Nintendo Corporation was actually founded back in
1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi making it the oldest game company in the world.
However, in the beginning the full name was actually Nintendo Playing Card Company.
Because in the beginning they actually sold a type of Japanese playing cards called Hanafuda Cards.
But following a decline in sales in the 1960s,
The company was renamed to simply Nintendo and they started experimenting with other business models.
But it's not what you think. They didn't start making video games immediately.
Between 1963 and 1968 Nintendo tried to make it as a taxi company, a chain of love hotels, a food company and by selling vacuum cleaners.
All of these eventually failed except for one thing...
Toy making. After having some major breakthroughs in the Japanese toy industry
They eventually saw potential and then emerge in video game industry.
In 1975 they secured the rights to distribute the world's first commercial home video game console in Japan, the Magnavox Odyssey.
In 1977 they released their own very first console, Color TV Game 6. That same year Nintendo hired
Chihiro Miyamoto, who went on to create some of the most iconic video game characters and franchises known around the world today.
In 1983 and 1990, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System,
Which would ultimately transform Nintendo into the videogame giant we all know today.
Another very popular console that was competing with the Nintendo 64 at the time, was the Sony Playstation.
But the Sony Playstation could actually have been the Nintendo PlayStation.
Between the late 1980s in the early 1990s,
Nintendo and Sony worked together to develop a new console that could play CD ROMs instead of using cartridges.
However due to licensing disagreements, Nintendo dropped out of the deal and Sony decided to develop the console on their own.
But imagine if this console had been made and Nintendo and Sony had actually merged.
For example, the Xbox was a direct response to Sony's upcoming PlayStation 2, which was luring game developers away from the Windows platform.
If the PlayStation and thus PlayStation 2 had never been made, it's possible. The Xbox never would have been either.
So instead of having a rivalry between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, maybe it would have been between Sega and Nintendo instead.
While some companies stopped supporting their older consoles after only a few short years,
Nintendo kept supporting the NES for over 24 years.
It was only 2007 that Nintendo stop supporting NES due to an increasing shortage of the necessary parts.
Also,the phone number on the back of the NES is still in service after all these years,
And when called they will still help you with installation maintenance and general service problems.
It just goes to show how long they managed to keep their older consoles alive.
The major league baseball team, The Seattle Mariners is actually owned by Nintendo of America.
And because of this you can actually download something called a Nintendo Fan Network
To order food and drinks at the Safeco Field Stadium using your Nintendo DS.
6 out of the top 10 best-selling video games of all time were made by Nintendo.
Five out of the top 10 best-selling consoles were Nintendo consoles.
And four out of the top 10 best-selling video game franchises
were created by Nintendo, with the Mario franchise leading charge like it's nobody's fucking business.
What the fuck?
Back in 1998 after the original Mario Party had been released, Nintendo was forced to offer special sport gloves to players of the game.
This was because some of the minigames required players to adopt some really intense
Joystick and button techniques, that caused gamers to get blisters and even second-degree burns from the friction
In the very beginning, Mario was named "Ossan" a Japanese term for a middle-aged man, he later got the name
Mr. Video, but when he made his first official debut in an arcade game called Donkey Kong, he was simply named Jumpman.
It's believed he finally got the name Mario when an employer at Nintendo of America pointed out the similarities between
Jumpman and Nintendo's Italian landlord. Yoshi, his full name is T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas.
Luigi's name was based on a popular diner near Nintendo of America conveniently named Mario & Luigi's.
His name is also based on Japanese word Ruigi, meaning similar. They consider naming Bowser
either Kuppa, Yukke, or Bibinba? In the end, Kuppa was chosen before the North American release,
he was renamed Bowser instead.
The Kuppa Troopas are also named of the Bowser's Japanese name Kuppa.
The Wa in Waluigi and Wario you comes from the Japanese word
Wharoo or War I? (It's actually Wah-rooh-wih)
Which means bad.
When Mario games first started making their way over to America, Princess Peach was for whatever reason renamed Princess Toadstool.
However, this never really stuck with the public and the name Princess Peach made a return instead.
This little mushroom creature is one of many who dedicate their lives to protect Princess Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom.
To some it is extremely fun and adorable to others,
he is that annoying little shit,
who tells you the Peach isn't there when you get to the end of the Bowser Castle.
And then he fucking flips you off.
"Are you out of your mind?!"
Toad, don't try the reflecting, you know exactly what the fuck you've done.
"Oooh no."
Come on. The proof is right here. Just admit it!
"Never!"
*sigh*
For over thirty years,
This guy has been giving you the 8-bit finger for absolutely no reason.
Just look at that face,
No emotion. He feels no remorse
For what he's done.
"I'm just a mushroo-"
Behind those soulless eyes this psychotic little man, has lost all touch with reality...
That it said if you stared to those dead black eyes for too long, you too, start giving everything the bird,
"No..."
On behalf of everyone in the whole goddamn world,
Here is a long overdue, well deserved
Fuck you too Toad. Fuck you, too.
It really wouldn't be a true a top 10 facts episode without some Rule 34 now would it?
In 1993 two pornographic parodies based on the Super Mario Brothers was released named,
Super Hornio Brothers 1 and 2.
What's interesting though is that Nintendo themselves actually bought the rights to these two movies.
But of course only reason they did was in order to halt their distribution and any potential sequels.
Sorry guys, no Super Hornio Brothers 3 any time soon, I guess.
But not to worry, you can always ruin your childhood with some Super Mario Ballbusting and Cockbiting.
Cockbiting? Really?
W-wha- Cockbitin- Really?!
Does give me some really beautiful mental images right now.
Nintendo tends to get a lot of complaints because their consoles often use less
powerful hardware compared to it's competitors. And thus the games often looks worse as result of this.
But there's actually a reason for this, a philosophy the Nintendo follows that goes like this;
"Lateral thinking with withered technology."
In other words, they believe that the video games do not always have to use the latest technology,
to be the most fun to play.
And it works surprisingly well for them.
The Gameboy, the Nintendo DS, the Wii and the WiiU,
had all been able to outsell technological superior competitors.
Meanwhile the Gamecube was easily superior to the PlayStation 2, and on par with the Xbox, yet the console failed.
So even though Nintendo's consoles might not have those gorgeous looking games utilizing the latest technology,
It's still possible. They have the most fun games.
"Nice job, hero!"
"Hey!"
"Excusee me, princess!"