History of Nintendo

An early Nintendo manufacturing plant.

This is an article about the History of Nintendo from its foundation as a card company in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi in Kyoto, Japan to its current role as one of the leaders of the video game industry.

Pre-video game industry

1889-1928

Fusajiro Yamauchi, Nintendo's 1st president.

The Japanese government had placed a ban on all gambling in Japan, and subsequently cards with numerical symbols on them were taken out of circulation. The government, however, did allow Hanafuda cards, mostly because they weren't generally associated with gambling and had illustrations in lieu of numbers. Still, by the time Hanafuda had been introduced they had relatively little appeal to the Japanese populace. It could be said that they were expected to run their course just as quickly as they arrived. A man by the name of Fusajiro Yamauchi, however, saw the potential in the market and came up with a plan to re-introduce the game to Japan by crafting hand drawn illustrations on cards made of mulberry tree bark. Hanafuda cards were smaller than the archetypal Western cards which had previously dominated the busy markets of Japan. Consequently he opened up a new company named at the time Nintendo Koppai on September 23, 1889.

A poster showing off Nintendo's Hanafuda cards.

The company was based in Kyoto, Japan and had a small building which was deemed the headquarters of Nintendo Koppai. The name Nintendo is typically translated from Japanese as "leave luck to heaven", though it is also said to mean "heaven blesses hard work", "in heaven's hands", "work hard, but in the end it's in heaven's hands", "Deep in the mind we have to do whatever we have to do", "Work hard, but in the end it is in heaven's hands", or even "The Hall of Entrusting Heaven" (according to the Touch Generations website, the first one is what it officially means).

Nintendo's Hanafuda cards had began to increase in popularity, eventually even being used for gambling, an act the government had opposed. The Yakuza even began to use Nintendo Koppai's Hanafuda cards. Fusajiro had no choice, but to hire more employees so that they could keep up with the demand for his cards. Over the years Nintendo started to manufacture more and more styles of cards, the most popular of which was the Daitouryou, or Napoleon, deck. The Miyako No Hana Hanafuda deck, which was more traditional in style, was also very popular. In 1907 Nintendo Koppai partnered with the Japanese company Japan Tobacco & Salt Corporation (now just Japan Tobacco) which allowed Nintendo to sell their cards in cigarette shops all across Japan.

1929-1949

Sekiryo Kaneda Yamauchi, Nintendo's 2nd president.

In 1929, Fusajiro Yamauchi retired and deemed his successor to be Sekiryo Kaneda. Sekiryo had married Fusajiro's daughter, Tei Yamauchi, and his name was changed to Sekiryo Yamauchi to keep with tradition. In 1933, a joint venture with another, unknown company was established, and Nintendo Koppai was renamed Yamauchi Nintendo & Company.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's 3rd president.

Sekiryo decided to organize a new company in 1947 whose sole purpose was to manufacture Nintendo's cards (both Hanafuda and other ones that Nintendo had ushered in over the years), and labeled it Marufuku Company, Ltd. Sekiryo's grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi, became the next head of Nintendo in September 1949 due to the former's poor health. Sekiryo's son-in-law, Shikanojo Inaba, would have become president had he not left his family. Hiroshi, who would later be described by one of his (anonymous) employees as the real life Mother Brain (the primary antagonist of Metroid, a Nintendo video game), took control of the company on the condition that all of his family members who worked there would be fired. Sekiryo had reluctantly agreed.

1949-1964

The oldest Nintendo building that to this day remains.

When Hiroshi Yamauchi took control of the company, he renamed it Nintendo Playing Card Co. and Marufuku Company Ltd. to Nintendo Karuta Company, Ltd., and moved his business to a new location in 1952. Hiroshi met with Walt Disney Productions in 1959 to strike a deal that allowed Nintendo to place Disney's properties on their cards. This resulted in cards that sported recognizable characters such as Mickey Mouse. Nintendo chose to partner with Disney in order to gain appeal with Japanese families.

During this time, he also released books that would explain in great detail how to play the various Hanafuda games. This venture became a great success, as Nintendo sold an estimated 600,000 decks in one year, which prompted Hiroshi to take Nintendo public and introduce it to the Osaka Stock Exchange in 1962. Based on this newfound success, Hiroshi would plan to expand Nintendo into areas outside of playing cards. Due to a visit to the U.S. years prior he had found the limitations the card business had offered, and thus chose to look elsewhere for success while remaining persistent in the card business.

The Chiritory.

The first order of business was to change the name from Nintendo Playing Card Co. to just Nintendo Co., Ltd. in 1963 in order to not be affiliated exclusively with cards.

Hiroshi's first venture outside of cards was to manufacture individualized instant rice (attempting to capitalize on the success of instant noodles), which proved to be a catastrophe for Nintendo. Immediately afterwords he opened up a chain of love hotels, which like the instant rice before it did not become a lucrative business choice. The Daiya taxi service was primarily operated by Nintendo and was successful for a short while until unions rocketed the salaries upwards, forcing the company to be shut down. Nintendo would later distribute a vacuum cleaner called the Chiritory which would cruise around the floor sucking objects up via a remote control.

The Chiritory, like everything else, was not successful. Nintendo had, however, found a favorable outcome with toys. If Nintendo was going to stay alive, they would have to change their business perspective from cards to toys, as the cards business had to an unexpected turn for the worse after the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Nintendo's stocks dropped from 900 yen to an unfortunate 60 yen. It was time to look towards the more advantageous toy market, and thus in 1964 Nintendo opened up their first research and development branch which they simply named Games. Their first toy they released in Japan was called the Rabbit Coaster.

1965-1977

The Ultra Hand was one of Nintendo's earliest successes in the toy business.

In 1969, Nintendo opened up a new manufacturing production plant in Uji City in Kyoto which would be a primary location where Nintendo would develop its toys. Four years prior in 1965, Gunpei Yokoi was hired as an assembly line maintenance engineer. He had just graduated from Doshisha University and was sent to Nintendo to work on the assembly line that manufactured Nintendo's Hanafuda cards which by now had become less successful than they were years prior. He worked there for several years before Hiroshi Yamauchi visited the plant and took notice of an invention Gunpei Yokoi had created for his own personal enjoyment. Yamauchi loved the invention so much that he ordered Yokoi to enhance it and manufacture it before Christmas. Yamauchi, whose company was still deep in debt, had found the invention he was looking for. Called the Ultra Hand, it was an extending arm that could grasp onto things far away. After everything was said and done, the Ultra Hand managed to sell 1.2 million copies across Japan, a phenomenal success for a company who couldn't seem to find a popular toy for kids. The Ultra Hand put Nintendo on the map and proved that they could endure in a market dominated by Bandai and Tomy.

