Nintendo

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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 Analysis 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 Super Mario RPG (Nintendo Switch) (2023)
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 1975 to 2006 (top) and gray logo from 2006 to 2015 (bottom). The gray logo is still used in corporate pages.
The company's signature red logo from 1975 to 2006 (top) and gray logo from 2006 to 2015 (bottom). The gray logo is still used in corporate pages.
The company's signature red logo from 1975 to 2006 (top) and gray logo from 2006 to 2015 (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

Nintendo was originally founded on September 23, 1889, by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards for use in Japanese card games. Eventually, in 1929, the company was passed on to Yamauchi's son-in-law, Sekiryo Kaneda. He took up the Yamauchi name when he married Fusajiro's daughter, Tei Yamauchi. Kaneda would run Nintendo until 1949—he passed Nintendo down to his grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi, before he retired. Under Hiroshi's leadership, Nintendo would dabble in a number of different businesses before sticking primarily to games. Nintendo entered the arcade industry in the 1970s, and it began to license some of its games to other companies for distribution outside Japan. Nintendo eventually set up its own headquarters in the United States headed by Minoru Arakawa, and the first game that would be distributed by the American division would be Radar Scope. Radar Scope did not sell well in the United States, and a number of unsold cabinets remained in warehouses.

Arakawa asked Hiroshi if a new game could be developed and inserted into the unsold Radar Scope cabinets.[1] Hiroshi went through Nintendo's entire talent pool to see who could head the designing of a potential Radar Scope replacement, and the result was Shigeru Miyamoto designing Donkey Kong. When Donkey Kong was released, it became a bestseller. Around this time, Nintendo assigned Gunpei Yokoi to make a handheld console for enjoyment while traveling. Thus, Yokoi made the Game & Watch, which became popular in both Japan and the United States. Nintendo then made the Nintendo Entertainment System; its success 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. In 2002, Hiroshi Yamauchi stepped down from office, giving the position to Satoru Iwata, who later became CEO of Nintendo's American branch and held both posts until his death in July 2015. Afterwards, Tatsumi Kimishima was appointed Iwata's successor in September 2015, until he stepped down on June 28, 2018, and was succeeded by Shuntaro Furukawa.

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 and furigana form, it is written as にんてんどう. 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