Nintendo

Nintendo is a Japanese video game company based in Kyoto. It is best known for consoles such as the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Nintendo DS, Wii and Switch, but its roots go back to 1889, when it began producing handmade playing cards.

Nintendo’s first step into video games came in 1974, when it obtained the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey console in Japan. Three years later it began making its own hardware with the Color TV-Game series; the first model played six variations of a single tennis game, Light Tennis.

Its first major success in the games industry came in 1980 with the Game & Watch, a line of handhelds that each had one game built into the hardware, unlike Nintendo’s later handhelds, which used interchangeable cartridges. Over the following decades Nintendo built a reputation for popular franchises and hugely successful consoles.

In 1983 Nintendo released the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan, followed in 1985 by its international version, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console launched alongside ports of Nintendo’s arcade games, and bundling Super Mario Bros. with the system helped make it one of the best-selling video games of all time.