Nintendo

**Nintendo** is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.

Nintendo was founded in 1889 as **Nintendo Karuta** by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade *hanafuda* playing cards. After venturing into various lines of business during the 1960s and acquiring a legal status as a public company, Nintendo distributed its first console, the Color TV-Game, in 1977. It gained international recognition with the release of *Donkey Kong* in 1981 and the Nintendo Entertainment System and *Super Mario Bros.* in 1985.

Since then, Nintendo has produced some of the most successful consoles in the video game industry, such as the Game Boy, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Nintendo DS, the Wii, and the Switch. It has created numerous major franchises, including *Mario*, *Donkey Kong*, *The Legend of Zelda*, *Pokémon*, *Kirby*, *Metroid*, *Fire Emblem*, *Animal Crossing*, *Splatoon*, *Star Fox*, *Xenoblade Chronicles*, and *Super Smash Bros*. Nintendo's mascot, Mario, is internationally recognized.

Nintendo has multiple subsidiaries in Japan and abroad, in addition to business partners such as The Pokémon Company and HAL Laboratory. It is one of the wealthiest and most valuable companies in the Japanese market.

The Wii U's successor in the eighth generation of video game consoles, the Nintendo Switch, was released in March 2017. The Switch features a hybrid design as a home and handheld console, independently functioning Joy-Con controllers that each contain an accelerometer and gyroscope, and the simultaneous wireless connection of up to eight consoles. To expand its library, Nintendo entered alliances with several third-party and independent developers; by February 2019, more than 1,800 games had been released for the Switch. Worldwide sales of the Switch exceeded 55 million units by March 2020. In April 2018, the Nintendo Labo line was released, consisting of cardboard accessories that interact with the Switch and the Joy-Con controllers. More than one million units of the Nintendo Labo Variety Kit were sold in its first year on the market.

In 2018, Shuntaro Furukawa replaced Kimishima as company president, and in 2019, Doug Bowser succeeded Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé. In April 2019, Nintendo formed an alliance with Tencent to distribute the Nintendo Switch in China starting in December. In April 2020, ValueAct Capital Partners announced an acquisition of $1.1 billion in Nintendo stock purchases, giving them an overall stake of 2% in Nintendo. On 6 January 2020, hotel and restaurant development company Plan See Do announced that it would refurbish the former headquarters of Marufuku Nintendo Card Co. as a hotel, with plans to add 20 guest rooms, a restaurant, bar, and gym, with a planned opening date of mid 2021. The building belongs to Yamauchi Co., Ltd., an asset management company of Nintendo's founding family. It was further reported that the original 19th-century headquarters was apparently demolished and turned into a parking lot.Although the COVID-19 pandemic caused delays in the production and distribution of some of Nintendo's products, the situation "had limited impact on business results"; in May 2020, Nintendo reported a 75% increase in income compared to the previous fiscal year, mainly contributed by the Nintendo Switch Online service. In August 2020, Nintendo was named the richest company in Japan.