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Founded as “Nintendo Koppai” by Fusajiro Yamauchi in September 1889 in Kyoto, Japan, the company began by producing and marketing handmade ‘hanafuda’ playing cards. These cards had existed in various forms for centuries but had fallen out of popularity due to restrictions on gambling.
Nintendo’s playing card business flourished under the leadership of Hiroshi Yamauchi, Fusajiro Yamauchi’s grandson, who took over as Nintendo’s president in 1949. Nintendo’s hanafuda cards were initially targeted at gamblers, but the company adapted its marketing strategy over time to appeal to a broader audience, including children and families.
The transition from handmade cards to mass-produced plastic cards marked a significant turning point, allowing Nintendo to reach a much larger market. In 1959, Hiroshi struck a deal to print Disney characters on plastic playing cards, selling more than 600,000 packs in the first year alone. This success led to the company going public in 1962.
Also read: Against All Odds: How Nintendo Made It
As the playing card market reached its saturation point in the mid-1960s, Nintendo explored new business directions, including ventures into taxi services, short-stay hotels, instant rice, vacuum cleaners, and toys. Among these, the toy business was particularly successful, notably with the Ultra Hand, an extending arm designed by line maintenance engineer Gunpei Yokoi. The Ultra Hand sold over a million units, and Yokoi went on to design many electronic toys and key Nintendo features, such as the D-pad.
Although many of these ventures were short-lived, they demonstrated Nintendo’s willingness to innovate and take risks. The success of the Ultra Hand and subsequent toys established Nintendo’s reputation for creating unique and entertaining products.
In 1975, Nintendo acquired the Japanese distribution rights for the Magnavox Odyssey, the first commercial home video game console. This move spurred the company to develop its own games, including EVR Race and Donkey Kong, and eventually its own game system, the Famicom, which was released to Japanese customers in July 1983.
Gunpei Yokoi’s influence on Nintendo cannot be overstated. His philosophy of “lateral thinking with withered technology” focused on using mature, well-understood technology in novel ways to create innovative products. This approach became a cornerstone of Nintendo’s development strategy and contributed to the company’s long-term success in the video game industry.
