I only just realized this...

[GameSlaveGaz]

For a company as old as Nintendo, they have only had 4 presidents...how weird...

Fusajiro Yamauchi: 1889-1929
Sekiryo Kaneda (Yamauchi): 1929-1949
Hiroshi Yamauchi: 1949-2002
Satoru Iwata: 2002-present.

I often forget how long Hiroshi was actually president. After reading the book Game Over and all the business ventures he went through with Nintendo over the decades, it's still hard to believe he only retired 3 years ago.

I read David Sheff's book Game Over last year (and my manager still has my copy he borrowed and keeps forgetting to bring it back!!) so I knew this, but Wikipedia reminded me about it. Man, Wikipedia rocks. You can look anything up.

[jajaja]

They must have all done a damn good job since they were presidents for so long

[GameSlaveGaz]

Yeah, especially Hiroshi Yamauchi. In 53 years he single-handedly led the evolution of the company from playing cards to video games. Not to mention all the other side companies like taxi companies and motels.

[CaryMG]

Yep, yep -- "Game Over" was a cool book > "Game Over"

And I think the snowman at the end of the credits of "Super Mario 64" is supposed ta be him -- his name's right underneath it.


Later!

[kedawa]

They must have all done a damn good job since they were presidents for so long

Definitely, especially considering the japanese corporate culture and how intolerant it is of failure.

People like to hate on Yamauchi for being a hard-ass, but he definitely knew how to get results.

[snes_collector]

Cool info. I didn't know that, thanks for helps learn something today(which is pretty if it's video game related).

[CYRiX]

nintendo was made in 1889? what did it do?

[Damaramu]

Hanafuda cards, IIRC. Later, western style playing cards.

[JJNova]

nintendo was made in 1889? what did it do?

Trading card games. You can read Nintendos history on their web page.

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/history.jsp

[Vectorman0]

nintendo was made in 1889? what did it do?

Trading card games. You can read Nintendos history on their web page.

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/history.jsp

Heh, I think you mean playing cards.

[Mayhem]

Hanafuda are fairly similar to the playing cards we use for poker, hearts and so on. The ironic thing is, they aren't even Japanese in origin; they were introduced to the islands by Spanish traders in the 16th century.