Gunpei's first foray into the toy business would certainly not be his last, and the Ultra Hand could hardly be considered his most impressive invention. In fact, he would soon become one of the most legendary employees in Nintendo's history. Gunpei would continue his Ultra series with the release of a machine that could throw baseballs called the Ultra Machine, and a periscope known as the Ultra Scope. Gunpei Yokoi also invented Nintendo's successful Love Tester which was intended to test a boy and a girl's romantic feelings towards each other when they inserted their hands in the machine. Of course, the readings weren't accurate, but it was a fun toy that proved popular. Thanks solely to Gunpei Yokoi's inventions, Nintendo was launched to the top of the industry, and things would only progress when Yokoi was sent to a position where he could hire employees.

With this newfound power, he chose to hire Masayuki Uemura who had previously worked at the company Sharp in Japan. Together they would develop the Nintendo Beam Gun games. It can be said that this was Nintendo's first quest into the video game market. Today the Beam Gun games are best known as the predecessor to the NES Zapper. In 1973, Gunpei Yokoi would create the Laser Clay Shooting game which would replace various bowling alleys in Japan. In the country, there was a short spur when bowling became an inexpensive pastime, though it shortly ended. Nintendo bought a multitude of these alleys and put Laser Clay Shooting equipment in the bowling alleys' place. A year later in 1974, Nintendo would pursue the rights to market the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan and did so with great success.

This year they also implemented the Beam Gun technology in the game Wild Gunman in arcades. Other light gun games released around this time included Shooting Trainer (1975), Sky Hawk (1976), and Battle Shark (1977). 1975 would be the year Nintendo would introduce the game that they generally accept to be their first video game, EVR Race. A large arcade title that supported up to six players, people would be required to guess which horse would win in a race. The results were random. Gunpei Yokoi certainly made a mark on Nintendo's history. He would continue to work with Nintendo for years and would develop a hefty number of endearing franchises that would stand the test of time. But there was another piece to the puzzle who would come in the form of Shigeru Miyamoto.

Video game beginnings

1977-1979

Nintendo had gotten a taste of electronic video games with devices such as the Love Tester, the Magnavox Odyssey and Laser Clay Shooting, though with Gunpei Yokoi and Shigeru Miyamoto now within the company, things would start to change. And indeed, they did. Whereas in 1974 Nintendo distributed the Odyssey in Japan, they would subsequently decide to create their own video game console via a joint venture with Mitsubishi Electric.

The Color TV-Game 6.

The games they created were Color TV-Game 6 in 1977 and Color TV-Game 15 in 1978. The games consisted of various adaptions of the Atari game known as Pong with minor alterations. Both iterations sold over a million copies and further cemented Nintendo's position in the industry. Color TV-Game 15 was partly successful for including controllers connected to the console via wires whereas the original had the console and controller connected as one single unit. The same year would find Shigeru Miyamoto's gaming debut with the release of Color TV-Racing 112. He didn't work on the actual programing or game design, but instead designed the housing of the system. Miyamoto years later mentioned that he viewed the designs of the first two Color TV-Games as "bad" and he wanted to greatly improve on them. For Color TV-Racing 112 he included a wheel to make the game more accessible.

Color TV-Racing 112 and Color TV-Game 15 weren't the only games Nintendo would develop in 1978, however, as this marked the year of the game titled Computer Othello, a computerized version of Reversi. It was a table top single and multiplayer video game that was never released outside of Japan. Also released this year was Test Driver which used a wheel similar to the one found in Color TV-Racing 112. In the game you wouldn't race opponents, however, but instead just try and not crash. A Breakout clone named Block Fever was also released in arcades this year, and in 1979 would be remade as a console game and renamed as Color TV-Block Kusure.

In 1979 Nintendo would start to crank out arcade titles that were typically clones of popular games, though one in particular stood out. Titled Sheriff, the game had the player take the role of a gunman whose goal was to shoot down all of his enemies and save the "damsel in distress". This game was the first time Shigeru Miyamoto worked directly on the design, crafting the characters that were in the title. Other games released during this time include Space Fever, SF-HiSplitter, Monkey Magic and the surprisingly original Space Launcher which predates Frogger by at least two years. Around this time Nintendo's Gunpei Yokoi started dreaming up a new project that was more impressive than anything he had conceived in the past.

1980-1982

Ball, the first Game & Watch game.

Gunpei Yokoi was once traveling on a bullet train in Japan when he glanced over and saw a man messing around with a portable LCD calculator. The man seemed bored and was just playing around with it to pass the time. This caused Gunpei Yokoi to come up with the idea of a portable LCD video game game, which soon gave birth to the Game & Watch. Game & Watch games did not contain interchangeable cartridges and thus when you bought the game, you bought an entire piece of hardware. The first Game & Watch game released, titled Ball, was distributed throughout the entire world. As surprising as it seems, the release of the Game & Watch was not the most important event in 1980.

A man named Minoru Arakawa went to the United States after graduating from Kyoto University. He learned the ins and outs of the country after purchasing a cheap van and going from coast to coast. Upon arriving back in Kyoto, he married Yoko Yamauchi, Hiroshi Yamauchi's daughter. It was then at a dinner with his father-in-law when Hiroshi Yamauchi approached Minoru and explained to him that he wanted to open a Nintendo branch in the United States and offered him the job of president. Yoko wanted her husband to stay in Kyoto, though Hiroshi eventually convinced them both to head to America and open up the new branch, and subsequently Minoru, Yoko, and their daughter headed to New York, beginning Nintendo's arrival in the West.

Nintendo's new American branch would distribute Game & Watch games throughout the states. The first batch included the previously mentioned Ball, as well as Flagman, Vermin, Fire and Judge. All of these games were part of the silver series Game & Watch units and would soon be succeeded by the Gold series in 1981. By 1980 Nintendo had yet to make themselves a household name due to their arcade titles generally being clones of previously released titles. Both Hiroshi and Minoru wanted to release a game that would prove extremely popular in the United States for Nintendo of America to distribute. Nintendo's R&D division got to work on an arcade title that they titled Radar Scope.

