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Thread: Nintendo to turn 120 on September 23rd

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    Strawberry (Level 2) Lostdwarf's Avatar
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    Default Nintendo to turn 120 on September 23rd

    Nintendo will become 120 years old on September 23rd! It is one of the oldest companies around. Here is a brief history

    History of Nintendo

    As a card company (1889–present)

    Nintendo was founded as a Japanese business by Fusajiro Yamauchi in late 1889, originally named "Nintendo Koppai". Based in Kyoto, Japan, the business produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass produce cards to satisfy demand. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the "Nintendo Cup".

    New ventures (1956–1975)

    In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi (the grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi) visited the U.S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company, the dominant playing card manufacturer in that country. He found that the world's biggest company in his business was only using a small office. This was a turning point, where Yamauchi realized the limitations of the playing card business. He then gained access to Disney's characters and put them on the playing cards to drive sales.

    The Nintendo Love TesterIn 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Company Limited to Nintendo Company, Limited. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using the newly injected capital. During this period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company, a "love hotel" chain, a TV network and a food company (trying to sell instant rice, similar to instant noodles). All these ventures eventually failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped, leaving Nintendo with 60 yen in stocks.

    In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, an extending arm developed by its maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi in his free time. Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new "Nintendo Games" department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce popular toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester and the Kousenjuu series of light gun games. Despite some successful products, Nintendo struggled to meet the fast development and manufacturing turnaround required of the toy market, and fell behind the well-established companies such as Bandai and Tomy.

    In 1973, the focus shifted to family entertainment venues with the Laser Clay Shooting System, using the same light gun technology used in Nintendo's Kousenjuu series of toys, and set up in abandoned bowling alleys. Following some success, Nintendo developed several more light gun machines for the emerging arcade scene. While the Laser Clay Shooting System ranges had to be shut down following excessive costs, Nintendo had found a new market.

    Electronic era (1975–present)

    The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)In 1974, Nintendo secured the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey home video game console in Japan. In 1977, Nintendo began producing its own Color TV Game home video game consoles. Four versions of these consoles were produced, each playing variations on a single game (for example, Color TV Game 6 featured six versions of Light Tennis).

    A student product developer named Shigeru Miyamoto was hired by Nintendo at this time. He worked for Yokoi, and one of his first tasks was to design the casing for several of the Color TV Game consoles. Miyamoto went on to create some of Nintendo's most famous video games and become one of the most recognizable faces in the video game industry.

    In 1975, Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry with EVR Race, designed by their first game designer, Genyo Takeda, and several more titles followed. Nintendo had some small success with this venture, but the release of Donkey Kong in 1981, designed by Miyamoto, changed Nintendo's fortunes dramatically. The success of the game and many licensing opportunities (such as ports on the Atari 2600, Intellivision and ColecoVision) gave Nintendo a huge boost in profit.

    In 1980, Nintendo launched Game & Watch, a handheld video game series developed by Yokoi, to worldwide success.

    In 1983, Nintendo launched the Family Computer (commonly called by its shortened name "Famicom") home video game console in Japan alongside ports of its most popular arcade titles. In 1985, the console launched in North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System, and was accompanied by Super Mario Bros.. In 1989, Yokoi developed the Game Boy handheld video game console. Nintendo is the longest-surviving video game console manufacturer to date.

    The Nintendo Entertainment System was superseded by the Super Famicom, known outside Japan as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). This was Nintendo's console of the 16-bit 4th generation, and its main rival was the Sega Mega Drive (known in the USA as the Genesis). A fierce console war ensued, where the SNES was victorious. The SNES eventually sold 49.10 million consoles, around 20 million more than the Mega Drive. The Nintendo 64, most notable for its 3D graphics capabilities, introduced the analog stick and built-in multiplayer for up to four players, instead of two. It also introduced the Rumble Pak, an enhancement that produced force feedback, which was the first such device in the history of home console gaming, and has become an industry standard.

    The Nintendo GameCube followed, and was the first Nintendo console to use optical disc storage instead of cartridges. The most recent home console, the Wii, uses motion sensing controllers and has online functionality (although the GameCube did also have some basic online capabilities), used for services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, Virtual Console and WiiWare.


    ..."The One And Only"

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    Insert Coin (Level 0)
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    Yeah but 120 years ago the graphics were so bad.

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    Pear (Level 6)
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    Quote Originally Posted by houstonlibrarian View Post
    Yeah but 120 years ago the graphics were so bad.
    It was about the Gameplay back then! Come ON!

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    Late to the party DigitalSpace's Avatar
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    I didn't know that Nintendo's birthday was one day before mine. That's pretty cool.

