From nintendo companies the goal of the game. The history of Nintendo: building a brand from game cards to consoles

Nintendo's new console will go on sale on March 5th the Switch. Business Insider chronicle with all the company's devices, from Game Boy to Wii; translate and share it with you.

The future for Nintendo is almost here. It's called the Switch, and, as the name suggests, the console blurs the line between home and portable set-top boxes. While it is very difficult to say how cool the novelty will be, but its concept is definitely in perfect order.

It's not the first time that a console from Nintendo plans to surprise everyone: the Japanese company has earned itself a phenomenal reputation among video game fans, year after year creating technologies and games that are very different from anything else on the market.

Some of the projects were incredibly successful, some were complete failures. But regardless of which of the indicators the Switch is closer to, all this is a continuation of the company's course to create something unique and independent.

And now we invite you to take a look at the history of the release of consoles by Japanese innovators, starting from the distant 70s.

One of the first to appear Color TV Game. Nintendo pioneered by launching five of these consoles, all in their native Japan between 1977 and 1980, of course.

No cartridges or discs were implied, you could only play what was loaded into the console system by default. The first games appeared as a result of cooperation with Mitsubishi, and one of them is Pong, or Light tennis, which you probably know.

Then came Game and watch: A series of handheld devices that each supported a single game on a tiny LCD display. About sixty modifications and 43 million copies sold from 1980 to 1991.

And now to things more familiar to the European look. Nintendo's real success came with the launch of the Family Computer (or Famicom) in Japan in 1983, and then the release of its American version, known to everyone as NES (Nintendo Entertainment System).

It is impossible to underestimate the significance of the release of the NES for the company and for the industry as a whole. The long-term recession of ideas and developments is finally over, the business model has become sustainable, many gaming hits have found their platform. Nintendo has become a titan of the entire gaming culture.

Then, in 1989, the company managed to break its own record. iconic game boy set the gold standard for handheld consoles, made Tetris a phenomenon, and probably made the market consume more AA batteries than any other device in history.

Almost 120 million copies sold during its existence. We bet you or one of your friends still has one of them.

The next hit after the NES, exported to the US in 1991 - super nintendo.

And although this console was a little less popular than its predecessor, its release is an equally important turn in the evolution of 16-bit devices. But the main thing is the development legendary games, from Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country, before final fantasy VI.

The next invention of the Japanese pioneers was Virtual boy- an ambiguous, but in its own way sensational development.

This clunky thing took the first steps towards virtual reality long before the Oculus Rift, but it was about as convenient and "playable" as you could imagine VR in 1995. An extremely limited number of games, occasional complaints from players about nausea, and in the end the whole idea came to naught less than a year after the presentation. But the fact is that Nintendo has been ambitious and premature in trying to create the future, and this should not be underestimated.

Nintendo 64 presented a year later, and, like the Super Nintendo in its time, it has greatly improved in terms of hardware. Many iconic games have appeared, such as: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007 and Mario Kart 64, and the controller has become much more functional.

However, the console had a strong competitor - the PlayStation, which appeared on the market a year earlier, significantly reduced sales of the Nintendo 64.

The company periodically resumed the release of the Game Boy in new versions, but the most striking of them is Game Boy Color. Yes, that's right, it's still the same Game Boy, only in color.

Colors certainly weren't as bright as they used to be, but the technology in the console was much more advanced and reliable. A lot of people who grew up in the 90s remember with special warmth how they played Pokémon on one of these devices.

The first real breakthrough in the Game Boy line came in 2001 with the release of Game Boy Advance. The release was presented as "Super Nintendo in your pocket", which was not entirely accurate, but loud enough.

Thus began Nintendo's experimentation with the form of portable consoles, and they continued for a long time. Game Boy Advance SP in 2003, Game Boy Micro in 2005, the list goes on.

The world has learned about gamecube at the end of 2001, when it was announced in order to compete with the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, but the miracle did not happen. The success of the PS2 was almost relentless, and the GameCube didn't have enough third-party support to stop it.

Most GameCube owners spoke fondly of the device, but its cons and shortcomings were then largely repeated in WII U. One way or another, the unusual shape, tiny disks and trendy controllers determined the console's cosmic image.