When released in Japan, it proved to be lucrative enough to release stateside, though it took too long to arrive and by the time it did, retailers would extremely be disappointed by the product Nintendo of America showed them, and they only managed to sell one third of the units they had ordered. Minoru contacted his father-in-law, explaining the ordeal and asked that they create a game that could replace the unused Radar Scope units, as they didn't have the money to simply make new cabinets. At the time most of the game designers were already hard at work on other products, so Hiroshi turned to an inexperienced new employee named Shigeru Miyamoto, who had been hired based on toys he had presented to Yamauchi. At first Yamauchi wanted Miyamoto to simply remake the game, though Miyamoto thought it would be more appropriate if he started the entire project over.

Thus began Donkey Kong.

Arcade flyer for Donkey Kong.

Yamauchi assigned Gunpei Yokoi to help assist Shigeru Miyamoto in crafting his first masterpiece. He taught Miyamoto all he knew about game design to get him started, but for the most part Miyamoto was left alone to create the game. During the initial stages, Miyamoto had wanted to get the license to create a game based on the Popeye property, though was unable to receive it. With this he chose to create his own characters. The playable character would come to be known as Jumpman due to his jumping abilities. He'd be up against the villain known as Donkey Kong, who had just escaped from Jumpman's clutches and kidnapped his girlfriend known as Pauline.

The game was the first platformer in which the character could jump over obstacles, which generally has caused some to deem it the first ever platformer. When the game was finally finished, they sent it to America, and the few employees of the company didn't like what they saw. Rather than have this new genre they wanted Miyamoto to create a game within the maze or shooting genre, but Hiroshi and Minoru assured them that the game would be a success. They later approved, but weren't sure about the name of Donkey Kong and Jumpman. Yamauchi allowed them to change the name of Jumpman though he refused to budge when it came to Donkey Kong. When trying to come up with a name for the main character, Nintendo of America's landlord went in the room demanding his rent check. His name was Mario Segale; Nintendo confirmed in 2015 that Jumpman's name change to Mario was because of the encounter with Segale.

Following the rent issue, the game was sent to two bars in Washington. By the end of the week the arcades were chalk full of quarters. Needless to say, employees of Nintendo of America were shocked to hear this, and immediately ordered replacement chips for the unused Radar Scope units. Nintendo only had five employees at the American branch, and all of them gutted the Radar Scope units and prepared them for Donkey Kong. Yoko, Minoru's wife, was even enlisted to help. Donkey Kong arrived, and within months Donkey Kong became the next big worldwide hit. It was reported that the game was so successful, that Nintendo in Japan couldn't keep up with the American's demand for the game.

During this time period, Yamauchi designated Masayuki Uemura as the leader of a group who would envision a home console that was technologically superior to other systems on the market, though was at the same time more affordable. Their dream would take a few years until it was fully realized. Meanwhile in America, Nintendo would be faced with a troublesome problem. Universal Studios took notice of Nintendo's success with Donkey Kong and had concluded that Nintendo may have infringed on their King Kong license. They demanded that Coleco, who had acquired the license to distribute Donkey Kong on their console, pay Universal. Coleco had no choice, but to give in to Universal's requests and subsequently Universal sent a letter to Nintendo demanding they pay them royalties for Donkey Kong.

Nintendo of America's Howard Lincoln and the rest of NoA agreed not to give in to their threats so MCA and Universal sent them to court. In 1982 when the lawsuit was initiated, it seemed as if Nintendo would be destroyed by Universal, though Nintendo had launched back, showing proof that Universal hadn't actually owned King Kong but that it was rather part of public domain. This led the case to crumble and Universal was ordered to pay Nintendo $1.8 million for damages. Over the years Nintendo would be attacked various times by many companies attempting to cash in on Nintendo's success to mostly no avail. After Nintendo emerged victorious, Coleco received their money back from Universal. After Donkey Kong was released, Nintendo would release a few titles such as Sky Skipper and Space Demon, though neither managed to match the success of Donkey Kong, which compelled Yamauchi to assign Miyamoto once again to create the game's sequel, which was titled Donkey Kong Jr..

The Famicom/Nintendo Entertainment System era

1983

Nintendo was set on releasing the Family Computer, the secret project Yamauchi had ordered his team to create that would take the market by storm and crush its competitors. In 1983, Nintendo built a new manufacturing plant in Uji City which would replace the one built in 1950 which was intended for business expansion and an acceleration in production capacity. The same year Nintendo would be listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Things were looking up for Nintendo and their fortune would only be exceeded when the Famicom was eventually released in Japan.

The Famicom.

Hiroshi Yamauchi had wanted to infiltrate the console market once again as they had previously done with the Color TV-Games and, before that, the manufacturing of the Magnavox Odyssey.

The head of the project, Masayuki Uemura, investigated ways in which manufacturing the Famicom would prove to be cost-effective. Finding appropriate CPUs and PPUs needed for the system, they met with representatives who manufactured the products, mostly coming out of these meetings empty handed due to the companies viewing the project as a risk that they fundamentally couldn't take. The list of possible and practical companies dwindled until they came across the company known as Ricoh. Hiroshi Yamauchi explained to the company that it was a necessity that the chips would cost no more than 2,000 yen, which left the representatives completely dumbfounded.

Yamauchi eased their fears when, in a confident manner, confirmed that he would purchase three million in two years. This was a bold statement, as Nintendo only managed to move a million units with previous ventures. Certain aspects had to be cut down in order for the system to be profitable, but Uemura and Yamauchi were both satisfied with what they had accomplished. By the end of the development stage Nintendo had to ramp up the price by $25, though at $100 the system was still relatively cheap. When released, the games Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Popeye were also made available.

After the Famicom was released to the market, a problem arose in certain chips that caused the Famicom to freeze when playing games. At first Nintendo couldn't determine what the problem was until they found that just one of the chips was causing the systems to malfunction. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Masayuki Uemura and Gunpei Yokoi met, and they all determined that it would be appropriate to recall the units. Nintendo spent half a million dollars to recall all Famicom units and replace them with improved chips which was all done at the new Uji City plant in Kyoto. Once things were sorted the systems were put back on the market and more games such as a version of Mahjong and Gomoku Narabe Renju were released by Nintendo for the system.

