1889 A humble beginning Nintendo has been in existence in one form or another since 1889, making it the oldest company to be involved in the manufacturing of video games.
In 1907, the name was changed to Nintendo Koppai and sold cards out of stores in Kyoto and nearby Osaka. The word "Nintendo" is composed of three Japanese kanji characters that translate roughly into English as "left to heaven's hands." 1970s Good-bye cards, hello toys
After creating substantial profits with its games department, Nintendo moved on to the first tier of the Osaka Stock Exchange and built huge factories dedicated to making toys. From toys to video games Nintendo was ready to take its first substantial step outside of homes and into a business that would later become known as the video arcade. As the bowling craze subsided in Japan, Nintendo bought up old bowling alleys and converted them into light-gun shooting galleries. Expanding on the theme, Nintendo created the Wild Gunman game - not to be confused with the later NES video gun game of the same name - which featured movie footage of a killer in an alleyway who had to be shot before he killed the player. Despite the success of the light-gun games, poor economic conditions pushed Nintendo to lessen its investment in the early arcades and bring in more profit from toys.
In March 1978, Nintendo released Computer Othello, a coffee table-sized arcade machine in which two people could sit and play Othello for 100 yen per game. With a green and black monitor and huge pixels, the machine was not very advanced, even for its time. However, in one way it did illustrate the eventual future of video gaming more than its '78 counterpart Space Invaders did: It had ten buttons per player as opposed to Space Invaders' simple three-button scheme. Nintendo soon formed a division dedicated solely to producing and selling arcade games, planting the seed for what would soon become the company's largest business. |
