Nintendo

Major events · 1889–2026

1. 1889Founding

   Nintendo founded as hanafuda-card maker

   Fusajiro Yamauchi opens a small shop in Kyoto producing hand-painted playing cards.

   Acquired episode Nintendo

2. 1949Leadership

   Hiroshi Yamauchi becomes president at 21

   Great-grandson of the founder takes over after his grandfather's stroke. Begins the 53-year reign that transforms the company.

   Acquired episode Nintendo

3. 1966Strategic shift

   Gunpei Yokoi's Ultra Hand toy succeeds

   Toy product unexpectedly sells over a million units. Pivots Nintendo from cards into toys, and Yokoi from maintenance worker to lead designer.

   Acquired episode Nintendo

4. 1981Product

   Donkey Kong arcade ships

   Shigeru Miyamoto's first major title. Introduces the Jumpman character who becomes Mario. Establishes Nintendo's design DNA.

   Acquired episode Console Wars

5. 1985Product

   NES launches in the US

   Two years after the post-Atari console crash. Nintendo restores the entire industry; sells 62M consoles globally over its lifetime.

   Acquired episode Console Wars

6. 1989Product

   Game Boy launches

   Yokoi's design philosophy — "lateral thinking with seasoned technology" — uses cheap, mature components to make portable gaming work. Sells 118M lifetime.

   Acquired episode Nintendo

7. 1996Product

   Nintendo 64 launches

   Underperforms PS1 commercially but ships Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time — the two most influential 3D games ever made.

   Acquired episode Console Wars

8. 2002Leadership

   Hiroshi Yamauchi steps down; Iwata becomes president

   Satoru Iwata, ex-HAL Laboratory programmer, becomes the first non-Yamauchi president. Yamauchi remains influential as senior advisor until his death in 2013.

   Acquired episode Nintendo

9. 2006Strategic shift

   Wii launches — the blue-ocean move

   Motion controls and casual-gamer focus skip the PS3/Xbox 360 spec race entirely. Outsells both; reaches non-gamers (parents, grandparents). 102M lifetime units.

   Acquired episode Console Wars

10. 2012Crisis

    Wii U launches — and flops

    Successor to the Wii fails to communicate its identity; sells only 14M lifetime. Triggers strategic rebuild that leads to Switch.

    Acquired episode Console Wars

11. 2015Leadership

    Iwata dies; Tatsumi Kimishima becomes president

    Iwata dies of cancer at 55. The company mourns publicly. Kimishima oversees the Switch launch the next year before passing the role to Shuntaro Furukawa.

    Acquired episode Nintendo

12. 2017Product

    Nintendo Switch launches

    Hybrid handheld + console design that combines the post-Wii U lessons with Game Boy's portability DNA. Becomes the second-best-selling console ever.

    Acquired episode Console Wars

13. 2023Cultural

    Super Mario Bros. Movie grosses $1.36B

    Illumination + Nintendo co-production. Validates Nintendo's IP-as-platform thesis decades after Hollywood's first failed attempt at Mario.

    Box office data

14. 2026Acquired covered

    Acquired covers Nintendo + Console Wars (two episodes)

    Two-episode arc — the company history + the Sega-vs-Nintendo competition. The IP-platform framing crystallises.

    https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/nintendo