The next portable brainchild of the company, on the contrary, was incredibly successful. nintendo ds, two screens of pure gaming pleasure, became the company's best-selling gadget: 154 million consoles from 2004 to 2014, thus breaking the records of its direct competitor PSP.

Everything influenced the success at once: both the touchscreen, which was available long before the appearance of the iPhone, and many quality games in any of the genres. The Nintendo DS came out in several variations, and it can safely be called the company's most successful concept.

The white stripe in the company was not going to end, and in 2006 appeared Nintendo Wii. Instead of trying to catch up with Sony and Microsoft in terms of technology, the Japanese have relied on marketing and launched a powerful PR campaign: consoles have ceased to seem like something niche and moved into the status of ordinary, casual entertainment.

Wii appeared two years before the general popularity App Store, so many see it as the history of the "right time in the right place" format, and this is partly true. On the other hand, none of the other motion-based consoles has been as successful; and many still enjoy playing Wii Sports at home.

Released in 2011 Nintendo 3DS is the company's current flagship in handheld consoles. In general, the 3DS hardware is very close to the DS family, with only one "but": there is an elegant ability to create a 3D effect right on the screen, without any clumsy and bulky glasses.

This trick is more of a unique "trick" than a real technological breakthrough, but there are still no distinct analogues to it, and the closest competitor, PS Vita, still loses in terms of sales.

The sad story of Nintendo's latest console Wii U, is well known. The device objectively loses PS4 and Xbox One, and in terms of third-party support for manufacturers, and conceptually. Almost everyone found his controller extremely clumsy, and the idea far-fetched.

As a result, less than 14 million copies have been sold since 2012. This is another example of an original concept with a lot of potential and a number of great games for it, but on the other hand - raw development and implementation. As a result - almost zero value for the industry.

And finally the Switch, which, like the Wii U, bills itself as a hybrid. The tablet can be part of the home console, or, together with the controllers, transform into a portable one. It's a fundamentally different take on gameplay, and neither Sony nor Microsoft has done anything like it yet.

Can an out-of-the-box approach bring Nintendo back to its former glory? Right now, there are many reasons to doubt this - it is unlikely that third-party developers will suddenly start writing for Switch as actively as they write for PS4 and Xbox One, and frankly, the tablet inside the Japanese console will definitely not be comparable in power to the iPad. It is also unclear whether the online shopping service will be as fast and convenient as Sony and Microsoft services.

Nevertheless, there is a slight excitement, as always, when Nintendo announces another high-profile development. And how successful it will be, we will find out on the third of March, when the company launches consoles for sale. Prices start at $299.

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Interesting information about the Nintendo brand. Reference data on the Nintendo trademark.

The story about Nintendo should begin at the end of the 19th century - it was then that the world first heard that the Marufuku company appeared in the Japanese city of Kyoto, producing playing cards for the famous Hanafuda game in Japan. After 18 years, Marufuku's business had reached a point where focusing on the market of Kyoto alone was no longer viable. The company was renamed Nintendo Koppai and sent to conquer the vastness of all of Japan.

The next change in the company's image occurred in 1963 - it was then that in the company's business reports, the profit from the sale of children's toys exceeded that from playing cards. The company was promptly renamed Nintendo Company, Limited, and their new bestseller was "The Ultra Hand", a retractable hand that became famous not only in Japan, but throughout the world, still appearing in various video games and animated films.
The first step towards creating the image of Nintendo that everyone knows today was taken in 1978, when the company tried its hand at the production of electronic games. Naturally, there was no talk of any game consoles or portable consoles yet - all efforts were thrown into production slot machines, which in two years managed not only to appear in many bars and gaming salons in Japan, but also stepped over the ocean, thanks to the American division of the company, which opened in 1980.

However, something resembling portable consoles nevertheless appeared at the same stage of the company's development. Watching a businessman trying to entertain himself on a flight with a pocket calculator gave the company's lead engineer, Gunpei Yokoi, the idea of ​​creating a simple pocket game. This is how Game & Watch appeared, which became famous in the countries of the former USSR, thanks to an illegal clone, produced under the name "Electronics".

