How Nintendo Has Been Leading Others to Thrive in the Gaming Business?

Nintendo is a company that needs no introduction. It has been around for over 100 years, and it continues to be one of the most influential companies in the gaming industry. This article will dive into how Nintendo changed gaming with their innovation, as well as how they opened up new opportunities for other game developers who followed suit.

How did they start their business?

Nintendo wasn’t so popular at first. It was founded by Fusajiro Yamauchi in 1889, and the company began as a producer of traditional playing cards for children. Nintendo’s success grew exponentially when they ventured into producing Hanafuda Cards.

Nintendo eventually made the transition from card production to video game development and began to make Western-style playing cards with a standardized set of rules in order for them to be played anywhere in the world. They also put out an English version of Hanafuda, which is a card game in which players have to match the numbers on cards in a set.

In 1963, Nintendo came out with their first toy called “Ultra Hand”. It was made of plastic and would allow kids to grab objects from afar or help them reach things up high. 

Later in 1995, Nintendo released the game “Donkey Kong”. It was a major success and many people continue to play it today.

Nintendo then came out with their first home console called Famicom in Japan, but they changed its name to NES when releasing it outside of Asia. The company continued to branch off into different areas such as arcade games.

How have they created a path for others?

As you can probably have noticed by now, they made games with various mechanics, graphics and topics. They started with casino card games, slots like games, then some arcades that are evergreen and ended with the Nintendo Wii, a system that made motion-control games popular. 

From this point in history we can observe the constant growth of the gaming industry market with all the companies racing with their innovations.

Nintendo started with casino games, now we have online casinos to play anywhere on almost any device connected with the Internet.

Japanese company created arcade games, now we have a huge industry that has grown and evolved on the back of Nintendo’s foundation.

Nintendo took motion control as an opportunity to innovate, so do other companies in order to stay afloat. 

What is their secret? The answer can be found by looking at who they targeted with these innovations – not only hardcore gamers but also people who just want to have fun with games.

Their games  invite people to play and enjoy, so other companies can’t help but follow. Moreover, their creations are universal for both young and adults. You can play Mario Games or Donkey Kong when you are 8 and when you are 38 as well. Basically, their games are evergreen and for everyone.

Additionally, Nintendo cartridges are  the only ones that do not need to be updated and have infinite replayability. Also, they can be incredibly rare and really expensive. The most expensive cartridge ever sold was $25,000.

Times have changed and Nintendo lost its pioneer position, but we can’t deny that it is a foundation under all other games and consoles. If you show Nintendo gaming consoles and games to the children, they will consider it as the best and enter every game with their whole heart even though games can be really vintage ones.

The Wii was the first motion-controlled gaming console, and it is the most successful one too. It allowed people to play tennis or golf as if they were in front of their games. That was a whole new experience for lazy people. Of course others joined the trend and  now we can see different variations of games like Kinect or PlayStation Move.

Nintendo is also the first console to use SD cards and thumbsticks, which can be found now on every controller. If you look closer to every solution in the gaming industry, almost all of them have their source  in Nintendo.

Nintendo’s success was not only because of their creativity but also by a good marketing campaign, – it is worth noting that they were the first console to include TV commercials in its advertising. They didn’t know how to advertise such a thing , because there was no one before them.

Nintendo’s marketing campaign was that good, it even became a trend in other industries – you can find its symbols all over different media channels and products.

Other companies realised that they need to find themselves a good niche to operate on. Sony and its Playstation was always good in sports games such as international football game Fifa that is commonly played on Playstation consoles.

Nintendo and pop culture

Games from Nintendo are legendary and they have created a gaming community. They have created a culture around themselves, which made them the most influential company in the gaming industry.

Nintendo’s founders knew that they need to be unique for people to notice their products – so why not create something new? 

If it wasn’t for Nintendo there would probably be no widespread interest in video games and online casino games. Thanks to well-known plumber, Mario, Link from Legends of Zelda, Donkey Kong and other characters, Nintendo has made its place in the history of video games.

Based on that, the whole gaming culture was born with ComicCons, cosplay and streaming.

The company was never afraid to try new things – they have been a trendsetter for many years by creating their own game consoles such as: Game Boy, Wii U or Switch. For every generation of people they have been true innovations. Game Boy for Millenials, Wii U for Generation Z or Switch for Generation Alpha.

Conclusion

Nintendo was, is and will always be a highly responsible company that leads others to thrive in the gaming business. Even though their competition has grown strong, they will never step down from the piedestal. Nintendo has changed the gaming industry by creating a new genre of games. It is hard to imagine what a video game would be like without Mario, Luigi or Donkey Kong and all their friends from different Nintendo titles.