Nintendo

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (Japanese: ) is an international video game company based in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi as Nintendo Koppai, the company started out handcrafting Hanafuda playing cards for the Japanese market. During the 1960s, Nintendo began to make different products, starting with board games and mechanical toys, then electro-mechanical toys in the early 1970s, and electronics as early as 1975, although Nintendo still makes Hanafuda playing cards to this day. Today, Nintendo is home to over a dozen video game franchises and some of the best-selling video game consoles and handhelds of all time.
==Yamauchi Fusajirō Shōten/Yamauchi Nintendo/Nintendo Koppai (1889–1933)/Yamauchi Nintendo & Co. (1933–1950)/Marufuku Co., Ltd. (1947-1950)==
===1889–c. 1957 (primary), c. 1957–present (secondary)===
This trademark logo, named the "Marufuku", has a stylized version of the Japanese kanji character fuku (福) in a circle. The Marufuku trademark symbol was predominately used as the signage on Nintendo's first headquarters in Kyoto; on flags on top of the headquarters; banners; advertising; and early company reports. Note that this trademark never appeared on any boxes for their products (No product would receive a logo at all until the late 1950s), but did appear on the actual Hanafuda cards. 
This trademark was no longer officially used as their primary logo by the late 1950s and favored using a simple kanji wordmark of their company name or a unique spades logo. The symbol would continued to be used on their research center in Fukuinekamitakamatsucho, Higashiyama Ward, Kyoto in multiple areas; once on the wall of a side building that was torn down in the 1990s, and on the plate by the entrance, which remains engraved to this today. 
This trademark logo is still in use today, as Nintendo's modern Hanafuda cards still display it, and the plate on the building of Nintendo's first headquarters (which has since been turned into a hotel) still displays it for historical purposes.
==Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd. (1950-1963)==
===c. 1933–c. 1957 (unofficial), c. 1957–1965 (official)===
Spade logos had been on Nintendo's western Trump cards since as early as 1933, but were simply regular spades modified to include a letter "N" or the Marufuku trademark. This design, which included an English wordmark written in cursive, first appeared in the late 1950s, while becoming a full-on brand logo in 1960, being shown on boxes and advertisements, although the logo was used alongside Nintendo's full kanji wordmark. The last product that used this logo was the Companion, released at the end of 1965.
Although no longer in official use, Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics displays this logo as a cameo while playing any of the card games, specifically if an ace card is in view.
===1957-2000 (secondary), 1957-present (corporate)===
This logo displayed the company's name in Japanese kanji. The kanji characters, in order, are nin (任), ten (天) and do (堂). 
Nintendo has always referred to their company name with kanji since their inception, but it was considered simple text, not a logo. Starting in 1957, Nintendo began using their kanji wordmark as a logo in tandem with the spades logo. This logo would continue to appear with later logos into the 1960s and early 1970s. By the time the company started manufacturing electronics, the kanji wordmark as a brand logo would phase out, appearing on fewer products until being completely obsolete by 2000. 
It is worth noting that since the introduction of this logo, it has been the secondary corporate logo of Nintendo to this day. It is still seen on several corporate buildings and flags in their offices in Kyoto, their annual company reports, and sponsor spots for the Pokémon anime.
Two variations of this logo exist, shown below:
====1957–1966====
This variation displayed the do (堂) kanji slightly more stylized.
The first documented time the kanji text appeared as a logo was in an advert from January 1957, with it first appearing on buildings with the opening of a Nagoya office and on the plate of the research center in Kyoto, both in 1959. The last use of the logo was on a manual of Home Bowling in 1966https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8GVZmc1TQIc/XMbo925anAI/AAAAAAAAK44/uvtoBV_U-H061xjc12EfrJGZy69HnXf0ACLcBGAs/s1600/nintendo_home_bowling_09.JPG.
====1966-present====
This variation standardizes the do (堂) kanji, as well as make the font slightly bolder with sharper edges.
The previous variation was modified in 1966, first appearing on the box of the Ultra Handhttp://blog.beforemario.com/2011/03/nintendo-ultra-hand-1966.html. As mentioned earlier, the brand usage of this logo would fizzle out by the mid-1970s. The last non-corporate use this logo saw was during several end screens for Satellaview interactive programs, a SNES peripheral service that ran from 1995-2000.
===1960–1967===
Introduced sometime in the early 1960s, this became Nintendo's new wordmark. The writing became even more stylized, with a star on top of the "i". The logo would eventually be seen on Nintendo's first toys, with it being used less and less. The logo would be used for the final time with a different font as an engraving on the bat for the "Ultra Machine" in 1967.
==Nintendo Co., Ltd.==
===1963–1971===
The "ng" letters inside the circle stood for "Nintendo Game", and debuted right around the time the company began making board games and mechanical toys. Because Nintendo was still working with international companies to license their games with western characters, they decided to sell their first board games under the name "Nippon Game" starting in 1963, primarily as a way to have the capability of collaborating with international brands.