Mario Bros. was released around the same time as the Famicom. An arcade video game, Shigeru Miyamoto intended for the game to be a heavily multiplayer focused video game. It introduced Mario's brother Luigi, who would act as the game's second character. In the game, Mario and Luigi would have to clear the sewers which had been infested with nasty critters and bugs. To do so, they would go underneath the platforms which they were stationed on and jump, causing them to tumble on their head. Following this either of the brothers could knock the enemy away by simply touching them, though if they're not knocked over and the two connect, the player will lose a life. The game is noted for being a cooperative and competitive game. Players can assist each other by defeating foes though the prominent goal is to receive a better score than the other player. In the game, Mario and Luigi were nearly identical with simple pallet swaps. As the series progressed, so did the two character's distinctions. At the sanme time, Mario and Donkey Kong made their animated debuts with Saturday Supercade.

During 1983, Nintendo was planning on releasing the Famicom in America via Atari, and during C.E.S. that year the two were ready to sign papers to seal the deal. During the event, Atari witnessed an illegal Donkey Kong prototype playing on a Coleco console. Enraged, Atari has falsely assumed that Nintendo was negotiating with Coleco as well and decided to call off the deal. Hiroshi Yamauchi was so furious with Coleco that, after meeting with the president he told them that they would take them to court and leave nothing left of the company.

1984

Nintendo would start to phase out arcade games in lieu of home console titles which proved to be much more profitable. During 1984 many arcade games, however, were released that would later be ported to the Famicom where they would find a greater audience. 1984 marked the year when Nintendo started distributing the VS. System arcade games that contained two screens on each units for two players to play at once. Games such as Balloon Fight, Clu Clu Land, Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Hogan's Alley, Wild Gunman and others would all be released this year through the Vs. Nintendo arcade units. On the Famicom Nintendo, would release very few titles, but a few such as Family BASIC and Devil World are well known to this day.

Devil World is noted as being the first Famicom game created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. In the long run it would never be released in America due to its religious undertones. F-1 Race and Mahjong's sequel 4nin Uchi Mahjong were also released by Nintendo. 1984 was the year of the final entry in the Donkey Kong arcade trilogy, titled Donkey Kong 3. Of the three games, Donkey Kong 3 was the least successful. The game wasn't a platformer, didn't star Mario and was hardly a Donkey Kong game at all with many more omissions. While Donkey Kong 3 wasn't such a hit, 1984 was the year that debuted the Punch-Out!! franchise with the arcade title Punch-Out!!. While successful, it would fare even better when introduced to home consoles several years later.

Meanwhile, in the beginning of 1984 in January Nintendo would debut the Advance Video System at the winter CES show over in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to Nintendo, they would distribute the console and bundle it with a keyboard, wireless controller, Zapper, a music keyboard, and tape-storage functionality. No retailers that attended the event seemed too interested due to the lack of affection for the industry and the overwhelming apathy. In June that year, Nintendo would once again try to spark retailers' interest by showing the AVS off again at the summer CES, though the retailers had hardly changed their way of thinking. Nintendo would have to do more planning if they wished to introduce the system to America successfully.

1985

The Nintendo Entertainment System.

On January 5, 1985, Nintendo let loose. The Famicom, which was revealed to be released in America a year prior as the Advanced Video System (AVS) was to be renamed and re-revealed as the Nintendo Entertainment System at CES in Las Vegas.

During this time period, Hiroshi Yamauchi split his research and development team into four segments including Nintendo R&D1, Nintendo R&D2, Nintendo R&D3, and Nintendo R&D4. Each team would be headed by different people, and each would be given different assignments. Nintendo R&D1 would be headed by Gunpei Yokoi, who by then had proved to be Nintendo's most important employee. R&D1 was Nintendo's biggest group of the bunch and would create many of the games released on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The group known as Team Shikamaru emerged from R&D1 and would be responsible for scripts and scenarios for R&D1 titles and consisted of legendary game designer Yoshio Sakamoto as well as a few others. R&D2 would be headed by Masayuki Uemura and would primarily create Nintendo hardware and occasionally collaborate with R&D1 to create Game & Watch games and arcade titles.

R&D3, later renamed Nintendo Integrated Research & Development, was headed by Genyo Takeda and would have multiple purposes. While they would create various titles for Nintendo's consoles, they would also create hardware and perform research for Nintendo. Finally, R&D4 was, despite being the last, one of the most important segments of Research & Development. Headed by Donkey Kongcreator Shigeru Miyamoto, this development studio was given to him when Nintendo learned that he was quite capable of creating hit video games.

The American design for R.O.B. Japan's Famicom Robot would have a different color scheme to match the system.

In June of that year Nintendo blew the lid off on the NES. A new design for the console was revealed that was intended to appeal more to the American audience. Instead of a white console with red streaks, it was gray and black with a nice red logo.

There were no caskets on the side of the system to hold the remotes, though this allowed for it to look nice and smooth. Nintendo revealed what could be found within the console, which included an NES Zapper, R.O.B., and two controllers. R.O.B.s' main purpose was to conceal what the NES truly was. Since the video game market had crashed, retailers had been wary of purchasing anything associated with video games, so Nintendo included R.O.B., marketing it more as a toy than a game console. Despite their plans with R.O.B., it didn't go very well with product testers at CES. To prove that kids would like it, Minoru Arakawa showed the device off to a bunch of children, and according to him their reactions weren't as positive as he had hoped, with the kids saying, "This is crap" and that that it "sucks". Minoru Arakawa was so confident in R.O.B. that he decided to release it anyway with the NES.

Back in Japan, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, and a group of programmers were developing a new game starring Mario from Donkey Kong. Titled Super Mario Bros., the game would send the series in a new direction and setting. Instead of being placed in Brooklyn, New York, Miyamoto would create his own universe and title it the Mushroom Kingdom. The single player experience had the player chose between Mario or his brother Luigi, though their abilities were virtually identical. In the game, the antagonistic Bowser would kidnap Princess Peach due to her ability to revert his magical attacks. Mario and Luigi heard of the news and immediately departed to save her. They traveled through over thirty stages and eventually defeated the beast, thus saving the princess. The game had expansive, scrollable levels, various enemies, different environments and an amazing physics engine. The game far surpassed anything ever released by then and helped propel sales of the Famicom in Japan when it was released on September 13. The game, however, would make an even bigger impact across the sea.

