Nintendo, the Japanese multinational video game company best known for its lineup of video games and video game consoles, including, more recently, the Nintendo Switch, is celebrating its 135th anniversary today, according to company history and a timeline of events that can be found on the official Nintendo site, one that reaches all the way back to 1889—the year in which Fusajiro Yamauchi, Nintendo’s founder, launched his first product for the Kyoto-based company in the form of “Hanafuda” (flower cards), a type of playing card for the Japanese market. Nintendo’s 135th anniversary arrives ahead of the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2, a successor to the original hybrid video game console that, according to recent leaks, may be unveiled fairly soon.
Notable events in Nintendo’s history include:
- [1889] “Fusajiro Yamauchi began manufacturing “Hanafuda” (flower cards) Japanese playing cards in Kyoto.”
- [1950] “Hiroshi Yamauchi took office as President and headed the manufacturing operation of Yamauchi Nintendo & Co.”
- [1963] “The company changed its name to Nintendo Co., Ltd. and started manufacturing games in addition to playing cards.”
- [1984] “Nintendo developed and started selling the unique, twin-screen interactive coin-operated videogame “VS. System”. At the same time, the company launched the Famicom system in Japan, later renamed Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) when it launched worldwide.”
- [1989] “The Game Boy, the first portable, handheld game system with interchangeable game cartridges, is introduced in Japan along with Tetris.”
- [1990] “Japan entered the 16-bit market by releasing the Super Famicom in the autumn. Game Boy was launched in Europe and established what would become an astronomical worldwide installed base for the Nintendo handheld console.”
A few promos for some of Nintendo’s latest games:
Nintendo on its mission and apparent success:
Nintendo aims to deliver unique, intuitive entertainment experiences for everyone, manufacturing and marketing video game devices such as the Nintendo Switch family of systems, developing and operating applications for smart devices, and collaborating with partners on a range of other entertainment initiatives like visual content and theme parks.
Nintendo has sold more than 5.5 billion video games and over 800 million hardware units globally. From the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System more than 30 years ago, through today and into the future, Nintendo’s continuing mission is to create unique entertainment that puts smiles on the faces of people all over the world.