hiroshi Yamauchi was observing one of his factorys and he noticed an extending arm made by one of the engineers named Gunpei Yokoi. Yamauchi asked him to show him the designs and he soon started to mass produce the arm calling it “The Ultra Hand”. The toy was a hit selling over 1 million units. Hiroshi immediately pulled Gunpei off the engineering team and put him to work in the toy development department. Gunpei created many new toys and they proved to be a huge hit, they also sold for a higher price because of higher novelty value than other toys. In 1977, Nintendo hired Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who would soon become a living legend in the gaming world. Yokoi trained Miyamoto teaching him all that he knew. Nintendo then created its
Nintendo was started by Fusajiro Yamauchi, Nintendo started out making a playing card game called Hanafuda. The cards were handmade and they soon began to gain popularity. So the company started to grow. Soon Fusajiors Yamauchi’s adopted son-in-law Hiroshi Yamauchi took over the company. He was only 21 years old. Hiroshi soon renamed Yamauchi Nintendo & company to Nintendo playing card company. In 1953, they started to make their playing cards out of plastic which was a huge hit in Japan because of their durability. And Nintendo playing card company soon dominated the playing card market. In 1956, Hiroshi paid a visit to the U.S., to engage with U.S. playing card company. He saw how small their main office was a realized the extent of the playing card business. In 1963, they changed their name again from Nintendo playing card, limited to just Nintendo. They soon tried their hands at some different products including: a taxi company, a love hotel chain, and a vacuum company. All of the companies failed except for toy making. Then in 1964, then playing cards lost their popularity and they stopped making them. In 1970, Hiroshi Yamauchi was observing one of his factorys and he noticed an extending arm made by one of the engineers named Gunpei Yokoi. Yamauchi asked him to show him the designs and he soon started to mass produce the arm calling it “The Ultra Hand”. The toy was a hit selling over 1 million units. Hiroshi immediately pulled Gunpei off the engineering team and put him to work in the toy development department. Gunpei created many new toys and they proved to be a huge hit, they also sold for a higher price because of higher novelty value than other toys. In 1977, Nintendo hired Shigeru Miyamoto, the man who would soon become a living legend in the gaming world. Yokoi trained Miyamoto teaching him all that he knew. Nintendo then created its