    Collection List | Twitter
    Check out the new N64 Rumble Pak. See how it feels to feel what you see.

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    Strawberry (Level 2) Game Freak's Avatar
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    Happy Birthday to the King of Gaming!

    yeah that's right all you dreamcast and xbox nuts > Nintendo is better

    </opinion>

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    Strawberry (Level 2)
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    It's kinda strange to think that Nintendo is 50 years older than my oldest living relatives, who are all cranky conservatives who don't get them "Nintendos".

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    Cherry (Level 1) Nintendork's Avatar
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    To celebrate I may just have to play a game on every Nintendo system I currently own.

    Here is my initial, very tentative, schedule:

    ColecoVision - Donkey Kong
    NES - Super Mario Brothers 3
    Game Boy - Tetris
    SNES - F-Zero
    Gamecube - Super Monkey Ball
    Nintendo DS - Sonic Rush
    Wii - Boom Blox

    Nothing special, just some quick games on each to pay tribute to the video game company that has been around for as long as it has!
    Kevin
    Blog | Twitter | Twitch

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    Strawberry (Level 2)
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    wow, guess ill get to celebrate two birthdays this year, my 20th and nintendo's 120th!

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    Strawberry (Level 2) Lostdwarf's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nintendork View Post
    To celebrate I may just have to play a game on every Nintendo system I currently own.

    Here is my initial, very tentative, schedule:

    ColecoVision - Donkey Kong
    NES - Super Mario Brothers 3
    Game Boy - Tetris
    SNES - F-Zero
    Gamecube - Super Monkey Ball
    Nintendo DS - Sonic Rush
    Wii - Boom Blox

    Nothing special, just some quick games on each to pay tribute to the video game company that has been around for as long as it has!
    excellent idea:

    I shall play:

    NES: Super Mario Bros.
    SNES: mario kart
    Nintendo 64: LOZ: ocarina of time
    Gamecube: paper mario
    gameboy: super mario land
    gameboy color: Game & Watch
    gameboy advance: mario vs. donkey kong
    nintendo DS: new super mario bros.
    wii: mario galaxy

    its gonna be a mario type of day with 20 minutes dedicated to each system for me =)


    ..."The One And Only"

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    ServBot (Level 11) tom's Avatar
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    Excellent, IBM was founded in 1889 too, and it has gone full circle:

    Type Public (NYSE: IBM)
    Founded Endicott, New York, U.S. (1889, incorporated 1911)
    Founder(s) Herman Hollerith

    IBM in Wii:

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    Great Puma (Level 12)
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    Quote Originally Posted by houstonlibrarian View Post
    Yeah but 120 years ago the graphics were so bad.
    Hanafuda decks had great graphics and they've aged well over the years.

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    Cherry (Level 1) CelticJobber's Avatar
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    Damn, I have the same birthday as Nintendo. lol

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    Quote Originally Posted by Game Freak View Post
    Happy Birthday to the King of Gaming!

    yeah that's right all you dreamcast and xbox nuts > Nintendo is better

    </opinion>
    Sega ain't no spring chicken either ya know.

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    Retro game console modder bacteria's Avatar
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    Nintendo have changed the world for the better! They are

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    Mega Man (Level 19) The 1 2 P's Avatar
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    Wow, those mofos are old. Another 30 years and they might even catch up to my old ass.
    ALL HAIL THE 1 2 P
    Quote Originally Posted by THE 1 2 P
    Why? Once you've seen one partially-exposed butthole you've seen them all.

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    ServBot (Level 11) tom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Game Freak View Post
    Happy Birthday to the King of Gaming!

    yeah that's right all you dreamcast and xbox nuts > Nintendo is better

    </opinion>
    Atari is still the Emperor though (Emperor as on the same step as 'god').

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    Pear (Level 6) chicnstu's Avatar
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    Have a great birthday Nintendo, I know people hate on you now, but they'll thank you later and you will be respected for expanding the video game industry.

    I wonder if they'll make an announcement on the 23rd.
    "Tell her you want to slide a hot throbbing cartridge in her warm tight console port. And if it starts blinking and flashing to just slide it back out and blow on it a little."--Sothy

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    Cherry (Level 1) Nintendork's Avatar
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    Happy birthday Nintendo! Sorry I forgto to send you a card. I did blog about you though, does that count?
    Kevin
    Blog | Twitter | Twitch

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    Crono (Level 14) Sonicwolf's Avatar
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    Happy Birthday Nintendo! Now get off your butt and make some killer apps.
    DERP

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    Great Puma (Level 12)
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    Happy Birthday, Nintendo!

    I put Homebrew on my Wii in your honor!

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