In the course of promoting its products in the United States, Nintendo developed a rather unusual game for those times, Donkey Kong, which at first was extremely negatively perceived by American distributors - at that time, the main demand was for sport games and space simulators funny game with a gorilla, a princess, and a man with a mustache didn't quite fit into any of these concepts.

It was the unrivaled success of Donkey Kong that inspired Nintendo to create the first home video game console. Such a step was not clear to many - this industry experienced a significant decline in interest in the early 80s, but Nintendo nevertheless created the Famicom home console in 1983, and two years later, when all of Japan was captured by new entertainment, they re-released it in the USA, changed design and name. The American Nintendo Entertainment System gave the company worldwide fame and, perhaps, the largest and most loyal army of customers.

Deciding not to stop there, Nintendo began the development of a new gaming system, which was supposed to be a breakthrough in gaming industry those years. Despite the fact that the console became extremely popular and still warms the hearts of an entire generation, Nintendo made a very significant mistake during its development, which, a few years later, led to the appearance of the Sony PlayStation. But there were still five years before the fateful day, and Nintendo, thanks to its Super Nintendo, confidently outperformed its main competitor, Sega, on all fronts.

Next game console Nintendo had a laconic name: Nintendo 64. Despite its tangible technical superiority, it did not look particularly attractive against the backdrop of the Sony PlayStation that had appeared at that time. It was the period of the beginning of the second half of the 90s that should be considered the beginning of the decline in Nintendo's popularity. However, in our country, the company's developments at that time enjoyed popular love, this was especially noticeable by the prevalence of a clone of the first game console from Nintendo, which was revived in our country under the name Dendy.

Realizing that the cartridge was not the best gaming data carrier for the console of the 21st century, Nintendo nevertheless tried to improve and in 2001 released the GameCube, a set-top box that uses mini-DVDs to store games. The desire to be different from its main competitors: Playstation 2 and Xbox, once again led Nintendo to a dead end. The small size of miniDVD significantly limited the capabilities of the set-top box, which is why many developers prefer alternative platforms.

An attempt to correct this defect was made five years later. It was in 2006 that Nintendo released the Wii, which focused on party games and various sports. In many ways, this direction was demonstrated by the Wiimote controller, which made it possible to significantly diversify the gameplay by introducing the motion capture function into it.

Finally, in 2012, the company introduced the Wii U, the latest console to date to offer an unusual controller concept. give Special attention we will not be this console - it is quite new and the network is literally replete with various reviews of this platform and games for it.

To date, Nintendo has focused on the party gaming sector, with the Wii U console being the cheapest product in the NextGen series of consoles. In addition, one cannot but mention the rather popular line of portable gaming systems that developed from the Game & Watch mentioned at the beginning of the article. First, the GameBoy line, and then the DS, became one of the most popular gaming systems, distinguished by innovation and a non-standard approach to gameplay. In general, despite the many mistakes made, Nintendo is still the most alive of all living things. In many ways, she owes this state of affairs to a huge fan base and bright characters, among which there is both recognizable by all Mario, and less known in our country, but no less popular in the west, Link - main character the Legend of Zelda game series.

End of the nineteenth century. Private shop selling Japanese playing cards. Fusajiro Yamauchi is behind the counter. He did not even suspect that in 127 years his shop would turn into one of the leading companies in the field of video games, which would hook a huge number of people on some pocket monsters. Yes, we are talking about Nintendo (任天堂 - short for several words, stands for "heaven bless diligence"). We offer you to plunge into the past for a couple of minutes, soak up the history of this famous company.

From playing cards to taxi service

Hanafuda playing cards

At first, cards were in demand only among individuals, but soon the Japanese mafia became interested in them, which made hanafuda the most popular gambling countries. Business went up quickly. Fusajiro soon realized that it was time to expand. Then it was decided to open a second store. The city of Osaka was chosen as the location. At the same time, Yamauchi began to develop new versions of the Hanafuda game. Money went, the goods found a buyer.

The first Nintendo logo

The year 1949 has come. Sekiryo's successor is his grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi. But when Yamauchi Jr. took over as manager, many workers expressed their concerns about the new owner of the company. Therefore, Hiroshi acted simply and at the same time cruelly - he fired all those who were dissatisfied.

