Nintendo: Difference between revisions

From the Super Mario Wiki, the Mario encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
(I'm surprised this wasn't already done since EAD's been inactive since like 2015 as a result of becoming EPD)
Tag: Mobile edit
mNo edit summary
Line 5: Line 5:
|founded=September 23, 1889
|founded=September 23, 1889
|first_release=''[[Donkey Kong (game)|Donkey Kong]]'' ([[List of games by date#1981|1981]])
|first_release=''[[Donkey Kong (game)|Donkey Kong]]'' ([[List of games by date#1981|1981]])
|latest_release=''[[Princess Peach: Showtime!]]'' ([[List of games by date#2024|2024]])
|latest_release=''[[Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch)|Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door]]'' ([[Nintendo Switch]]) ([[List of games by date#2024|2024]])
|president=[[Shuntaro Furukawa]]
|president=[[Shuntaro Furukawa]]
}}
}}

Revision as of 21:28, May 22, 2024

This article is about the Japanese company. For the console sometimes colloquially referred to as a Nintendo, see Nintendo Entertainment System. For the development team, see Nintendo Entertainment Planning and Development.
Nintendo
Current Nintendo logo (2016-present): On May 11, 2016, several months after when Tatsumi Kimishima took the company helm, Nintendo's logo was changed to white-on-red.
Founded September 23, 1889[?]
First Super Mario game Donkey Kong (1981)
Latest Super Mario game Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Nintendo Switch) (2024)
Current president Shuntaro Furukawa

Nintendo is a video game company with its origins in Japan. Nintendo is the creator of many popular franchises, including the Super Mario franchise, and the company's mascot is Mario himself.

History

The company's signature red logo from 1985 to 2008, used internationally outside of Japan and Southeast Asia (top), and gray logo from 2006 to 2016 (bottom). The gray logo is still used in corporate pages.
The company's signature red logo from 1985 to 2008, used internationally outside of Japan and Southeast Asia (top), and gray logo from 2006 to 2016 (bottom). The gray logo is still used in corporate pages.
The company's signature red logo from 1985 to 2008, used internationally outside of Japan and Southeast Asia (top), and gray logo from 2006 to 2016 (bottom). The gray logo is still used in corporate pages.
Nintendo's commercial zones, divided by colors and according to Nintendo's region selector (https://www.nintendo.com/regionselector/)
Regions where Nintendo's products are available

Originally founded as a hanafuda playing card manufacturer in Kyoto, Japan, on September 23, 1889, Nintendo began exploring game-making after third president Hiroshi Yamauchi began diversifying the company's ventures. Nintendo entered the arcade industry in 1973 and the home console industry in 1977, simultaneously hiring Shigeru Miyamoto as a product designer. In 1978, Nintendo began making arcade video games, licensing titles to other companies for distribution outside Japan. In 1980, Nintendo established a North American division headed by Minoru Arakawa, and the first game that would be distributed by the American division would be Radar Scope. The game did not sell well in the United States, and a number of unsold cabinets remained in warehouses.

Arakawa asked Yamauchi if a new game could be developed and inserted into the unsold Radar Scope cabinets.[1] Yamauchi went through Nintendo's entire talent pool to see who could head the designing of a potential Radar Scope replacement, and the result was Miyamoto designing Donkey Kong. When Donkey Kong was released in 1981, it became a bestseller and marked the introduction of Mario. In 1983, Nintendo introduced the Family Computer, distributing it abroad as the Nintendo Entertainment System two years later. Its success in Japan and North America resulted in Nintendo becoming a dominant player in the video game industry and the revival of the industry in North America, which had been negatively affected by a crash in 1983. The most successful game for the NES, Super Mario Bros., further cemented Nintendo's dominance in the industry. The Super Mario franchise has since become Nintendo's flagship franchise and one of the most well-known brands to originate from video games.

Appearances in the Super Mario universe

The Nintendo logo appearing on Diddy Kong's cap and on the walls at Nintendo GameCube in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
The Nintendo logo appearing on Diddy Kong's cap and on the walls at Nintendo GameCube in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
The Nintendo logo appearing on Diddy Kong's cap and on the walls at Nintendo GameCube in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

Home consoles

A collage of Nintendo consoles
A variety of Nintendo consoles and handhelds

Attachments and remodels

These consoles may have different names in different markets. The NES is known as Famicom in Japan; the SNES, subsequently as Super Famicom. In China, the Nintendo 64 was released under the name iQue Player.

1 - Although the Nintendo Switch can also function as a handheld console, it is primarily marketed as a home console by Nintendo.

Handheld consoles

Remodels

Releases of these consoles in China usually replace "Nintendo" in the name with "iQue." Examples are the iQue DS and the iQue 3DS XL.

Gallery

See also

Names in other languages

Language Name Meaning Notes
Japanese 任天堂
ニンテンドー
ニンテンドウ
[?]

Nintendō
任天堂 is the formal name of the company; in hiragana it is written as にんてんどう, two kanas or moras per kanji. Each of the kanji that make up its formal name mean the following:
  • 任 (nin) means "responsibility", "work", or "obligation".
  • 天 (ten) means "sky".
  • 堂 () meaning "stately", "bless", or "sanctuary".
    • 天堂 (tendō) means "heaven".

ニンテンドー is a rough katakana form is used for the Japanese names of some consoles.
ニンテンドウ is another rough katakana form, written with the kana "u" (ウ) instead of the chōonpu character (ー). This name is only seen in Super Smash Bros.'s Japanese name.

This name comes from the Japanese saying 「運を天に任せる」(un o ten ni makaseru), meaning "To leave one's luck to heaven."

Chinese 任天堂[?]
Rèntiāntáng
-
Finnish Nintendon (Captain N: The Game Master)
Nintendo
[?]
-
-
Greek Νιντέντο[?]
Ninténto
-
Hebrew נינטנדו[?]
Nyntndv
-
Korean 닌텐도[?]
Nintendo
-
Russian Нинтендо[?]
Nintendo
-

External links

References