Everyone knows Nintendo. This japanese company entertainment features some of the most popular franchises from the history of video games. Exclusives that sell very well with well-known titles such as Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, The Legend of Zelda either Super Mario Odyssey. In addition, Nintendo continues to manufacture its own video game console, the best seller in Japan and that it sells very well in the rest of the world without entering into the war of generations of Sony and Microsoft. But there was a time when Nintendo’s business They had little or nothing to do with the video game. More than anything because they had not yet been invented.
Nintendo starts in the video game sector in the 70s of the last century. As the official website of the Japanese giant briefly indicates, in 1970 “the sale of the series began Beam Gun which used opto-electronics. For the first time in Japan, the electronics to the toy industry”. The device in question was Magnavox Odyssey. A game console accompanied by a light gun to use in games like the one mentioned above. Nintendo itself points out that in 1973, “the laser shooting system developed by the company replaces bowling as the main pastime in Japan.”
However, the history of Nintendo begins a long time ago, in 1889. That year, Fusajiro Yamauchi Start to make Japanese playing cards hanafuda in the Japanese city of Kyoto. The company name was initially Yamauchi Nintendo. And the success of these handmade playing cards He soon had them mass-produced with the help of several employees. But Nintendo’s business before the arrival of video games goes further.
Nintendo, Disney and Japanese playing cards
In 1886, the Meiji government of Japan legalize gambling. Or to be more exact, the games with bets. Fusajiro Yamauchi sees the opportunity and starts a playing card manufacturing business hanafuda, the usual ones back then in that corner of the planet. And as usually happens in this type of business, the betting and card games sector was in the hands of the Yakuza. Hence, Nintendo’s main clients belonged to this union. And by 1953, Nintendo was already the main japanese company production of playing cards and playing cards.
In 1956, Nintendo’s business is in the hands of Hiroshi Yamauchi, the company’s third president. To expand the business, he decides to travel to the United States. and on his journey reaches an agreement with Disney to include its characters on their playing cards. By then, Nintendo already sells all kinds of cards and even books explaining game modes. The growth is such that in 1963 it changed its name from then, Nintendo Playing Card Company, by Nintendo, simply. And expands its catalog of products and services. In large part, thanks to the financing obtained after listing on the second section of the Osaka Stock Exchange and the Kyoto Stock Exchange.
As a curiosity, in addition to the classic and Disney-themed cards, Nintendo also had a line of playing cards with bawdy theme. He even had playing cards in which he appeared Marilyn Monroe images straight out of Playboy. And he also sold cards of lower quality than the originals under other commercial names.
The love hotels
Hiroshi Yamauchi decided to go beyond Nintendo’s business focused on gaming cards and tried his luck in various sectors. One of the most committed was the love hotels, Love Hotels in English. A euphemism to name establishments in which rooms are rented by the hour. A lucrative business that remains relatively popular in Japan and is used by first-time couples, lovers or prostitution professionals, among others.
Without going into details, Nintendo had several of these hotels in Kyoto. It’s more. Evil tongues say that Yamauchi himself, married, was a regular at some of these places. And that he and some of his loved ones frequented these establishments without paying. Whether this is true or not, this line of business did not bear fruitdespite the success of love hotels in the 60s and 70s of the last century.
Your own taxi company
Another of Nintendo’s businesses strangers to the family image What this entertainment company has is taxis. Among the many businesses with which Hiroshi Yamauchi tried his luck since 1960 we find a taxi company call Daiya, diamond in Spanish. In part, it had its reason for being in relation to the aforementioned business of hotels by the hour. And they both failed.
As Mary Firestone explains in her book Nintendo: Company and Its FoundersAlthough the taxi company got off to a good start in terms of profits, it was short-lived. The reason is that those in charge paid their employees very little. Fed up with this abuse, they decided to complain and demand better working conditions. The decision of his employers was to terminate the company.
Fast food
One of the many products that have traveled around the world from Japan is fast food. Or more specifically, the instant soups and noodles. It is an economical, although not so healthy, way to kill hunger without having to get our hands dirty or spend time cooking. The food in question comes dehydrated and it only needs boiling water to be ready to eat.
Among the many businesses that Yamauchi launched, a fast or instant food company stands out that It included mostly rice, noodles and other quickly consumed dishes that we have all seen in supermarkets and in Japanese fiction. However, that portion of the market was already occupied by renowned companies that had been dedicated to that sector for years. Another failure for Nintendo that wanted to be more than a playing card manufacturer.
LEGO style piece-based toys
Nintendo was born as a adult company. Card games involved gambling. And the subsequent businesses that Yamauchi tried to start were also focused on the adult audience. The only exception was the Disney-themed playing cards. So why not dedicate yourself to make toys? Under this idea, Nintendo’s businesses expanded with different proposals. One of them was inspired by the popular LEGO.
under the name N&B BlockNintendo started selling parts kits that were inevitably reminiscent of the already well-known LEGO ones. The only difference was in changing LEGO for Nintendo and that the parts connections They were semicircles compared to the full circles of the Danish company. Something that does not surprise us today, since there are many companies that do the same, but mainly from China.
The similarity was such, in the pieces themselves and even in the product’s advertising, that, inevitably, LEGO sued Nintendo for infringing its patents. And although Nintendo inexplicably won the trial, they decided to stop manufacturing its plastic parts.
Bulk Board Games
That a playing card company sells video games will seem strange to us. But these are two related sectors because they both satisfy the need to have fun. The same goes for board games. In the 1960s, Nintendo wanted to take advantage of the success of board games, many of them imported from the United States.
Nintendo licensed several board games from MB (Milton Bradley) and Parker Brothers. He also bought the licenses for Disney characters and Japanese cartoons. And from there, Nintendo began to manufacture games known in the United States such as Twister and others that were more original such as Ultra Hand. Its inventor was Gunpei Yokoiresponsible for the love machine and game boy, among other iconic Nintendo products. It was a plastic device that allowed it to be lengthened or shortened. On one side it had two handles and on the other two prehensile parts. sold more than a million units. And it was one of the first big hits among Nintendo’s businesses outside of playing cards.
The love machine
Who wouldn’t like to know if their partner is ideal? The solution, try the love machine or Love Tester. Nintendo created your own love machine in 1969. An electronic toy inspired by the polygraph or truth machine. And it didn’t really do anything beyond being a diversion like the Ouija, owned by Hasbro.
The love machine already existed, in a larger size, in public places in Japan such as bowling alleys or cocktail bars. But the Nintendo version was intended to be purchased and used at home. The machine consisted of two electrodes. And the dial of the machine moved upon contact. For this to happen, two people had to touch the machine and hold hands. The same principle that popularized the Ouija at the beginning of the 20th century. An excuse to be intimate.
A ‘roomba’ with remote control
At the end of 1970, Nintendo was already beginning to be the Nintendo that we all know. His great successes in the sector of table games they gave the jump to electronics. Nintendo begins manufacturing its first home consoles in collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric. TV Game 15 and TV Game 6.
So familiar with electronics, Nintendo decides to manufacture your own home vacuum cleaner. A kind of ‘roomba’ with remote control ideal for cleaning small surfaces. His name was Nintendo Chiritorie and it was small in size, although its design would have worked well today. Unfortunately, the technology of the time It was not like the current one. No motion sensors, no lithium batteries. In short, aspire, aspire little. Nor could he travel long distances, since it was very slow. Chiritorie was also an invention of Gunpei Yokoi, the father of the Game Boy and Ultra Hand.