When it comes to gaming
There’s one company that evoked more nostalgia than any other
That, of course, is Nintendo
It continues to publish and develop some of the most popular video game franchises in the world
And competes among the big 3 to this day
We’ve already covered PlayStation and Xbox
So it’s only fair that we now pay the lovable grandfather of video games a visit
This is the evolution of Nintendo home consoles
Nintendo’s origins can actually be traced all the way back to 1889
When it was founded by Hiroshi Yamauchi as Yamauchi Nintendo
Mr. Yamauchi started off by producing handmade Hanafuda
Which is a type of Japanese playing cards
In 1959 Nintendo, which changed its name to Nintendo Playing Card
Entered into an agreement with Walt Disney to use the Disney characters on their cards
A few years later the company’s name was shortened to just ‘Nintendo’
With nobody being 100% sure what the word Nintendo actually means
Though it’s thought to loosely translate as ‘leave luck to heaven’
Over the following years playing cards became less popular among Japanese households
And in 1964 the value of the company’s stock began to plummet from 900 to just 60 Yen
Nintendo was in heavy debt and Yamauchi was desperate to find the next big thing
So, they decided to invest in new ventures
Like packages of instant rice
A taxi service
And the not so very family-friendly love hotels
Eventually Nintendo decided to venture into the weapons business
Oh, I mean the toy market
And released Japan’s first electronic toy in 1970
The Nintendo Beam Gun
This would become an ancestor to the NES Zapper
That was later used in video games such as Duck Hunt
In 1972, an American company named Magnavox created the first commercial home video game console
The Magnavox Odyssey
Nintendo developed and produced a light gun accessory for the console
Two years later, Nintendo also secured the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan
Having witnessed first-hand how popular video games were
Nintendo began to work on building its own consoles
Nintendo’s first official console was a joint effort with partner Mitsubishi
Released in 1977, it was given the unimaginative title of the ‘Color TV-Game 6’
With the number 6 denoting how many games could be played on it
Soon after, they also released the ‘Color TV-Game 15’
At the same time they were also working on developing games for arcades
Many of which would later be ported to consoles
Including Donkey Kong
And Mario Brothers
In 1985 Nintendo really started to stand out from the crowd
As they released the much-loved Nintendo Entertainment System, or ‘NES’
It was Nintendo’s first home video game console released outside of Japan
A different-looking version had already been released within Japan in 1983
Known as the Family Computer or ‘Famicom’
And while some games and art styles varied
The consoles were essentially the same in terms of performance
To say the NES was significant is an understatement
It helped to revive the video game industry after the crash in 1983
Going on to sell 62 million units worldwide
And set the record for the longest-surviving video game system in history
It stayed on the American market until 1995
And in Japan it wasn’t discontinued until 2003
Many of Nintendo’s most successful game franchises were born on the NES
Like Final Fantasy
Castlevania
Metroid
And the Legend of Zelda
Duck Hunt was also very popular
But the most-sold game for the NES
With over 40 million copies sold was, of course
Super Mario Bros.
The NES was praised for its simple, yet at the time, innovative controller
Joysticks were the common method of control before Nintendo designed and patented their D-pad
Even though the trend has now reversed, with joysticks often being preferred
D-pads were much better for playing 2D games like Donkey Kong
Fun fact; Donkey Kong was the first game that involved jumping
And is therefore considered to be the first true platformer
The much-anticipated successor to the NES was the SNES
Released in 1991 in the United States with the new ‘S’ standing for ‘Super’
Hence the Famicom, released one year earlier in Japan, also became the Super Famicom
The SNES was a 16-bit console that saw a significant increase
In processing power, audio and more advanced cartridges
At the time, Nintendo and Sega were going head-to-head in a what is referred to as ‘the bit wars’
Genesis does
With advertising campaigns taking jabs at each other
And both claiming to have the superior console
Genesis does what Nintendon’t
Eventually Nintendo got the upper hand and ended up outselling its closest rival
With 49 million units sold compared to Sega Genesis’ sales of 35 million
The third best-selling console at the time was the TurboGrafx-16
Which lagged far behind with sales of 10 million units
Games that appeared on the SNES included the first Mario Kart game
As well as sequels to popular franchises such as Final Fantasy 6
Super Mario World
Super Metroid
Donkey Kong Country
And The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The SNES controller got a makeover too
With rounded edges replacing the former rectangular design
And additional buttons being added to both the front and shoulders of the gamepad
Nintendo began to face tougher opposition when they released their next generation of console
The Nintendo 64 in 1996
After all, they now had to compete with the very successful PlayStation
Which had already been out for 2 years at that point
Despite quadrupling their bits to 64 and outselling the Sega Saturn
With sales figures of 33 million to just 9 million
The cartridge-based N64 was no match for the CD-based PlayStation
Which took over the crown as market leader
And sold more than double the amount of the other two combined
In a trend that still holds true for many today
Nintendo came to be recognized as a source of fun and entertainment for families
Rather than a serious gaming console for individuals
Nintendo’s games tended to have much more cartoon-like graphics and fantasy-based characters
Compared to the added realism brought by other machines
Having said that, the N64 did take major steps forward in terms of its modern 3D graphics
And featured iconic titles that are still enjoyed today
It had a fantastic library of adventure and party games
Like Super Mario 64
Super Smash Bros.
