Nintendo

Nintendo (Japanese: 任天堂; {{Template:nasdaq|NTDOF}}, {{Template:tyo|7974}}) was originally founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. Over the years, it became a video game company, one of the most powerful in the industry. Aside from video games, Nintendo is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners, a Major League Baseball team.

Consoles

NES

Nintendo introduced the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the United States in the July of 1985 after a successful launch of the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan on July 15, 1983.

Related Topics:
United States - July - 1985 - July 15 - 1983

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The NES success was partly due to its relatively low price ($100 USD). Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi instructed his engineers to design a low-priced console whose technology could not be duplicated by competitors for "at least a year." With a processor as powerful as Apple computers being sold at the time, the NES was more technologically advanced than its defunct competitor, the Atari 2600.

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Under Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln, the NES is often considered to be the "savior" of the video game industry in North America. Nintendo debuted Super Mario Bros., and later hits such as Metroid and The Legend of Zelda for the NES, helping to boost a market which seriously diminished in the early 1980s (often called "Video game crash of 1983" or "The Great Video Game Crash of the '80s").

Related Topics:
Minoru Arakawa - Howard Lincoln - Video game industry - Super Mario Bros. - Metroid - The Legend of Zelda - 1980s - Video game crash of 1983

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Super NES

Nintendo released the Super Famicom in Japan on November 21, 1990. In August 1991, Nintendo released the Super Famicom, under a new name, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), in North America. The North American release of the SNES featured a greatly different outer appearance than that of the Super Famicom, including redesigned controllers and various other cosmetic changes. In 1992, the SNES was released in Europe with the same design as the Super Famicom.

Related Topics:
November 21 - 1990 - August - 1991 - North America - 1992 - Europe

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The Super Nintendo Entertainment System followed in the steps of its predecessor, sporting a relatively low price and somewhat high technical specifications for its era. The controller of the SNES had also improved over that of the NES, as it now had rounded edges and several new buttons.

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In Japan, the Super Famicom easily took control of the gaming market. Despite a slow start, the SNES in North America eventually overtook its competition, the Sega Genesis, thanks to franchise titles such as Super Mario World, , Street Fighter 2, and the Final Fantasy series. In the U.S., the Genesis barely outsold the SNES, however total worldwide sales of the SNES were higher than the Genesis.

Related Topics:
Sega Genesis - Super Mario World - Street Fighter 2 - Final Fantasy

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Nintendo 64

In September 1996, Nintendo introduced their third console, the Nintendo 64 (N64), which featured vastly improved three dimensional graphics and a new analog stick. Nintendo chose to remain with the cartridge medium, a surprising move, especially considering their competition's choice of emerging CD-ROM storage mediums. This may have affected the amount of games published on the Nintendo 64; CD-ROMs are cheaper to produce than cartridges, meaning cheaper costs for the third party publishers — since Nintendo did not choose to use CD-ROMs, publishers would be more swayed to publish for Sony's PlayStation, which did use CD-ROMs. This was also rumored to be the impetus for Squaresoft (now Square Enix) stopping development of any further games for Nintendo, including their well-known Final Fantasy series, and moving over to the Sony PlayStation, and later the PlayStation 2.

Related Topics:
Three dimensional graphics - Analog stick - Cartridge - CD-ROM - Third party - Squaresoft - Square Enix - Final Fantasy - Sony PlayStation - PlayStation 2

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Nintendo used the code names Project Reality and Ultra 64 prior to the systems actual release, and these names are still used by some people. Nintendo also touted new "innovative" and "groundbreaking" elements of the Nintendo 64 — such as its four controller ports, an analog stick, and a 64-bit processor

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The first 3D Mario game was introduced on the N64 as Super Mario 64, which has been the archetype for almost all 3D console games to this day. Other popular games were GoldenEye 007, which ushered in a new era for console first-person shooter games, and '; widely considered one of the best games of all time. This system's games are also significant as it was here that the power of the second-party was first recognised: Rareware produced several of their most lauded games for this console (including the aforementioned GoldenEye, and also Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie.)