Hiroshi Yamauchi

Hanafuda playing cards with Mickey Mouse

Game&Watch, Mario, Dendy - the peak of popularity

Famicom game console (short for "Family Computer")

First toy - Ultra Hand

Magnavox Odyssey

Game&Watch with its Soviet analogue

Pokemon: 20 years together

Gunpei Yokoi

Game Boy Advance color game console

Virtual Boy - the prototype of modern VR helmets

Game console Nintendo 64

In 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi transferred leadership to the company, under which projects such as the Nintendo DS / 3DS, Nintendo Wii were created. But a growing market mobile games(Android, iOS) Ivat didn't seem to see it. And only in 2015, Nintendo finally decided to release several games on mobile platforms. The first one is interactive. social network where each participant creates their own character.

So we come to the present, to the Nintendo that we know. Do you think Yamauchi Sr. would be proud of his grandson's success?

The history of Nintendo began in 1889. Fusajiro Yamauchi (grandfather of Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi, who turned it into a game publisher) started his business in Kyoto, Japan. Then the company was called Marufuku and produced Hanafuda playing cards in a special Japanese style.

In 1907, the company changed its name to Nintendo Koppai and began selling its cards outside the city of Kyoto.

toy company

In 1963, the Nintendo Playing Card Company Ltd was renamed Nintendo Company Ltd.

In the 1970s, thanks to the developments of the engineer Gunpei Yokoi, in particular his toy "The Ultra Hand", Nintendo began to create toys for children and built own factory for the production of toys. Gunpei Yokoi, after the success of The Ultra Hand, was transferred from the maintenance department to the development department.

Since Yokoi was an engineer, he also designed electronic toys. They were quite new for the time compared to the traditional ones, which allowed Nintendo to make a lot of profits. Yokoi designed many toys, such as the Ten Billion Barrel puzzle, a baseball car called the Ultra Machine, and "Love Tester". One of the inventions made jointly with Masayuki Uemura was the Nintendo Beam Gun Game, the ancestor of the NES Zapper.

Nintendo Electronic Games

Dual-screen Donkey Kong from the Game & Watch series. This design was later used for the Nintendo DS. The next stage in the development of the company were slot machines. In 1978, Nintendo created a division whose sole focus was the production and sale of arcade games.

In 1980, Nintendo opened its branch in New York (USA), headed by Minoru Arakawa, Yamauchi's son-in-law. It was then that Gunpei Yokoi created the first portable gaming device called Game & Watch (in Russia, analogues of this family of games were produced, such as “Well, wait a minute!”). The device was powered by watch batteries and used the simplest screen on liquid crystals and there was one built-in game. Unlike the Game Boy, in the Game & Watch, the background of the game was pre-drawn. First Game& Watch became Ball, Parachute and Fire. Later came Popeye and Mickey Mouse.

In 1980, at the request of Nintendo's president, young designer Shigeru Miyamoto developed Donkey Kong. The main character of the game was a carpenter, which was created using animation tools sufficient for him to run, jump, climb stairs and grab a sledgehammer. At first, the main character was called Leap Man, but then Miyamoto came up with a name for him - Mario (Mario), in honor of the head of one of the offices of Nintendo, Mario Segali. Mario's main goal was to save the princess from the clutches of the gorilla Donkey Kong, sitting at the very top. game screen. The gorilla put various obstacles in the way of Mario: he threw barrels, springs and other improvised means.

At first, Donkey Kong was received negatively by American arcade distributors. The Americans just couldn't figure out what Nintendo was trying to sell. But as soon as people were able to play the game, the situation changed dramatically: sales of Donkey Kong slot machines soared to unprecedented heights. The game was an absolute hit in both Japan and the US. Later, a sequel to the game, Donkey Kong Jr., followed, in which the gorilla Donkey Kong, locked in a cage, was rescued by her son.

In 1982, the Nintendo office moved from New York to Seattle. At this time, the film company Universal filed a lawsuit against Nintendo. Universal decided that Nintendo did not have the rights to use the Donkey Kong brand, as the film company's property was a film with an almost identical title - King Kong. Lawyer Howard Lincoln, hired by Nintendo, won the case in court. Later, Howard Lincoln was appointed to the post of head of Nintendo of America.