Even though retailers weren't impressed with R.O.B., the NES was a very fantastic piece of hardware. Nintendo got very few people to order NESs, so they decided to have a limited launch in New York City and guaranteed a risk-free deal where retailers could send back unsold consoles for the price, they purchased them. Nintendo had by now chosen to include one more addition in the game: Super Mario Bros., the game that a month earlier had proven to be a big success in Japan. Due to this game, the NES upon release on October 18 sold 9/10th of the initial shipment of 100,000 units. The success of the NES in America is considered to be the end of the American Video Game Crash of the '80s. There was an assortment of other games released in 1985 as well. On the NES, Nintendo published games included the likes of the VS. System games released in arcades, only this time for the home console. The R.O.B. enabled games Stack-Up and Gyromite were also released, though weren't particularly popular. Nintendo also published 10-Yard Fight in America, and on the arcade, front made Arm Wrestling and Super Punch-Out!!, two successors to Punch-Out!.

1986

Nintendo of America now knows that they have a hit product on their hand thanks to the test runs in New York City in which they nearly sold out completely. Their next target was Los Angeles, California, in which they would spend a hefty sum of money in order to market the system in L.A., and subsequently Chicago, Illinois and San Francisco, California. In February Nintendo would start to do test runs in Canada as well. Simultaneously Super Mario Bros. was starting to become more and more popular, so Nintendo created an arcade iteration as part of their VS. System.

The Famicom Disk System is very large and was only released in Japan.

Back in Japan, Miyamoto and Tezuka were developing another video game. It would be hard to replicate the success of Super Mario Bros., and while financially it didn't happen, it did technologically with the video game The Legend of Zelda in Japan. The Legend of Zelda was made to coincide with the release of the Famicom Disk System, which ran disks that could be rewritten at certain vendors. The Disk System's launch price was $100.

The game was converted into an NES cartridge game and released outside of Japan in 1987. Shigeru Miyamoto was heavily inspired on his childhood when creating the game. He would explore the many mountains of Kyoto when he was younger and would venture inside caves with a lantern in hand. Miyamoto would implement his idea of finishing a game to see the ending in The Legend of Zelda as he had done with Super Mario Bros., whereas most games were simply played by gamers just to receive a high score. Other games released during this time include console versions of Donkey Kong 3 in Japan and the first two games in America, Urban Champion, Gumshoe and a console version of Mario Bros. The Legend of Zelda and these games weren't the only titles released, however, and Nintendo would still need to release the console in the rest of America, Europe, and Australia.

Gunpei Yokoi's Nintendo R&D1 team were hard at work on a new smash hit title that, like The Legend of Zelda, would release on the disk drive format. It would take place in a futuristic, lonely setting and players would gradually obtain new weapons and increased health as they progressed through the title. They took control of a character named Samus Aran who would find secret areas, blast through hordes of enemies and engage in challenging platforming segments. The game was meant to take the popular platforming of Super Mario Bros. and merge it with the exploration aspects of The Legend of Zelda. In the end of the game, it was revealed that the player was in actuality a woman, though they had to finish the game in a certain amount of time in order for this to be revealed. The game, titled Metroid, did terrible upon release in Japan.

Regardless, Nintendo would release it stateside and in the PAL regions in 1987. After the release of Metroid the same group would work on a title named Kid Icarus that was strikingly similar to Metroid yet had an identity of its own. Years later the video game publication Nintendo Power would describe it as a blend of Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and Metroid much like Metroid was a blend of the former two games. Like Metroid it was released as a Famicom Disk System game. In June of 1986, Shigeru Miyamoto and his team worked to create a direct sequel to Super Mario Bros. titled Super Mario Bros. 2. The game looked nearly identical to the first title, though was deemed too challenging so it was ultimately never released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in America, Europe, or Australia.

After successfully infiltrating the Ameican market, Nintendo was now eying Europe and Australia. Many different companies were given the rights to distribute the Nintendo Entertainment System in Europe and Australia. Most of Europe would receive the console in September 1986 excluding the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Italy, who would receive it in 1987 along with Australia and New Zealand. Around this time Nintendo would fully launch the Nintendo Entertainment System in the rest of the United States and Canada. With the console essentially released worldwide, Nintendo and their third parties would release a continuous stream of titles. Third parties, however, were only allowed to release five games per year as part of the Seal of Quality enforced by Nintendo. As a result, some third parties opened up new studios which allowed them to increase the number of games they released.

1986 also saw some major changes within the Nintendo Research & Development structure. The first R&D studio was intended to create some of Nintendo's biggest console video games, though Shigeru Miyamoto's R&D4 had already filled that void with titles such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, and thus Nintendo deemed R&D4 as the primary console game maker. R&D1, on the other hand, would go through some alterations and splinter groups would form. The team would primarily be used to create the far off Game Boy and games released on the system. Those who remained who weren't part of the R&D1 structure who would develop Game Boy games created their own studio within Nintendo called Intelligent Systems. Gunpei Yokoi, who despite still being the head of the R&D1 studio, would also head Intelligent Systems. Many of the staff on R&D1 would assist Intelligent Systems on their games and vice versa. On the Nintendo Entertainment System Intelligent Systems would go on to develop some of the most legendary games.

1987

In 1987 Nintendo would sponsor an online Golf tournament using Famicoms and Disk Faxes which allowed for various Famicoms to connect over telephone networks. Meanwhile in America, The Legend of Zelda was finally released and quickly became the must have title and the first game to reach one million sales without being bundled with a product (as Super Mario Bros. was). The game was unmistakably a success, so Nintendo created a sequel titled Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Many of the things that were included in the first title were overlooked in the sequel, much to the dismay of fans. It did, however, introduce quite a few things to the series and was overall a quality product despite not being entirely similar to the first one in the series. In 1987 Zelda II was only released in Japan on the Famicom.

Metroid, on the other hand, which had been released in Japan in 1986, finally made its way to the west. The game wasn't successful in Japan so it's a wonder why Nintendo of America deemed it necessary to release it, though it became extremely profitable. Kid Icarus was also released this year in America, and while it performed admirably it didn't manage to become as big a series as The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros., or Metroid, three games it mimicked.

The Disk Fax.

1987 marked the year when Gunpei Yokoi would start to develop his handheld version of the Nintendo Entertainment System which would later be titled the Game Boy. When presented to Hiroshi Yamauchi, he explained that he thought it would eventually sell over 25 million copies within three years of its release.

