By Jer Horwitz and Skyler Miller
design by Ethan O'Brien

Only a handful of companies have become synonymous with video games. There's Atari, creator of Pong and the Atari 2600; Sega, the company behind the Genesis, the Dreamcast, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Virtua Fighter; Sony, whose PlayStation has become one of the most successful consoles of all time; and finally, Nintendo, the force behind the NES, the SNES, and the Nintendo 64 and creator of Donkey Kong, Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and the coming Dolphin system.

After releasing some of its most memorable arcade games while people were still buying millions of cartridges a year for the Atari 2600, Nintendo took over the crushed home market in 1985, firmly establishing itself as an industry giant.

Throughout the late '80s and early '90s, Nintendo focused its attention on broadening the sales appeal of the NES to mass-market status. Using established and well-known American companies as advertising partners, Nintendo developed cross promotions with Pepsi and McDonalds, in the process making sure everyone in America knew just what a "Nintendo" was. In roughly the same period, Nintendo games spawned several children's cartoon shows, including Super Mario Bros. and Captain N: The Game Master, which rose to top positions in the ratings for several years.

After nearly five years of unparalleled success, Nintendo faced serious competition from rival Sega in the 16-bit market. Forced to play catch-up, Nintendo reemerged as a newly aggressive and slightly humbled company, admitting that Sega had been successful. SNES sales rebounded, and Nintendo planned for the launch of two new consoles.

By 1995, with the failed launch of the Virtual Boy and development delays looming for the Nintendo 64, the company was on the verge of watching its Japanese empire fall apart as key supporters defected or divided their support amongst Nintendo, Sega, and new competitor Sony.

Today, Nintendo still strives to regain the place it once held as king of both the American and Japanese game marketplaces, forced to compete against Sega, one of the most successful arcade game developers, and Sony, the world's foremost consumer electronics company. Nintendo's savior, however, just might come from an unlikely source, one that could bring the company full circle back to its early days as a playing-card and toy manufacturer.


Show me The early days