In 1983, the game Mario Bros. appeared on the slot machines, in which Mario had already appeared before the players as a plumber and became the hero of his own full-fledged adventures, and his brother Luigi was invented to help him. Later came the games Donkey Kong 3 and Popeye.

First Nintendo home system

In 1983, Nintendo launched its first 8-bit Family Computer (Famicom) game console in Japan, and it turned out to be the most successful at the time - the system eventually occupied 90% of the Japanese market. In 1985, the console was released in the United States under the name Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). A few years after the release of the NES in America, there were practically no competitors left for the console in the New World. NES was the absolute leader in sales.

Over the entire period of existence of the 8-bit NES system, many first-class games have been created for it, including Super Mario Bros. 1,2, Kid Icarus, Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Punch Out! etc. And many of them received their continuation on the consoles of subsequent generations. Super Mario Bros. was released in 1990. 3, and by the end of the year its sales reached 7,000,000 copies.

In 1989, a new invention by engineer Gunpei Yokoi was born - a portable game system game boy. The Game Boy system consisted of an 8-bit central processing unit and a non-backlit LCD screen capable of displaying only four shades of gray. Despite the technical limitations of the system, obvious even for that time, many independent developers began to create their own games for the Game Boy. During the Game Boy era, companies such as NEC, Atari, and Sega produced more powerful handheld game systems with better graphics capabilities, but none of them could shake the undisputed leadership of the Game Boy.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System era

In 1990, in Japan, Nintendo offered the buyer its new 16-bit Super Famicom console. The set-top box supported several game screen resolution modes, was able to display the largest number of colors and drawn objects on TV screens at the same time, and also had some mathematical functions for working with three-dimensional objects.

Making huge profits from sales super games Mario Bros. 3 in America, in 1991 Nintendo releases the Super Famicom in the US under the name Super Nintendo (SNES). And if the Super Famicom was the most popular set-top box in Japan, then in the United States, the Genesis set-top box from Sega took the first place in sales.

Over the entire period of existence of the 16-bit console from Nintendo, a large number of high-quality and good games and above all - games from the toy giant itself: Super Mario World, F-Zero, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Metroid and other masterpieces of design thought. And the developer of the second echelon (second party), Rare, released such cult games for many players around the world like Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct. The prefix was also willingly supported by independent developers, and above all by such large companies as Square, Enix, Capcom and Konami. Thanks to their work, many games were created for the Super Nintendo console: the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series, Castlevania, Ghouls "n Ghosts, street fighter 2, TMNT 4, etc.

Nintendo Virtual Boy era

Back in 1994, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy, a 32-bit gaming system that used multiple shades of red to display 3D graphics.

Released in 1995, the Virtual Boy was the first gaming system created by Nintendo to fail both at home in Japan and overseas in the United States. Players who purchased this product from Nintendo complained about the inconvenience of the game. Their necks got tired from the constant inclination of their heads to the system, which could be played with only after putting it on the table and putting on special glasses. As it turned out, such a game also hurt my head.

And although a few independent developers agreed to support the Virtual Boy from the very beginning, the majority of them considered this product risky and refused to make games for it. In the end, Nintendo's warehouses were simply littered with a useless 32-bit system. Its sales were negligible. An error with the Virtual Boy led to the departure of its developer (who also developed the Game Boy system) Gunpei Yokoya from the company. By a tragic coincidence, Gunpei Yokoi died in a car accident the year after his departure.

Nintendo 64 era

In 1996, the Nintendo 64 was released in Japan for $250. Nintendo developed an innovative controller for the new 64-bit gaming system. It included the ability to control the game in two ways: one was to control the game using a conventional D-Pad, the other - using an analog joystick. The controller housed nine buttons, and there was also a special port on reverse side devices for memory cards and other additional modules.

The only problem with the Nintendo 64, which caused a disagreement between Nintendo and many independent developers, was game modules (cartridges). For publishers and developers, conventional CDs were more suitable. The cost of their production was low, they could be produced in large quantities, unlike expensive and therefore risky game modules. So far, it was not clear how the new console would be perceived by users, and very significant costs were already required for the pre-sale production of game modules. All competing consoles, namely Sony's Play Station and Sega's Saturn, used CDs as storage media.