Minoru Arakawa, on the other hand, saw the potential that it could sell over 100 million copies. It would take a couple years until the system was final, however, so Gunpei Yokoi and his team would have to wait to see if the presidents' speculations were correct. While Gunpei was working on the Game Boy with the R&D teams, R&D3 was working on creating a console version of their Punch-Out!! franchise which would eventually be titled Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!. When the game was finished, it was disappointingly only available through Nintendo's second Golf tournament in Japan, though was thankfully made available to retailers in America. The game got so many requests in Japan to become a retail game that they eventually made it one.

Later on in the year, Nintendo sued Blockbuster Entertainment, a rental service chain, for renting out Nintendo Entertainment System video games. It was subsequently settled out of court, though Nintendo would once again threaten the rental giant for photocopying Nintendo's game manuals and sending them to customers (presumably so that they wouldn't have to replace the game's original manual). After the case, Blockbuster agreed to create their own instruction cards that they would send with each copy they rented out instead of copying Nintendo's manuals. 1987 also saw the debut of the Nintendo Fun Club in North America during the winter. The precursor to Nintendo Power, the Fun Club would provide information and tips of upcoming games, though would only last four issues before being succeeded by the more impressive magazine format. The newsletter was even advertised in the video game Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!

1988

The first issue of Nintendo Power.

Nintendo started development on the Hands Free Controller this year which was intended to be used by disabled people who couldn't use their hands. The A and B buttons were switched to sipping and puffing on a straw shaped object that came with the accessory that the player strapped to their chest like a vest. The player could use the d-pad by moving their chin. The accessory would cost the user $179.00 and was available exclusively through Nintendo's customer service. Apple's Michael Spindel this year explained to the press that he viewed Nintendo as potentially becoming their biggest threat. At the end of the year, the Japanese version of Tetris is released on the Famicom, as is the game Famicom Wars. Super Mario Bros. 3 was also released this year in Japan. It wouldn't make its way to America and Europe until 1990, the launch year of the Super Famicom.

Perhaps the biggest event of 1988 was the launching of Nintendo Power. In the winter of 1987, Nintendo had introduced the Nintendo Fun Club which became successful enough to warrant a full, bi-monthly magazine. Featuring the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 on the cover, Nintendo published 3.6 million copies for their first issue. One third of the subscribers of the Nintendo Fun Club subscribed, while every single subscriber received an issue for free. The magazine to this day remains one of the longest-running video game publications of all time, going on for over twenty years. In the beginning of Nintendo Power, they would focus primarily on strategies of video games, though as the publication progressed that would start to preview and review games more.

Nintendo never released the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 in America due to its challenge. Still, the series was incredibly popular, so Nintendo in Japan decided to create a new game to cater to the American and European audience. However, instead of creating a brand-new game they would take their Famicom game Doki Doki Panic and give it a Mario overhaul. Titled Super Mario Bros. 2 in America and Europe, the game would replace the four main characters of Doki Doki Panic with Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad. Each character would be given special abilities, and some would be suited to certain levels whereas others wouldn't. The enemies in the game, which originally appeared in Doki Doki Panic, would subsequently be labeled as Mario enemies even in Japan. No characters other than the four mentioned had appeared in a Mario game prior to this game's release. A few years after the release of the game, Nintendo would release the game in Japan as Super Mario USA.

In 1988, Atari took action against Nintendo. Earlier in the year, Tengen (a subsidiary of Atari) had bypassed Nintendo's lockout chip, which would allow Atari to create video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System without giving Nintendo any profit. Minoru Arakawa, Nintendo of America's president, one night invited Hideyuki Nakajima of Atari to dinner party to try and make an atonement, not knowing fully of Nakajima's actions against Nintendo. During the dinner, Arakawa had fallen asleep at the table (something he had a problem with), which set Nakjima into a rage, furthering his hatred for Nintendo. By December, Atari filed a lawsuit against Nintendo claiming that they were running a monopoly with price fixing, their lockout chip, and various policies and demanded $100 million dollars from Nintendo. Arakawa called another meeting with Nakajima who offered the compromise of still making Nintendo Entertainment System games with the bypassing chip they had created at Tengen. Arakawa didn't accept and was furious at Nakajima for suggesting it, going out of the meeting. Howard Lincoln of Nintendo said of the event that Arakawa was a "tiger who will skin you (Atari) piece by piece." Years would go on before the Federal Trade Commission cleared both of their charges. The Nintendo and Atari fiasco wasn't the only lawsuit that occurred in 1988. Nintendo sued Camerica also this year claiming that their Freedom Stick is too similar to their patented NES Advantage. Nintendo won, resulting in Camerica having to discontinue their product.

1989

The Game Boy.

On April 21, Nintendo released the Game Boy in Japan. Gunpei Yokoi's R&D2 team had tirelessly worked on the Game Boy for many years. A couple years prior to its release Hiroshi Yamauchi estimated that they could push 25 million units in 3 years, while Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa speculated that in its entire lifetimes, they could move 100 million Game Boys. The purpose of the Game Boy was to merge the Game & Watch and the Nintendo Entertainment System, two large Nintendo successes, together. The Game Boy would feature the portability of the Game & Watch and the interchangeable cartridge feature of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Arakawa knew that, in order to launch the Game Boy, they would have to distribute a success unlike anything before it. Mario and The Legend of Zelda wouldn't do it.

In 1988, he had visited an arcade event where he was first shown a game known as Tetris. He was so impressed with the title that later that year he released it on the Famicom in Japan. The game became successful, though it's addictive, pick-up-and-play qualities would fit perfectly with the Game Boy. He flew to Russia along with a few Nintendo of America employees and they managed to get a deal to launch the Game Boy with Tetris. After being released in April in Japan and July 31 in America, the Game Boy became a runaway success. Super Mario Land assisted its climb to the top, though Tetris rocketed to the peak. Other games released this year for the Game Boy included Alleyway, Baseball, Golf, Tennis, and, in Japan, Yakuman.