Pokémon Stadium
Donkey Kong 64
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Mario Kart 64
And GoldenEye 007
The N64 controller was a controversial change
Featuring a three-pronged design with a central joystick, d-pad, face and shoulder buttons
Plus a trigger button at the back
Fun fact; The epic multiplayer mode for GoldenEye was a last-minute addition
Developer Steve Ellies had access to the code written for a single-player game
And decide to turn GoldenEye into a multiplayer game within a month
So, Thanks Steve!
If the Nintendo 64 was up against it
Then the Nintendo GameCube was even more so
Released in 2001, it was up against the PlayStation 2
And Microsoft’s new system, the Xbox
The GameCube looked much more kid-friendly
And like a toy in comparison to its rivals
Despite its name, it wasn’t even a cube
It measured 5.9 by 6.3 by 4.3 inches
Nintendo managed to sell 22 million GameCube’s
Instead of using cartridges the system switched to using mini-discs
And did not use CDs or DVDs like its competitors
Whereas DVDs could store up to 8.5 gigabytes of data
The GameCube discs could only store 1.5 gigabytes
This meant that some cross-platform content had to be compressed
Or features removed from games entirely
Another major drawback was the lack of online gameplay
Reportedly, the GameCube only had eight games with internet or local area network support
The console didn’t feature an internal hard drive either
And relied on the use of memory cards
Games which players were able to enjoy on GameCube included
Super Smash Bros. Melee
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Super Mario Sunshine
Metroid Prime
Animal Crossing
And Luigi’s Mansion
Nintendo got rid of the 3-pronged controller design
And instead opted for a more traditional two-pronged version
In 2002, Nintendo made a wireless controller, called the WaveBird Wireless Controller
Even before Xbox and PlayStation managed to do so
Nintendo drastically changed its game plan when it released the Wii console in 2006
Its functionality centered around the use of motion controls
The technology was innovative and unique at the time
The Wii is pronounced as ‘we’
Which emphasized that the console is for everyone
This meant the target audience was much broader than its rivals
A staggering 102 million Wii consoles were sold
Beating both the PS3 and Xbox 360
Which sold 87 and 86 million units respectively
Its specifications in terms of its processor, memory and graphics
Which wasn’t even HD
Were far less impressive than the competition
But those things were never intended to be the main selling point
Nintendo had reverted to selling fun
Memorable games from the Wii lineup are Wii Sports
New Super Mario Brothers Wii
Mario Kart Wii
Super Mario Galaxy
And the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Wii Remote is the primary controller for the Wii
It uses Bluetooth and features a D-pad, buttons and an internal speaker
The Nunchuck is an additional controller that can be connected to the Wii Remote
And has an analog stick and two trigger buttons
Additional accessories for the console were also popular
Like the Wii Balance Board
This board was designed for use with exercise and sports games
Like Wii Fit
The Wii Balance Board sold 42 million units alone
Fun fact; The board achieved a Guinness World Record for “the best-selling weighting device”
The Wii U was released in 2012 and was Nintendo’s biggest flop
The Wii U is an example of very, very bad marketing
People were confused about whether it was a new console
Or just an accessory for the Wii
And it’s easy to understand why if you look at the trailer of the Wii U
They literally named it “the New Controller”
The Wii U wasn’t the greatest name either
Since it just sounds like a Wii accessory
This could have been avoided easily if they just chose to name it the Wii 2
Oh, and the ads were pretty bad too…
Hot buttered popcorn that’s a deal
Up against the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
Of which 110 million and an estimated 50 million were sold respectively
The Wii U only sold 13 million units
It was a huge disappointment after the grand success of the Wii
The Wii U was the first Nintendo console to support HD graphics
And those who did buy it were able to play Mario Kart 8
Super Mario 3D World
Splatoon
Super Mario Maker
And New Super Mario Brothers for U
The Wii U Gamepad is the console’s primary controller
And has a built-in touchscreen
Which can be used without a television
Or as a companion to games being played on the television
The concept of having a hybrid console of both a standard and handheld console was there
But there was a lot of work ahead to make it more appealing
After the Wii U, Nintendo went back to the drawing board
And refined their hybrid concept until they released the Nintendo Switch in 2017
It features two Joy Con Controllers
That can be attached to the 6.2 inch touchscreen display to play it in hybrid mode
It has a battery life of around 3 hours of uninterrupted play on a full charge
The Switch has many amazing popular titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Splatoon 2
Super Mario Odyssey
And my personal favorite; The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
To date, the Nintendo Switch has performed far better than its predecessor in terms of sales figures
Selling more than 61 million units
It is impressive to see how far Nintendo has come with their home consoles
It’s also worth mentioning that Nintendo has released a number of iconic handheld consoles throughout its history too
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