The name "Nippon Game" was phased out by the end of 1965, when Nintendo stopped collaborating with companies like Disney. The actual company was never named "Nippon Game", as the official company name was renamed from "Nintendo Playing Card Co., Ltd." to "Nintendo Co., Ltd." in 1963. Any subsequent product released after 1965 listed the name "Nintendo" on boxes. The logo would become a secondary logo after 1967, being used with the wordmark from 1967. The last products to use this logo were released in 1971.
===Secondary Logos (1964–1967)===
None of these logos were Nintendo's primary logo; instead, these were alternate logos solely used on a specific kind of product to make it match better with the theme of said product.
====1964–1965====
====1964–1967====
====1965–1967====
===1966–1967===
This text was only seen on Nintendo's toys released in 1966 and on one toy in 1967, before being immediately phased out once their wordmark was redone in 1967.
===1967–1976===
With the debut of the "Ultra Machine", this logo would replace Nintendo's wordmark from 1960, and now used a much simpler font. This logo had its own variations, and was a precursor to the modern Nintendo wordmark; it was revised in 1976 to the current wordmark used today.
====1967–1968====
The logo with a hexagon border was only seen in a few products: the "Ultra Machine", "People House", and some products in the N&B Block series.
====1970–1974====
This logo was the most common variation of the 1967 wordmark, seen on nearly every Nintendo product in the early 1970s. The wordmark was placed in a giant, stylized "N". It acted as a replacement for the "ng" logo, which was completely phased out by this time. This logo itself would last be seen in around 1974.
====1972====
This logo—with the wordmark on the bottom and above it a black circle with a white "N" highlighted inside of the circle—was only seen on a single product: the "Wild Gunman Game".
====1972====
This logo was the first instance of the famous "racetrack" logo used today; Nintendo's wordmark was placed inside a thin; rounded rectangle border. This logo was only seen on two products: the "Ele-Conga" and its accessory "Autoplayer".
===1973–1975===
This logo displayed the company's name in Japanese katakana. The katakana characters, in order, are ni (ニ), n (ン), te (テ), n (ン), and do (ドー).
Starting in 1973, Nintendo began displaying their name in katakana alongside their English wordmark on boxes only. By 1975, they reverted to using kanji characters to display their native spelling.
===1976–present===
By 1976, the Nintendo wordmark was updated once more, with the font becoming much less bolder than the wordmark from 1967. This standalone wordmark, without the rounded rectangle border surrounding it, first appeared in the Custom Gunman and Custom Lion toys sometime in 1976. This wordmark is still used internationally today; as a standalone wordmark, it is only used on copyright notices (including inside game cartridges and internal console/accessory boards).
====1979–present====
Starting in 1979, the rounded rectangle border was re-added, albeit more bolder and with the current wordmark inside of it. This logo was first adopted around the time they started to make arcade games, with it first appearing on the cabinet for their game Space Launcher, although it was considered a variant of their logo and did not reach mainstream prominence until the release of Donkey Kong in 1981. This logo is currently used on prints with a reserved symbol being implemented inside of the logo, as well as on Nintendo's corporate headquarters in Kyoto.
====1984–2008, 2008–present (secondary)====
This logo was first adopted when Punch-Out!! released. The logo's border and text were recolored to red, filling up the empty space with white, as well as adding a reserved symbol on the top right corner. This logo was still used as its main corporate logo until 2008, but is rarely used today, if at all.
====2004–2016, 2016–present (secondary)====
In 2004, the logo's color scheme was changed from red to gray and the white background inside the rectangle was removed.Nintendo Feels All Grown Up, Changes Logo This logo debuted with the Nintendo DS in 2004, later being adopted by Nintendo of Europe as their corporate logo in 2008, followed by Nintendo of Japan and America. This logo is still used on some game cartridges, but is barely shown on-screen anymore, if at all. As a corporate logo, it is still used by most of Nintendo's international operations, usually as a secondary logo, as well as on Nintendo's development headquarters in Kyoto.
====2016–present====
On May 11, 2016, Nintendo phased out its gray variant as the main logo and reintroduced the red color, but as a background color against a white variant of its logo. This logo mirrors the branding of the Nintendo Switch, where the logo is normally within a red box. This was introduced along with their new slogan, "There's No Play Like It", which was retired in 2019. This logo was also used on later Nintendo 3DS and amiibo products, replacing the gray logo on their packaging.
==References==
==External links==
Category:Nintendo
Category:Console brands
Category:Video game publishers
Category:Video game developers
Category:Media companies in Japan
Category:Video game companies of Japan
Category:Kyoto
Category:Japan
Category:1880s
Category:1889
Category:Electronics companies
Category:Manufacturers in Japan