Meanwhile, despite the successful launch of the Game Boy, Nintendo still needed to focus on its console counterpart, which would soon be getting a successor. In 1989, Nintendo announced plans to release the Super Famicom, which would be released in Japan in 1990. Announced to contain improved abilities, the Super Famicom was also said to have backwards compatibility when Nintendo announced it, though this feature was ultimately taken out upon release. In America Nintendo would open up World of Nintendo shops where consumers could test Nintendo products and buy them as well. The movie titled The Wizard was also released in theaters this year which introduced the game Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES as well as the Power Glove. The Power Glove, which is a controller you put on your hand that senses motions, was released later in the year by Mattel, though players would have to wait until 1990 to get their hands on Super Mario Bros. 3. On April 26 the company Game Freak was founded. In July a cooperative effort between Nintendo, Nintendo R&D, Ape, Pax Softnica, and Japanese icon Shigesato Itoi would result in the release of Mother in Japan for the Famicom. Mario starred in three animated series starting with The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, followed by The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 (1990) and Super Mario World (1991).

Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System era

1990

The Super Famicom was released in Japan in 1990.

Early in 1990 (February 12), Nintendo released the much anticipated Super Mario Bros. 3 to the American market. The game was first revealed to a majority of Americans with the film release of The Wizard the year prior, though the game was launched in Japan in 1988. Super Mario Bros. 3 is an essential Mario title for various reasons. It introduced a world-map to the series which would later be used in games like Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. The popular Koopalings were also introduced in this game, as well as a plethora of new costumes. This was the first game in the series in which Mario was granted the gift of flight. The game would do phenomenally, earning $500 million in sales, and earning the title of "best-selling standalone game" for quite some time after being surpassed by a few titles during the Nintendo DS and Wii generation.

In June of this year Nintendo would finally open up a European headquarters titled Nintendo of Europe (similar to Nintendo of America). The headquarters would be based in Grossostheim, Germany.

By 1990 Nintendo had become the prominent video game manufacturer. Their Nintendo Entertainment System helped pave the way and the Game Boy sent them rocketing to an unimaginable position. The Nintendo Entertainment System was an impressive piece of hardware when it launched in the early eighties, though was starting to look outdated due to the release of higher end consoles such as Sega's Genesis in 1988 and the TurboGrafx-16. So, Nintendo had to prepare for the successor, which in Japan would be known as the Super Famicom. Designed by Masayuki Uemura, the same man behind the original console, the Super Famicom would easily compete with the competitors on the market. Launching with triple-A games, the Super Famicom was released in Japan at the end of 1990 on November 21 alongside Super Mario World. Within three days the Super Famicom sold out completely. In fact, some retailers had to have a lottery to determine who would receive the system.

Super Mario World drove the Super Famicom to success in its early years.

While Americans had just gotten Super Mario Bros. 3 earlier in the year, Japan was getting the sequel to that game on the Super Famicom titled Super Mario World. The game had enhanced graphics, physics, items and, perhaps most importantly, the introduction of Yoshi the dinosaur. Shigeru Miyamoto had wanted to include a creature Mario or Luigi could ride since the original Super Mario Bros., though the limited capabilities of the Nintendo Entertainment System prevented this from happening. Even with the SNES, they had to make Yoshi a dinosaur simply for functional purposes since the basic design allowed for Yoshi to move around screen flawlessly. The game would go on to receive critical praise, becoming the fourth-highest rated video game of all time on GameRankings.com (it's also the oldest game in the top 100 list). Many critics claimed that Super Mario World wasn't as groundbreaking as Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 3, though also said that it was a lot more fun than the two.

Super Mario World wasn't the only first party game released on the Super Famicom during its launch. The first entry in the F-Zero game was also released. F-Zero was in development for around fifteen months over at Nintendo's development studio. F-Zero and Pilotwings, which was also released this year in Japan, were meant to demonstrate the pseudo-3D graphical abilities of the Super Famicom. Gamers were very impressed with the graphics that these two games showed off due to the Mode 7 graphics chip, which allowed for rotation and scaling. Super Mario World took advantage of this chip as well in certain portions of the game (such as when Bowser zooms towards the screen in the final battle), though not nearly as much as F-Zero and Pilotwings did. The rotation capabilities allowed for the entire stage to rotate in F-Zero.

Despite the launch of a new console, Nintendo hadn't forgotten the Nintendo Entertainment System and their recently released Game Boy handheld console. On the Famicom, famed developer Intelligent Systems, who had previously found success with Famicom Wars, created Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi, the first game in the Fire Emblem series. The game introduced famed character Marth and was one of the pioneering tactical role-playing games. Dr. Mario was also released this year for the NES and Game Boy, as was the niche title StarTropics (NES only). The last Famicom Disk System game, Backgammon, was released this year. A few Game Boy games were released by Nintendo including Balloon Kid, F-1 Race, Play Action Football, Radar Mission, and Solar Strike.

The Nintendo World Championships also took place this year. Modeled after the similar championship from the fictional movie The Wizard, the Nintendo World Championship would take place across thirty cities throughout the United States. The games included were Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. Players were required to accumulate as many points as possible in each of the games. The final round took place at Universal Studios in California, perhaps due to them distributing the Wizard movie of which the competition was loosely based. The publisher Color Dreams this year found a way to bypass Nintendo's lockout chip and were sent to court by Nintendo. Nintendo lost, and Color Dreams continued to be an unlicensed publisher. The Game Genie was also revealed this year, though Nintendo desperately tries to prevent them from distributing it in America due to making games easier than they were intended.

1991

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Nintendo was set to release the Super Famicom in America in August but renamed it the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game would launch alongside Super Mario World, F-Zero, Pilotwings, and more. Later on in the year Super Tennis and Sim City were both released for the console. When released stateside, the SNES was given a design overhaul similar to the one the NES was given in 1985. Nintendo spent $25 million on an advertisement campaign in America for the SNES, which can be attributed to its massive success. On the Game Boy Nintendo would release big titles like Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Yoshi, and, in Japan, Game Boy Wars. The SNES started to phase out the NES, and on that console only NES Open Tournament Golf and Shin 4nin Uchi Mahjong: Yakuman Tengoku were released.

During 1991 New York's Attorney General sues Nintendo for having a monopoly on the industry, of which Nintendo lost. Following the lawsuit Nintendo was required to send every Nintendo consumer a $5 certificate for any Nintendo licensed product. Many were sent with subscriber's issues of Nintendo Power. The case with the Game Genie is put to rest when Nintendo loses a battle in Canada against Galoob and Camerica. The winners subsequently put out a print advertisement that, in bold letters, says "Thank you Canada". Following this Camerica and Galoob are given the rights to distribute the Game Genie in the United States.

