NINTENDO
Nintendo (Ninten is translated roughly as "leave luck to heaven" or "in heaven's hands"; do is a common suffix for names of shops or laboratories) was originally founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda (Japanese playing cards).
Nintendo of Japan, the main branch of the company, is based in Kyoto Japan. Nintendo of America, its North American division, is based in Redmond, Washington.
In 1980, Nintendo of America (NOA) was established by Yamauchi's son-in-law, Minoru Arakawa.
Nintendo introduced the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the United States in 1985 after a successful launch of the Famicom in Japan. The NES is often considered to be the "savior" of the Video Game Industry. Nintendo debuted Super Mario Bros, and later such hits as Metroid, and Zelda, helping to boost a market which seriously diminished in the early 1980s.
To keep up with the fierce competition of the 16-bit Sega Genesis and NEC Turbo Grafx 16, Nintendo released the Super NES (SNES) to US markets in September of 1991 (Nov 1990 for Japanese release of Super Famicom). Although it had a slow start, it eventually overtook the Sega Genesis, thanks to franchise titles such as Mario World, Zelda 3, Street Fighter 2, and the Final Fantasy series.
In 1995, Nintendo found themselves in a similar competitive situation. Former competitor Sega introduced their 32-bit Saturn, while newcomer Sony introduced the 32-bit Playstation. In 1995, They introduced the Nintendo 64 (N64). The N64 never overtook the #1 Sony Playstation, and managed to secure a solid number 2 spot.
The N64 soon found itself overwhelmed, so in September of 2001, Nintendo released the GameCube (GC).
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