Here are some key dates in the history of Nintendo, a video game giant that started life making playing cards:
1889: Founder Fusajiro Yamauchi starts manufacturing Japanese playing cards called "hanafuda" in Kyoto. Western-style cards follow years later.
1962: Listed on the Osaka and Kyoto stock exchanges.
1977: Nintendo launches first home video game machines, known as TV Game 15 and TV Game 6.
1978-1981: Starts selling arcade game machines, opens a US division, and lands a gorilla-sized hit with Donkey Kong.
1983: Launches home console Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
1985: Starts selling Super Mario Bros. games for NES.
1989: Handheld Game Boy system goes on the market.
1993: First "Super Mario Bros." movie, a live-action adaptation, is panned by critics and audiences.
1996: Nintendo 64 game console hits shelves, with GameCube released several years later. Both fail to live up to success of NES.
2004: Starts selling handheld video game system Nintendo DS.
2006: Company scores huge hit with Wii motion-sensor system which lets players jump, run and swing in the comfort of their living rooms. Over 100 million sold worldwide.
2012: Follow-up Wii U system launches but never matches the success of the first version.
2015: Visionary CEO Satoru Iwata dies at 55, raising questions about company"s direction.
2016: Nintendo-brand mobile game app Pokemon Go is released by US-based Niantic, sparking a worldwide frenzy.
2017: Hybrid Switch console, a tablet-like system that can also be played on a television, hits shelves. Nintendo goes on to sell 150 million units worldwide.
2020: Switch game "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" becomes a pandemic-era megahit.
2021: Super Mario theme park opens in Japan"s Osaka, followed by a similar attraction in Los Angeles.
2023: Animated feature "Super Mario Bros. the Movie" becomes second biggest box office hit of the year.
2024: First Nintendo museum opens in a renovated factory in Kyoto.
2025: Nintendo says it will release the Switch 2 during the year.
First Published: Jan 17, 2025, 15:30
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