Nintendo Video Games
Nintendo's entered the video-gaming market in 1974 based on rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey video game console in Japan. Nintendo started producing some of it's own hardware in 1977, starting with Color TV Game consoles. Four models of these consoles were manufactured, each with several variations of one single game.
Shigeru Miyamoto worked for Nintendo during this early time period. He was the designer of the casing for several of the Color TV Game consoles. Miyamoto created, directed and produced a number of Nintendo's best video games of all time.
In 1975, Nintendo started into the business of video arcade game manufacture with the game EVR Race, and a number of other titles soon followed. Nintendo found some good success with this venture. Donkey Kong,introduced in 1981, changed Nintendo's future forever. The game was an absolutely huge success and was as a result licensed to many manufacturers which produced a massive profit for Nintendo.
In 1983, Nintendo introduced the Family Computer (known as "Famicom"), which was known outside Japan as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), home video game console in Japan. In 1985, the NES was introduced to North America, with Super Mario Bros which is one of the best-selling video games ever.
In 1989, the Game Boy handheld game console was introduced.
The Nintendo Entertainment System was followed by Super Famicom,which was known outside of Japan as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). This gaming console was Nintendo's
16-bit 4th generation product, superseding the Famicom which was 8-bit 3rd generation. Their main rival was the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis. A battle between Nintendo and Sega followed. The SNES sold 49.10 million consoles which was about 20 million more than the Mega Drive/Genesis.
Because of the dominance of the Game Boy, the Virtual Boy was developed. Virtual Boy was a table top semi-portable console which had a stereoscopic display. Players saw the games through a binocular type viewer and controlled games by use of a gamepad. The Virtual Boy was rushed to market in 1995 to make up for for delays in development of the Nintendo 64. Virtual Boy was unfortunately unsuccessful due to its high price.
The Nintendo 64, was finally released in 1996. This system had 3D graphics, and allowed for up to four players. The Nintendo 64 controller was the completely new analog stick. Nintendo at a later date also launched the Rumble Pak, a Nintendo 64 controller accessory. This was the first device of this type for home console gaming, and was destined to become an industry standard feature.
The Nintendo GameCube was introduced to the market in 2001. This was the first Nintendo console with optical disc storage. The newest Nintendo home console, the Wii, has motion sensing controllers, and has online functionality for services such as Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and Internet Channel (in contrast to GameCube which had limited functionality only on certain games by means of an additional modem). The Wii's success, and the success of the DS, introduced a new broader audience with non-traditional demographics. This business model has been successful for Nintendo. However this new business model has also caused some gamers to abandon the Nintendo console, and move over to some of its competitors.
Nintendo's new home console, the Wii U, was introduced on June 7, 2011 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo.