Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
by Mary Firestone
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THE COMPANY AND ITS FOUNDERS
by Mary Firestone
Content Consultant
Jason Begy
Research Associate
Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab
CREDITS
Published by ABDO Publishing Company, 8000 West 78th Street,
Edina, Minnesota 55439. Copyright 2011 by Abdo Consulting
Group, Inc. International copyrights reserved in all countries.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
written permission from the publisher. The Essential Library is a
trademark and logo of ABDO Publishing Company.
Timeline 96
Glossary 102
Index 110
WELCOMING
THE WII
J
ust before midnight on November 17, 2006,
a long line had formed outside the Toys R Us
store in Manhattans Times Square. In the last
few hours, the crowd had gotten noisy. Some of
the people had been waiting in line for more than
6
WELCOMING THE WII
NEW FEATURES
Nintendo had released many video game systems
before the Wii, and they had been successful.
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8
WELCOMING THE WII
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10
WELCOMING THE WII
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12
WELCOMING THE WII
Nintendo fans all over the world could not wait to purchase the Wii.
13
CHAPTER
PLAYING CARDS
E
very invention starts as an idea for
improvement. Someone begins to sketch or
tinker with an existing product and soon a
new product comes into being. These new products
often lead to advances in technology. Companies are
14
PL AYING C ARDS
15
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PL AYING C ARDS
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18
PL AYING C ARDS
NINTENDOS HEIR
Like most parents, Kimi and Shikanojo dreamed of
a successful future for their baby son, Hiroshi. Little
did they realize that most of the companys growth
19
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20
PL AYING C ARDS
A NEW ERA
Despite his rebellious, spoiled ways, Hiroshi
appeared to value succeeding on his own. In 1945,
he enrolled in law school at Waseda University in
Tokyo. There were no plans in play at the time for
running his familys company.
When Sekiryo suffered a stroke and was near
death, he contacted Hiroshi, his only grandson. He
wanted to pass the business on to him, his only male
heir. Hiroshi agreed, but only if his grandfather
fired a family member, an older cousin who was still
working at Nintendo. Hiroshi did not want anyone
to question who was in charge of the new company,
and firing the only other blood relative would
secure his position as the man in charge. Employees
had heard rumors that their new leader would fire
every manager, and the rumors were true. Hiroshi
had his cousin fired, and then he proceeded to fire
every manager with a link to the conservative style
of the previous leadership. Hiroshi wanted to run
the company his own way. He did not want to fight
about the old, conservative way of doing things.
Hiroshi, only 21 years old, became president
of Nintendo in 1949, running the company with
strict, imperial control. He made all decisions. His
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PL AYING C ARDS
23
CHAPTER
HIROSHI
YAMAUCHI RULES
A
s the companys new president, Hiroshi
Yamauchi did more than change the faces at
Nintendo. He opened new corporate offices
and gave the company a new name, Nintendo
Karuta. After trying out a few experimental ventures
24
HIROSHI YAMAUCHI RULES
TOY MAKERS
For all of his harshness and high DEALING WITH
expectations, Yamauchi had COMPETITION
Yamauchis business agreement
unusual faith in creative minds. An
with the Walt Disney Com-
electronics specialist and inventor pany proved to be a good one.
named Gunpei Yokoi came to Disney cartoon characters
were world famous, and their
Nintendo in 1965, looking for a
images made the Nintendo
job. Yokoi was hired as a janitor, cards much more appealing
but also as a technician to maintain to the youth market. Yamau-
chi also improved the look of
the machines on the assembly line. the cards with a clear plastic
One day, in approximately coating, advertised them on
1966, Yamauchi asked Yokoi to television, and sold them in
toy stores. Yamauchis com-
come to his office. He asked Yokoi panys card sales were record
to make something that could be breaking in 1959, at 600,000
sold around the holiday season. packs of cards sold that year.
25
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26
HIROSHI YAMAUCHI RULES
IMPRESSING YAMAUCHI
Trying to impress Yamauchi, Yokoi moved on to
other inventions based on the Ultra theme. Yokoi
invented the Ultra Machine, which pitched baseballs
that were soft so the toy could be used indoors with
a bat. Next, Yokoi invented the Ultra Scope. It was
similar to a regular periscope, but it had a unique
refocusing function, which allowed kids to see
around corners.
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HIROSHI YAMAUCHI RULES
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HIROSHI YAMAUCHI RULES
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HIROSHI YAMAUCHI RULES
33
CHAPTER
From left, Federico Faggin, Marcian Edward Hoff Jr., and Stanley Mazor,
the coinventors of the Intel microprocessor
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Y
amauchi and his staff continued to hire
designers to work on more electronic toys and
games. An important determinant of a games
success, they discovered, was how much they enjoyed
creating and playing it themselves. Their approach
34
NEW TECHNOLOGY
A SHIFT IN FORTUNES
When the Japanese economy NO ONE IS TOO OLD
suffered through an oil shortage in Miyamoto says that adults
the early 1970s, consumers had less respond to his games because
they are a trigger to again
money to spend on entertainment.
become primitive, primal, as
The once popular and buzzing a way of thinking and remem-
shooting galleries were now bering. An adult is a child who
has more ethics and morals.
completely empty. Nintendo had Thats all. When I am a child,
not seen this disaster coming, and creating, I am not creating a
it looked as if the company might game. I am in the game. The
game is not for children, it
collapse altogether. is for me. It is for the adult
However, there was hope on that still has a character of a
the horizon. During the 1970s, child. 1
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NINTENDO
36
NEW TECHNOLOGY
COLOR TV GAMES
In 1977, Nintendo formed a partnership with the
Mitsubishi Electronics company to create its own
television game system. They released the Color TV
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38
NEW TECHNOLOGY
YAMAUCHIS REVOLUTION
Nintendo was doing good business with its Beam
Guns and TV Games, but Yamauchi was not satisfied
simply with financial success in the brand-new era
of electronic gaming. He wanted something that
would revolutionize the industry. He continuously
urged his engineers to keep up the hard work of
creating something completely different. Throw
away all your old ideas in order to come up with
something new, he said. We must look in different
directions.2
Yokoi later noted that one key to Nintendos
success was its ability to take advantage of established
technologies, such as the miniaturized circuits for
pocket calculators. Following Yamauchis wishes,
Yokoi went to work creating something entirely
new but with existing and older technologies that
could be mass-produced inexpensively.3
He achieved his and Yamauchis goal in 1980
with a product they called the Game and Watch,
which was no bigger than a pocket calculator. It
39
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40
NEW TECHNOLOGY
41
CHAPTER
NINTENDO
BRANCHES OUT
W
hen Yamauchis daughter, Yoko, wanted to
marry the young Minoru (Mino) Arakawa
in the early 1970s, Yamauchi was not
pleased that Yoko had chosen Mino as her husband.
Even though Mino was intelligent, treated Yoko well,
42
NINTENDO BRANCHES OUT
MINORU ARAKAWA
Little did Yamauchi know, his son-in-law had an
excellent background in business. Arakawa Textiles
had a fine reputation for putting quality first and
was well respected by other members of the business
community. When the Arakawa family patriarch,
Waichiro Arakawa, had retired some time earlier,
his eldest son had taken over the family business, in
accordance with Japanese tradition. Mino was the
second son, so he was free to choose his career. After
graduating from college in Kyoto, he headed to the
United States. For graduate school, he attended the
prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), where he studied civil engineering. He toured
the country in a Volkswagen bus on his vacations. He
was fascinated with US culture and its emphasis on
the individual. It was unlike the conformity that was
generally expected of the Japanese. Mino eventually
43
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NINTENDO BRANCHES OUT
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NINTENDO BRANCHES OUT
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48
NINTENDO BRANCHES OUT
49
CHAPTER
ENTER SHIGERU
MIYAMOTO
I
n the 1980s, the fledgling NOA was trying
to break into the countrys arcade business.
Nintendo had already been successful
creating arcade games for kids in Japan, including
Radarscope, Wild Gunman, Hellfire, and Sky
50
ENTER SHIGERU MIYAMOTO
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NINTENDO
52
ENTER SHIGERU MIYAMOTO
MIYAMOTO ON DECK
What makes a brilliant and creative video game
designer? In the case of Nintendo designer
Miyamoto, the answer to this question may lie
in his childhood.
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54
ENTER SHIGERU MIYAMOTO
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56
ENTER SHIGERU MIYAMOTO
57
CHAPTER
DONKEY KONG
ARRIVES
I
n 1980, Miyamoto got his first big break. With
Nintendos other video game developers busy
with other projects, Yamauchi asked Miyamoto
to create a game to replace Radarscope. This was a
perfect fit for the new apprentice, because he loved
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DONKEY KONG ARRIVES
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DONKEY KONG ARRIVES
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DONKEY KONG ARRIVES
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DONKEY KONG ARRIVES
65
CHAPTER
BRINGING VIDEO
GAMES HOME
W
ith the successful arcade games in Japan and
the United States, as well as the success of
a few home video games, Nintendo turned
its attention to home video games exclusively. In the
early 1980s, there were already a variety of home
66
BRINGING VIDEO GAMES HOME
67
NINTENDO
ARCADES
Uemura turned to arcade games for answers.
Nintendos arcade systems already had a way of
completely engaging players. What were the keys to
their success? Uemura figured out that quickness and
mental challenge were the two main components of
a game that kept players fully interested. However,
making that happen in a console-sized unit would
not be possible without the more expensive
microprocessors. Days of intense experiments were
conducted among Nintendos arcade engineers and
programmers, but in the end they determined they
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BRINGING VIDEO GAMES HOME
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BRINGING VIDEO GAMES HOME
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BRINGING VIDEO GAMES HOME
73
CHAPTER
NINTENDO OF
AMERICA EXPANDS
A
s the Donkey Kong arcade games brought in
more profits, NOA expanded, creating new
games for the arcades. Games with titles such
as Donkey Kong Junior and Punch Out emerged,
to name a few. The company also released a new
74
N I N T E N D O O F A M E R I C A E X PA N D S
75
NINTENDO
COMPETITORS BECOME
PARTNERS
Nintendo was not going to give
up on the US consumers once-
blossoming interest in video games.
NINTENDO POWER
At first, the company worked
Video game play is not always
straightforward. Cheats, tricks, with the established video game
and strategies can make all manufacturer, Atari, by licensing
the difference in a players Donkey Kong for the companys
ability to achieve the next
level of play. Nintendo Power home computers. Nintendo
magazine was created for executives also tried to set up
avid players looking for ways
a market through Atari for the
to beat Nintendo games. The
magazines information came Famicom, but this fizzled. It turned
straight from the source: Nin- out that the Famicom would have
tendo game developers. The
to sink or swim on its own in the
magazine started as a news-
letter called Nintendo Fun United States.
Club. In 1988, it became Nin- Back in Japan, Yokois team
tendo Power. The magazine
was published in-house for
had created the Robotic Operating
20 years by NOA before being Buddy (ROB), a small robot
published by an outside com- controlled by the Famicom video
pany.
game system. Arakawa loved the
product, but in test trials, kids
hated it. Yamauchi ignored the
reactions and told him to sell the
ROB in only New York City, just
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N I N T E N D O O F A M E R I C A E X PA N D S
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NINTENDO
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N I N T E N D O O F A M E R I C A E X PA N D S
79
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80
N I N T E N D O O F A M E R I C A E X PA N D S
Super Mario Brothers was one of many popular games for the NES.
81
CHAPTER
10
Nintendo DS
T
he NES was just the beginning in video game
systems for Nintendo. The next big Nintendo
launch was the Family Computer System Disk
in 1986 in Japan. This was followed by the handheld
Game Boy in 1989. The competition had released
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THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT
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THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT
85
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HANDHELD SYSTEMS
Handheld systems continued to be a hot trend
in games for Nintendo. Nintendo released a new
handheld version in 2004the Nintendo DS. The
Nintendo DS had two screens with a microphone
and touch screen capability. The Nintendo DS
evolved, and the company released two new
handheld systems: the DS Lite, which was released
in 2006, followed by the DSi, in 2009. The DSi
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THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT
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THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT
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90
THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT
WHAT IS NEXT?
In June 2009, reporters asked Iwata what new ideas
to expect from Nintendo in the following year. He
explained that the company would focus on games
that pick up where other games such as Brain Age
and Wii Fit had left off. Behind him was an image of
something called the Wii Vitality Sensor. Iwata said,
Just as were able to sense the players center of
balance in the Wii Fit, were now able to sense
their internal state. Where previous games have
only been sources of excitement and stimulation,
now well be able to relieve stress and encourage
better sleep.5
A game called Wii Relax, expected to be
packaged with the Wii Vitality Sensor, was in
production as of 2010.
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NINTENDO WORLD
US citizens have felt a cultural impact from
Nintendos broad appeal to kids. Nielsen Media
Research showed that in the early 1990s, more
kids played video games on their Nintendo
consoles than watched cartoons, even the popular
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THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT
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THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT
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TIMELINE
1889 1907
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TIMELINE
97
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TIMELINE
98
TIMELINE
99
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ESSENTIAL FACTS
CREATORS
Fusajiro Yamauchi (as playing card business), November 22, 1860
Hiroshi Yamauchi (as a video game business), November 7, 1927
DATE FOUNDED
1889
CHALLENGES
During the collapse of the US video game market, Minoru Arakawa
faced challenges with bringing Nintendo to the United States as the
first games promoted failed to capture attention. In the late 1990s
and early 2000s, Nintendo struggled to release a video game system
that would dominate in the competitive market.
SUCCESSES
Hiroshi Yamauchis faith in creative minds helped Nintendo make
a neat transition from card maker to high-tech entertainment
giant. Nintendos first advanced video game system, Famicom,
sold approximately 500,000 units in Japan in only two
months. Nintendos US version of the Famicom, the Nintendo
Entertainment System, became the best-selling video game system
the United States had seen. The Wii later claimed this title.
100
E S S E N T I A L FA C T S
IMPACT ON SOCIETY
Nintendo is considered responsible for reviving the US video game
industry after it crashed in 1983. With the release of the Wii in
2006, Nintendo introduced a new kind of video game technology
to the world.
QUOTE
Throw away all your old ideas in order to come up with
something new. We must look in different directions.
Hiroshi Yamauchi
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GLOSSARY
apprentice
Someone who works for another person in order to learn a skill
or trade.
consensus
A majority opinion.
console
The control unit of a game system, containing memory and
processors.
consumer
A person who utilizes economic goods; someone who spends
money on products.
contender
One who struggles with an opponent.
innovation
An idea or thing that is new, different, or unexpected.
interaction
A mutual exchange.
kanji
A system of Japanese writing using symbols derived from
Chinese writing.
102
G LO S S A R Y
microprocessor
An integrated computer circuit that processes all the
information in a computer.
retail
Selling directly to consumers.
semiconductors
Materials that allow the flow of electric current to happen in a
controlled way.
vitality
A life force and capacity for survival.
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Forster, Winnie. The Encyclopedia of Game Machines. Utting,
Germany: Winnie Forster/Gameplan, 2005. Print.
Inoue, Osamu. Nintendo Magic. New York: Vertical, 2001. Print.
Kent, Stephen L. The Ultimate History of Video Games. New York:
Random, 2001. Print.
Sheff, David. Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American
Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children.
New York: Random, 1993. Print.
FURTHER READINGS
Burns, Jan. Shigeru Miyamoto. San Diego, CA: KidHaven, 2006.
Print.
Hart, Christopher. Manga Mania Video Games: How to Draw the
Characters & Environments of Manga Video Games. New York:
Watson-Guptill, 2004. Print.
Pardew, Les. Game Design for Teens. Boston: Course Technology
PTR, 2004. Print.
104
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
WEB LINKS
To learn more about Nintendo, visit ABDO Publishing Company
online at www.abdopublishing.com. Web sites about Nintendo
are featured on our Book Links page. These links are routinely
monitored and updated to provide the most current information
available.
PLACES TO VISIT
American Classic Arcade Museum
579 Endicott Street North, Laconia, NH 03246
http://www.classicarcademuseum.org
The American Classic Arcade Museum is dedicated to preserving
the history of coin-operated arcade machines. Visitors to the
museum can view, and even play, old arcade games.
National Museum of Play
One Manhattan Square, Rochester, NY 14607
585-263-2700
http://www.thestrong.org
The National Museum of Play exhibits old toys including video
games, dolls, sports equipment, and books.
105
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SOURCE NOTES
106
SOURCE NOTES
107
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108
SOURCE NOTES
109
NINTENDO
INDEX
Arakawa, Minoru (Mino), 4248, Iwata, Satoru, 11, 8789, 91
5153, 60, 6264, 75, 76, 89
Arakawa, Waichiro, 43 Jumpman, 6162
Arakawa Textiles, 43
arcades, 30, 46, 5051, 52, 62, 6364, Laser Clay Range, 3132
66, 6869, 71, 7475, 78 Lincoln, Howard, 46
Ashcraft, Brian, 69 Love Tester, 2829
Atari, 3637, 76 LucasArts, 60
2600, 67 Luigi, 78, 79
110
INDEX
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PHOTO CREDITS
Kirsty Wigglesworth, File/AP Images, cover; Damian Dovarganes/
AP Images, cover; Jeff Lewis/AP Images, 6; Robert Gilhooly/
Bloomberg via Getty Images, 10; Jeff Lewis/AP Images, 13; Ryuichi
Sato/Getty Images, 14; iStockphoto, 18, 96; Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/
Sygma/Corbis, 23; Walt Disney Pictures, HO/AP Images, 24; AFP/
Getty Images, 26, 97 (top); Hemis/Alamy, 33; Paul Sakuma/AP
Images, 34; AP Images, 37; Pat Eyre/Alamy, 41, 97 (bottom); Jorge
Salcedo/iStockphoto, 42; Ralf-Finn Hestoft/Corbis, 45; Klaas
Lingbeek- van Kranen/iStockphoto, 49; Nick Ut/AP Images, 50;
Ralf-Finn Hestoft/Corbis, 57; Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty
Images, 58; Arcade Images/Alamy, 65; Joe Fox/Alamy, 66; Michael
S. Yamashita/Corbis, 70; Reuters/Corbis, 73; Richard Drew/AP
Images, 74; Jamaway/Alamy, 81; Eckehard Schulz/AP Images, 82,
98 (bottom); Kevork Djansezian/AP Images, 85, 98 (top); Casey
Rodgers/AP Images for Nintendo of America/AP Images, 95, 99
112