From playing cards to video games, the journey of Nintendo

Super Mario, Pokémon, Wii Series and The Legend of Zelda: What do they all have in common? Well, all these are video games and have come from the stable of the Japanese gaming company, Nintendo. But do you know Nintendo didn’t start its business with the Super Mario game or even any video game console? 

It originally started as a playing cards company! Yes, it made Hanafuda, traditional handmade cards when it began its journey in 1889. Video games did not even exist at that time.  

Why did it start as a playing cards company? 
Playing cards were very popular in the 1880s but Japan had banned all foreign playing cards since they encouraged illegal gambling.  Therefore, Japan launched its playing cards. The first of these was designed for a game called Unsun Karuta. Since the game ended up becoming a way to gamble, the government banned them as well. Post that, many new card games were invented and banned. 

Then, in the 19th century a new card game, Hanafuda was introduced. How was this game different? It did not use numbers and was based on images. That meant they couldn't be used for gambling. This way it became popular both with the government and the public. However, since there was no gambling involved, the game soon started to lose its charm.  

From cards to toys to electronic games 
In 1889, a craftsman, Fusajiro Yamauchi, launched a pack of handmade Hanufuda cards through his company ‘Nintendo Karuta’. But what was different about Nintendo’s cards? These had paintings on them. People were impressed with the distinctive quality of both the art and the design. Very soon, the growing popularity established Nintendo as the top gaming company in Japan.  

In the mid-1900s, the company licensed third-party card graphics, such as Disney characters. In the 1960s, it expanded into countless varieties of toys. Soon, Nintendo formed a joint venture with Sony to develop electronic games, the first of which was called the Nintendo Beam Gun Game, a home version of the popular arcade light gun games.  

Foray into the video gaming zone 
Nintendo made its first entry into the world of video games in 1975. It started developing its own games and consoles with the Color TV-Game systems in 1977 followed by many handheld LCD games, most of which were successful.  

Inspired, Nintendo developed its first multi-cartridge gaming system in 1983, Super Mario Bros, the game which was a huge success. It finally launched its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, which again did very well. It last launched the Nintendo Switch in 2017, another gaming console, which has been selling very well.