As a result, many major companies, including longtime Nintendo partners like Square, Enix and Namco, have refused to support the Nintendo 64 and have announced their next projects for the new favorite, the Play Station.

Lacking attention to its 64-bit system from major Japanese publishers, Nintendo, thanks in large part to its marketing efforts, employees, and in particular the famous Shigeru Miyamoto, was able to succeed for the Nintendo 64, which was second in sales only to the Play Station.

Throughout its active existence on the Nintendo 64 console market, Nintendo has continued to follow its traditional idea of ​​“less is more”. The result was the games Super Mario 64, Wave Race 64, Mario Kart 64, Star Fox 64, Golden Eye 007, Diddy Kong Racing, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, Super Smash Brothers.

Released in 1996 for the Nintendo 64, Super Mario 64 became the best-selling game for its platform and one of the best-selling games in history. Super Mario 64 has received numerous awards (as has its designer, Shigeru Miyamoto) and rave reviews, and has repeatedly been featured on "Best Games of All Time" lists by various gaming publications and online voting.

Released in 1998 The game Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which Shigeru Miyamoto has been working on for many years, has been named by many authoritative gaming publications the best game throughout the history of the industry. The popular Japanese weekly Famitsu gave the game a perfect score of 40 out of 40. this moment Ocarina of Time has the highest overall review score of any major gaming publication of any game in history. In the United States alone, 2,500,000 copies of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time were sold between November 23 (the game's release date) and the end of the year.

In 1998 game system Boy has regained popularity. Nintendo released a camera (Game Boy Camera) - a small device that allowed you to take low-resolution black and white digital photos. The device was inserted into a slot designed for game modules. And a special printer (Game Boy Printer) allowed you to print pictures on stickers intended for this. However, there also appeared a new version systems - Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Color was equipped with a more powerful processor and a screen capable of displaying 56 colors simultaneously from a palette of 32 thousand colors, and was compatible with all games created for the black-and-white Game Boy system. By the release of the Game Boy Color, color versions of Tetris and The Legend of Zelda appear.

Age of Pokémon

First in Japan, and then in the US, Nintendo released games for the Game Boy pokemon versions Red and Blue. Since Mario was invented, the Pokemon gaming brand has become Nintendo's second greatest success.

In 1999, the popularity of Pokemon was gaining momentum around the world. This year, three new games under the Pokemon brand were released at once: Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Pinball and Pokemon Yellow.

Pokemon Snap was the first Pokémon game for the Nintendo 64. In it, the player acted as a photographer who had to look for Pokémon and capture them on film. Pokemon Pinball is a pinball game for the Game Boy Color. Then came out pokemon game Yellow is a continuation of the games Pokemon Red and Blue, but this time the main character was the most popular Pokemon Pikachu.

The outbreak of Pokemon mania prompted Nintendo to return to the production of playing cards and toys. The new line of business brought the company huge profits. Backed up by the popular cartoon, various products began to appear under the Pokemon brand licensed by Nintendo: t-shirts, comics, soft toys, bags, video cassettes.

The Pokemon card game has become no less popular entertainment than video games. The concept of the game was similar to other "combat" card games. The player needed to collect and exchange cards in order to eventually have the most complete deck of Pokémon cards.

Nintendo Game Cube era

On May 12, 1999, the day before the opening of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Nintendo officially announced at a press conference that work was underway on a new generation of consoles called Dolphin (later renamed the Game Cube). The company's partners in the project were announced, including such large corporations as Matsushita (Panasonic) and IBM. A brief system specification was given, and Nintendo announced that Dolphin would use Mini-DVDs developed by Matsushita as storage media.

In 2000, the Game Boy Advance 32-bit portable gaming system and the next-generation Game Cube home console were introduced at Space World. The full specifications Game Boy Advance, peripherals and first games introduced. The console was released on March 21, 2001 in Japan and June 11, 2001 in the United States. Game Boy Advance is fully compatible with all previous versions Game Boy and can interact with Game Cube.

