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.

Notable software and franchises

Related article: Franchises established on Nintendo systems

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• Animal Crossing
• Balloon Fight
• Custom Robo (Confined to Japan until 2004)
• Donkey Kong (Nintendo EAD Tokyo) - Dates back to its original line of arcade games. Introduced Mario, then known as "Jumpman".
• EarthBound (called "Mother" in Japan)
• Excitebike
• Fire Emblem (Intelligent Systems) (Confined to Japan until 2003)
• F-Zero (Nintendo EAD)
• Game & Watch - Nintendo's oldest franchise
• Golden Sun (Camelot) - Developed by a third party
• Kid Icarus (Intelligent Systems)
• Kirby (HAL Laboratory, Inc.)
• The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo EAD) - One of the company's most popular franchises and widely considered to be among the best franchises ever. It has won numerous awards including several "Greatest Game of all Time" awards.
• Mach Rider
• Mario (Nintendo EAD) - Nintendo's flagship franchise and main influence in the platform genre.
• Metroid (Intelligent Systems) - One of the company's most popular franchises
• Nintendogs - Puppy simulator franchise with several cameos of other Nintendo Franchises
• Nintendo Wars (Intelligent Systems) (Confined to Japan until 2001; Advance Wars was not released in Japan due to 9/11 until Game Boy Wars Advance 1+2 was released there on November 25th, 2004)
• Pikmin
• Punch-Out!!
• Pokémon (Game Freak) - arguably the most influential (certainly the most lucrative) of Nintendo's recent franchises
• Star Fox (Nintendo EAD)
• Super Smash Bros. (HAL Laboratory, Inc.) -a relatively new, critically lauded series of Nintendo's past successes
• Tetris Attack (Intelligent Systems)
• Wario