How Nintendo Began
Nintendo may not be as famous as it used to be, but we can all remember when they first started and how cool we thought it was. It was a new thing for the kids of that time to play and it also attracted the adults who loved the unusual quality (at that time) of the gaming system and the cool games that they all loved to play. But, some people don’t know exactly how Nintendo became great and how it all started.
Nintendo acctually began its humble beginning over a century ago in the year 1889. Fusajiro Yamauchi, who was the great-grandfather of the current Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, began a company in a small town that was in Japan. What did this early Nintendo create? Hanafuda, Japanese playing cards (as in a 52 deck of playing cards). He originally manufactured these for export, but in 1902, decided to sell them in Japan due to their increasing popularity. Nintendo enjoyed a successful business as a manufacturer of playing cards.
In 1933, Yamauchi created an unlimited partnership and, Yamauchi Nintendo & Co. Fifteen years later, he began a distribution company, Marufuku Co. Ltd.. Soon after, in 1950, a new man took over the company. He went by the name of Hiroshi Yamauchi. As the new president, one of his first duties was to merge the two divisions into one, so he absorbed Yamauchi Nintendo & Co into Marufuku Co. Ltd.. One year later, he changed the company yet again, this time naming it Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd..
In 1952, Yamauchi dispersed his factories across Kyoto. The next year, due to heavy research, Nintendo became the first company ever to succeed in manufacturing plastic playing cards in Japan. They became a big hit. Due to the success of these cards, in 1959, Nintendo started producing cards with images of Walt Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. This opened a new door into children’s playing cards. This point in the company’s history is what most people describe as “the beginning of Nintendo’s kiddy image”.
In the early 60’s, Yamauchi decided to list Nintendo on the stock exchange. He listed stock on the second section of both the OSE (Osaka Stock Exchange) and the KSE (Kyoto Stock Exchange). One year later, the name was changed yet again to Nintendo Co. Ltd., as the company was going to produce games in addition to cards. In 1969, Nintendo built a new production plant in Uji City, and started manufacturing the Beam Gun series, which used opto-electronics. When they came out in 1970, it was the first time electronic technology had been used in toys.
In 1973, after three successful years of using electronics, Nintendo developed the Laser Clay Shooting System, which they hoped would oust bowling as a major pastime. While the device was successful, it never managed to defeat the sport of bowling. One year later, in late 1974, Nintendo began work on an image projection system utilizing 16mm film for amusement arcades.
They exported them overseas to North America and Europe. In 1975, Nintendo signed a contract with Mitsubishi Electronics to develop a video game system using an electronic video recording (EVR) player. In 1976, they introduced the microprocessor into the EVR system. The following year, Nintendo brought out video games playable at home.