Related Topics:
Super Mario 64 - GoldenEye 007 - First-person shooter - Rareware - Perfect Dark - Banjo-Kazooie

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Nintendo GameCube

The Nintendo GameCube is Nintendo's fourth generation console and their first disc-based console; it was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, the U.S. on November 18, 2001, and in Europe on May 3, 2002. The European launch "boasted" 20 titles at launch, which included ', ', Luigi's Mansion, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and International Superstars Soccer 2.

Related Topics:
September 14 - 2001 - November 18 - May 3 - 2002 - Luigi's Mansion - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

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Nintendo continued many of their popular franchises on the system, including Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, Metroid, and Super Smash Bros.. The Nintendo GameCube is also responsible for several new franchises, including Pikmin, ', the Viewtiful Joe series, and P.N.03. The GameCube also revived the Metroid series with the release of Metroid Prime and its direct sequel, '; although the games are no longer in the same style as the older Metroid games with the introduction of three dimensional graphics and a first-person shooter style. Nintendo has also gained exclusivity rights for the Resident Evil series and Capcom has released several GameCube-only Resident Evil titles, including Resident Evil 4 which is critically acclaimed to be the best in the series . The Gamecube also saw the return of Square Enix, the home of the flagship Final Fantasy series, as they released another Final Fantasy spinoff called Crystal Chronicles for the now DVD-ROM functional GameCube.

Related Topics:
Mario - The Legend of Zelda - Star Fox - Metroid - Super Smash Bros. - Pikmin - Viewtiful Joe - P.N.03 - Metroid Prime - Three dimensional graphics - First-person shooter - Resident Evil - Capcom - Resident Evil 4 - Square Enix - Final Fantasy - Crystal Chronicles - DVD-ROM

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Despite this, the GameCube is currently in last place in Australia, falling behind both Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/games/2004-11-07-halo_x.htm. However, in the console wars, it is in firm second place in Japan; while battling with the Xbox for second place in the American and European markets. In terms of hardware sales, the GameCube is in a close second place, ahead of Microsoft's machine by a small margin. Commentators have noted that whilst both Sony and Microsoft are losing money from every console they sell, Nintendo makes a profit from every GameCube sold.

Related Topics:
PlayStation 2 - Microsoft - Xbox - Console wars

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Nintendo "Revolution"

As with other console manufacturers in the industry, Nintendo is currently developing a new game console codenamed "Revolution", that is expected to be released in 2006. With Revolution, Nintendo has made their plans clear that they hope to change the way we watch and play video games by taking gaming into a new direction instead of merely upgrading hardware for the benefit of graphics.

Related Topics:
Revolution - 2006

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The console is Nintendo's sleekest and smallest yet, about the size of three DVD cases stacked on top of each other; however, Nintendo has stated that the unveiled system is a prototype and the final product may be even smaller. The revolutionary aspect of the system comes from its unconventional controller, which in its basic form is shaped like a television remote control and includes a number of features, most notably, tilt sensors and 3D pointing which allows the system to understand six directions of movement (up, down, left, right, in, and out). The controller additionally features a port located on the bottom which several accessories may use. So far Nintendo has shown an analog stick (called "nunchuck" by NCL president Iwata during the TGS keynote) that can connect to that port and can be used concurrently with the main controller.

Related Topics:
DVD - Prototype - Television - Remote control - Nunchuck

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Thus far, it has been confirmed that the Revolution will be able to play NES, SNES, and N64 games, which will be downloadable for a fee through the Internet via Nintendo's online service, which will also offer downloadable demos for Revolution and the Nintendo DS. As well, it will also be backward compatible with GameCube discs, and will boast a "docking station" for GameCube accessories. The option to play DVDs on the console is also to be included with the purchase of an announced add-on.

Related Topics:
Internet - GameCube

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