Nintendo

is a Japanese company that makes video games and video game consoles. At first, it began by creating playing cards and other toys and games. Their main office is in Kyoto, Japan. They also have offices in other continents.

Nintendo made many of the most popular and best-selling consoles of all time, like the Game Boy, Nintendo DS, Wii and Nintendo Switch. Altogether, Nintendo has sold over 700 million consoles (2018) and over 5 billion games (2022).

History 

Nintendo was formed on September 23, 1889. Originally, they were a company that made playing cards. Then it went on to making toys. In the 1960s, they started doing other things, such as owning hotels. They began making video games only in the 1970s. In 1980, they came out with a hand-held game device called Game and Watch. Nintendo's first video game console was the Color TV Game.  

Famicom, Nintendo's second console, was first only released in Japan. It was later released in some other areas, such as North America and Europe. When they released it in there, its name was changed to "Nintendo Entertainment System", or NES for short. They also released some popular stand-alone video games, with names like the arcade game Donkey Kong, and NES games Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, and The Legend of Zelda. Later, the company made hand-held game consoles such as the Game Boy, DS, and 3DS and home consoles such as Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, and Switch. Nintendo later sold newer consoles, and a changing point happened with the Nintendo 64, or N64, which made the first Nintendo 3D games. One of its biggest games is Super Mario 64.

List of Nintendo video game consoles 

 Nintendo Entertainment System (1985, NES) – known as the Famicom in Japan [or the "Family Computer"]
 Game Boy (1989)
 Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1990, SNES) – known as the Super Famicom in Japan [or the "Super Family Computer"]
 Virtual Boy (1995)
Nintendo 64 (1996, N64)
Game Boy Color (1998, GBC)
 Game Boy Advance (2001, GBA)
Nintendo GameCube (2001, GCN)
Game Boy Advance SP (2002)
Nintendo DS (2004, NDS)
Game Boy Micro (2005)
Nintendo DS Lite (2006)
 Wii (2006)
 Nintendo DSi (2008)
 Nintendo DSi XL (2009)
 Nintendo 3DS (2011, N3DS)
 Nintendo 3DS XL (2012)
Wii U (2012)
Nintendo 2DS (2013)
 New Nintendo 3DS (2014)
 New Nintendo 3DS XL (2014)
Nintendo Switch (2017)
 New Nintendo 2DS XL (2017)
Nintendo Switch Lite (2019)
Nintendo Switch OLED model (2021)

Today (current history) 
Today, Nintendo has many popular characters and series. Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda are examples of these.

Nintendo currently sells the 3DS and the Nintendo Switch. In March 2011 of February 26 2012, Nintendo released their new handheld system in Japan, the United States, and Europe, the Nintendo 3DS. It was the first system to have 3D without special 3D glasses. On the date of July 28 2012, Nintendo released a bigger update called the 3DS XL. The 3DS XL had a new anti-glare screen, a top screen that was 90% bigger than the old 3DS, and had a matte plastic finish instead of a glossy metal one. This meant that scratches and fingerprints could not be seen as easily, but it can be broken more easily and it is not as durable. The successor to the Wii U, the Nintendo Switch, released on March 3, 2017 in Japan, the United States, and Europe. The Nintendo Switch is unique in the sense that it can be played on both a TV and on the go. The Switch can be played on the TV by sliding the tablet into its dock and removing the two controllers on the side of the tablet to create a more traditional controller.

Related pages
Other video game companies:
 Sony
 Sega
 Microsoft

References

Notes

Other websites 

 Nintendo's American website (note: needs Adobe Flash)
 Nintendo's Japanese website
 Nintendo's European website

1889 establishments
 
1880s establishments in Japan