Nintendo: Difference between revisions

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{{wikipedia|Nintendo}}

 

'''Nintendo''' is the game developer and publisher of [[The Legend of Zelda (Series)|''The Legend of Zelda'' series]].

 

Starting as a playing card company on September 23, 1889, and eventually evolving into electronic toys, Nintendo's first video game was ''Computer Othello'' in 1978.

Nintendo has produced seven different video game consoles (not counting Game & Watch or other LCD games), of which a ''Zelda'' game has appeared on each.

Nintendo's first cartridge-based video game console was the Nintendo Famicom, released in 1983. The Famicom was later released worldwide in 1985 as the [[NES|Nintendo Entertainment System]], despite a major games slump in the west.<ref>http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/systems/nintendo_entertainment_system_1165.html</ref>  The NES was a phenomenal success, selling over 60 million units.<ref>http://www.nintendo.com/corp/history.jsp</ref> It was succeeded by the [[SNES|Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] in 1991, which sold nearly 50 million units.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20090205072400/http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e0806.pdf</ref>

In 2006 the Nintendo [[Wii|Nintendo Wii]] was released, and its successor, the Wii U, was announced at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo. The console is not due for release until at least April 2012.<ref>http://www.gigwise.com/news/68239/Wii-U-To-Be-Released-After-March-2012-Nintendo-Confirm</ref>

Nintendo's latest handheld console is the [[Nintendo 3DS]], for which ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D|Ocarina of Time 3D]]'' was released in June 2011. The 3DS has yet to achieve the commercial success of its predecessors, having sold only 7 million units by the end of September 2011.<ref>http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/library/historical_data/pdf/consolidated_sales_e1109.pdf</ref>

In the 70s, Nintendo began the process of moving from playing cards to toys to electronic toys.  Hiroshi Yamuchi and Gunpei Yokoi facilitated this change after they noticed their profits being eaten by companies like Bandai and Namco.  In 1977, Nintendo hired [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], the progenitor of the ''Zelda'' series.  During this time, Yokoi tutored Miyamoto, and the two combined innovative hardware with creative presentation.

The release of ''Super Mario Bros.'' marked a new trend in game goals - instead of trying to get a high score, the player would try to "complete" the quest.  During the development of this game, Miyamoto also worked on ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Game)|The Legend of Zelda]]'' which would be a less linear gameplay experience.  He based the idea around the caves, forests, and fields he explored as a boy in his hometown of Kyoto.  

The name ''Nintendo'' loosely translates from Japanese as "leave luck to heaven".

[[category:Nintendo]]

[[Category:Video Game Companies]]