Nintendo was founded in 1899 which originated in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo actually started out selling toys and traditional Japanese playing cards. These cards were so popular that eventually more people had to be hired to transfer the cards from handmade to mass production. Eventually, they branched out and began working on video games and consoles. Nintendo has always been known for making bold moves in the gaming industry.
One of Nintendos' first arcade games made was Radar Scope. It was a Japanese hit but in America, Americans preferred well-known brands like Namco or King Atari. Next Miyamoto helped Nintendo come up with new characters based on Popeye the Sailor Man. Olive Oil was eventually made into Peach, Pluto eventually became Donkey Kong and Pop-Eye became Mario. These characters made it into the Donkey Kong Machine. Making $200 dollars a week. Nintendo knew making games could be taken to the next level.
Company Size
As of today, Nintendo has 5,120 employees in total. There are smaller and larger branches of Nintendo. Here is the breakdown of where and how many employees are at Nintendo.
Nintendo (Japan) - 2,009 Employees
Nintendo of America - 1,257 Employees
Nintendo of Europe - 868 Employees
Nintendo of Australia - 75 Employees
iQue - Unknown
Mario Club - 305 Employees
ND Cube - Uknown
Nintendo European Research & Development – 30+ Employees
Nintendo Network Service Database – Uknown
Nintendo Technology Development – 30+ Employees
Nintendo Software Technology – 50+ Employees
Retro Studios – 70+ Employees
Monolith Soft – 109 Employees
1-Up Studio – 30 Employees
NES Merchandising – Unknown
These are a few of the Major Branches of Nintendo. There are also other companies that are largely intertwined with Nintendo which are counted towards the total amount of Employees. I found this chart here.
Consoles Systems
Nintendo largely focuses on creating groundbreaking consoles in the Video Game Industry.
They have been involved ever since the very beginning of Video Games. Here is a list of the systems Nintendo has built and the years they came out.
Multiple Versions of The Color TV-Game came out only in Japan from 1997-1980
The Nintendo Entertainment System - 1983
Super Nintendo Entertainment System - 1990
Nintendo 64 - 1996
Nintendo Gamecube - 2001
Wii - 2006
Wii U - 2012
Nintendo Switch - 2017
Handheld Console Systems
Nintendo also came out with handheld devices which made gaming easy and on-the-go. This was an amazing contribution to the industry because players were no longer tethered to a screen. They could play games anywhere.
Game & Watch - 1980-1991
Game Boy - 1989
Virtual Boy - 1995
Game Boy Color - 1998
Game Boy Advance - 2001
Nintendo DS - 2004
Nintendo DS Lite - 2006
Nintendo 3DS - 20011
Nintendo Switch - 2017
You may notice that the Nintendo Switch is in both categories. This is because the Nintendo Switch is both a console and handheld device. This was also attempted with the Wii U and Gamepad but did not really start to become effective until the Nintendo Switch.
Games
Nintendo has made at least 195 games. Here is a list of their top 10 most popular games.
Super Mario (627.51 million)
Pokémon (301.5 million)
Wii Series (203.15 million)
The Legend of Zelda (105.62 million)
Donkey Kong (75.6 million)
Super Smash Bros (53 million)
Game & Watch (43.4 million)
Kirby (38 million)
Brain Age (34 million)
Animal Crossing (33.6 million)
It is no secret that Nintendo has some of the most successful game franchises in the world.
Sources for this list can be found here, as well as more past the top 10.
Nintendo Failures and successes
One of Nintendos failure consoles was the Wii U. Thankfully Nintendo has now come out with the Switch which has shown a lot more success over the years.
The Wii U
The Wii U had very confusing controls. People did not know when they were supposed to use the gamepad or the Wii remote. This would also lead to fights over who gets which controllers when playing games.
Third-party publishers began to fall off. Nintendo consoles are known for Nintendo Games which made it very challenging for Game Developers to make games for Nintendo consoles. This would lead to potential money loss for Nintendo.
The gamepads' design and visuals gave off a dated feel. In modern-day many people are fascinated with new technology. Feeling like Nintendo was taking a step back made it difficult for consumers to like the gamepad.
Storage has also always been a difficulty for consoles in general. The Wii U only offered an 8 or 32-gigabyte storage system. Players could attach external storage, however this becomes inconvenient for the gamer.
The Nintendo Switch
The Switch has only been out for a couple of years and has already made more than the Wii U in its whole lifespan. The Switch has sold over 17 million units already. The Switch is also outselling the Xbox One and the Playstation 4.
Nintendo has always focused on trying to create innovative controllers. This is why such a leap had been taken with the Wii U. When the Wii U didn't work out, Nintendo tried again to spark that same innovation gamers felt when a new type of control was added.
The Switch and portable gaming now compete with mobile gaming. Mobile gaming still has a variety of frustrating ads and upgrades which does not happen with something like The Switch or the DS.
Portable gaming has become a huge deal and advantage that Nintendo has over the current Xbox generations and the Play Station generations.
Final Thoughts
Overall Nintendo has been widely successful. There is something about Nintendos consoles, devices and art styles that always seem to be taking ideas for gaming to the next level. I am excited to see what Nintendo works on in future generations to come.