Nintendo DS era

Nintendo DS, also known as NDS or DS, also iQue DS in China, is a handheld game system released in 2004. Recognizable by its horizontal clamshell design, which is a throwback to the Game & Watch, and the presence of two TFT LCD screens, the bottom of which is touchscreen. The system also has a built-in microphone and support for the IEEE 802.11g WiFi wireless standard, which allows you to connect consoles to each other at a distance of 10-30 meters, or using the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.

The "DS" in the name stands for Dual Screen and Developers" System. The system was known as Project Nitro during development.

Nintendo Wii era

Nintendo Wii (Nintendo Wii) is the 7th generation game console, the 5th game console from Nintendo and the successor to the Nintendo Game Cube. Until April 27, 2006, when the console's official name was announced, it was codenamed Revolution. As a 7th generation gaming system, it is a direct competitor to the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony Play Station 3. Nintendo claims that its console is aimed at a wider audience than both competitors. A distinctive feature of the console is the Wii Remote wireless controller.

nintendo is a world-famous Japanese corporation whose main activity is the creation of game consoles and game content. The company gained great popularity in the 80s, but it itself has existed since the beginning of the twentieth century. Let's take a closer look at how the company has developed from the beginning to the present day.

How it all began

Fusajiro Yamauchi in Kyoto, September 23, 1889, opens a small company called Nintendo Koppai, specializing in the production of playing cards. They were handmade and had a beautiful design, which helped them gain popularity throughout Japan in a short time.

Due to the absence of a son, Fusajiro's son-in-law, Sekiryo, turns out to be the successor to the business. He founded the Marufuku Company in 1947 to distribute playing cards. After some time, he faces a similar problem of not having heirs in the family (inheritance in Japan at that time was passed only to males) to transfer the family business. In the end, after a series of family problems and deteriorating health, the case goes to his grandson Hiroshi.

toy factory

Nintendo Company Limited The company acquired this name in 1963. In the meantime, from the production of playing cards, the company is slowly but surely entering the toy market in Japan.

A good find for Nintendo is the craftsman Gunpei Yokoi, whose projects are popular throughout the country. Especially famous for his mechanical toy Ultra hand, which is sold out in millions of copies and brings the company out of the financial crisis. Nintendo soon opens a toy factory and the products are distributed throughout Japan, gaining more and more fans.

Slot machines

The next step in the promotion was the development in the field of slot machines. Nintendo even creates a special department dedicated to their development. With the advent of 1980, Nintendo creates its subsidiary in New York with Minoru Arakawa at the head. It was at this time that developers create their first portable "console" - Game & Watch. It was powered by salt batteries and had a simple liquid crystal display built into it. Balls became the first toy for this device.

In the same year, Shigeru Miyamoto creates a game Donkey Kong. The plot developed simply: the character, later named Mario (and at that time simply called Jumpman), had to save the hostage Paulina, who was forcibly held by the villain - the gorilla Donkey Kong. Mario could jump, run and pick up a hammer.

Not causing much excitement, over time, the game began to attract more and more attention. Not much time passed, as the machines with this game began to break records. The arcade became a hit in both America and Japan.

Litigation with Universal

In 1982, when the peak of Donkey Kong's popularity subsided a little and the corporation acquired its representative office in Seattle, the Universal film studio begins legal proceedings against them. The stumbling block was that the former do not have the right to call their creation by its name, because its pronunciation is very similar to the character of their company King Kong. But thanks to the skillful lawyer Howard Lincoln, the Japanese corporation wins.

The very first console

family computer or famicom- that was the name of the company's first eight-bit console, which won almost the entire market in Japan at the end of 1983. In 1985, the Famicom moved to the United States, renaming itself to , and breaking records already in the American market. One of the popular toys developed for the Family Computer was super mario.

You can learn more about "yushka" by.

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo's latest console. It was officially released in March 2017 and has a number of features:

hybrid console. Usually used as a home console for games, but it is possible to pull the main unit out of the docking station and use it as a tablet, that is, as a portable console.

Unique JoyCon controllers. They can be used as regular controllers, or connected to play in tablet mode. You can give one JoyCon to a friend and play multiplayer games.

Nintendo Corporation has left an indelible mark on the global gaming industry. Starting from trading playing cards, today it has reached immeasurable heights in the field of innovative technologies.