Of all the events that occurred in the history of Nintendo, perhaps none are as infamous as the SNES CD-Rom fiasco. Back in 1988, Nintendo had made a deal with Sony regarding CDs, though in 1991 they were bound to break that deal when they partnered with Philips to release the SNES CD-ROM. Nintendo would license the products while Philips would provide Nintendo with the necessary tools. In turn Philips was granted the rights to publish games on their CD-i that used various Nintendo properties such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda. Later in 1991, however, Nintendo announced that instead of Philips they would partner with Sony and consequently revealed the PlayStation together at CES that year.

Things were going smoothly between Nintendo and Sony until it was found that the contract granted Sony the rights to license all games released on the PlayStation. This was particularly troublesome because, beyond that, Sony was the sole provider of sound chips for the SNES. Nintendo then went back to Philips, claiming that they had "superior technology", though was primarily done so that Nintendo would have the rights to license the products for the CD-ROM. Later that year Sony threatened Nintendo, but Nintendo reassured them that they were working with both Philips and Sony. Later at CES Nintendo dropped a bombshell proclaiming exclusivity with Philips, which left Sony in the dust. Sony would have to work on releasing the PlayStation on their own.

Nintendo was set on finally releasing the third video game in The Legend of Zelda franchise this year on the Super Famicom. In November of that year, Nintendo would release The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The game, directed by Takashi Tezuka who had worked on the series since its original outing (and ever Super Mario game including a directorial role for Super Mario World), would place Link in a fantastic new setting where he was given the ability to alternate between light and dark variations of Hyrule. The game was only released in Japan this year, though would eventually make its way to America and Europe later in 1992.

For quite some time Arakawa (Nintendo of America's president) had decided to build a vacation retreat for himself and his employees. The ideal location was in Hawaii, where he concluded he would purchase four parcels of land which, in total cost him $20 million. By winter of 1991, a time when Seattle was particularly frigid, the vacation get-a-way was finished. On the island he built two homes by the ocean that were 9,000 square feet each. Pools were built for the employees to swim in, and access to a golf course was also given. Each house had multiple rooms that the employees could rent, or if they chose, they could rent out the entire house for a fee.

1992

1992 would see the year when the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was finally released in Europe. Since Nintendo of Europe was founded in 1990, Nintendo would distribute the console themselves rather than give the rights to another company. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, despite baring the name used in America, was very similar to the Japanese Super Famicom in appearance. Meanwhile Nintendo releases the successor to the NES Zapper titled the Super Scope. The Super Scope was much larger than the NES Zapper, though was pretty successful with games like Super Scope 6 and Battle Clash making use of the accessory. Another SNES peripheral titled the SNES Mouse was also released alongside Mario Paint. The SNES Mouse would later be used in a wide range of titles, though typically using the mouse was optional. Third parties would particularly be fond of the accessory, though Nintendo would publish titles that used it was well such as Mario and Wario, Mario's Super Picross, and Vegas Stakes.

Later on Nintendo would create centers to assist Starlight Foundation in delivering video games to children who were in the hospital titled Portable Fun Centers. Back in Japan Gunpei Yokoi and his R&D1 team partner with Reflection Technology to start work on the Virtual Boy. Miyamoto and his team would release Super Mario Kart for the SNES, which would go on to become one of the best selling standalone titles for the system.

Ever since 1992 Nintendo has been very involved with the Mariners, as seen here.

In Washington where Nintendo of America is headquartered, Hiroshi Yamauchi purchases 60% of the shares of the Seattle Mariners. This is the first time in the MLB when a company outside of North America is allowed to purchase a majority of a baseball company. Hiroshi Yamauchi later states that if the Mariners ever reach the World Series, he will attend a game. Yamauchi has yet to attend a game (although the Mariners have made it to the playoffs, the team has yet to reach the World Series). To this day Nintendo owns the Mariners, which allows Nintendo to freely advertise their games on the baseball stadium. Mario Super Sluggers for the Wii was heavily advertised in 2008.

In 1992, Nintendo announced that European company Argonaut and Nintendo had been developing the Super FX Chip. The chip gave the Super Nintendo Entertainment System a variety of updates such as graphical advancements that could produce polygonal objects and worlds, and increased speed from 3.58 MHz to 10.5 MHz. The chip was built into cartridges that required it, meaning that an add-on for the system was not required. No games that used the chip would be released in 1992, however, but Argonaut and Nintendo were hard at work on Star Fox for the SNES which would eventually be released in 1993. The chip was so powerful that it pushed back the release date of the SNES CD-Rom due to it not even having the capabilities of the Super FX Chip, which required the designers of the CD-Rom to improve it. Regarding the CD-Rom, Nintendo and Philips both announced that it would release later that year though had to push it back. Sega released the Mega CD, which Sony would end up developing games for. Later that year Nintendo and Sony made an agreement that brought the two back together. Sony commented that they knew they had to make an ally with Nintendo since they would be the clear winner of the console generation.

In April 1992, HAL Laboratory and Nintendo teamed up to create a groundbreaking video game. HAL and Nintendo were very familiar with each other by now; during the NES era they had created Pinball and HAL themselves published a whole bunch of internally developed video games for the system. Their company was created during the very early eighties and quickly rose to become a prominent developer, though things were about to escalate with the release of Kirby's Dream Land on the Game Boy. Created by Masahiro Sakurai, Kirby's Dream Land was intended to be a beginner's game. The game did fantastic, though HAL Laboratory was soon faced with a growing problem. The previous year HAL had moved to a new headquarters and because of this was riddled with debt - over $45 million in debt. HAL Laboratory would soon have to shut its doors if there wasn't a company willing to assist, and in June 1992 they approached Hiroshi Yamauchi who afterwords decided to fund HAL Laboratory and assist them in creating games. All future games by HAL would then be published by Nintendo.

On July 31, 1992, Howard Lincoln announced at a distributor meeting that Nintendo would no longer manufacture arcade equipment since their arcade operations "had not been profitable for some time".

1993

The Super FX Chip was on schedule and Nintendo finally released the first game that made use of it, Star Fox, in April. Star Fox is an important game for a variety of reasons, some more obvious than others. For one it was the first game to use the aforementioned Super FX Chip, which allowed for enhanced graphics. A less obvious importance was that it was among the first collaborations between a western (United Kingdom) and eastern (Japan) developer. To a lesser extent it also introduced the Star Fox characters Fox McCloud, Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad. The game went through many iterations before they finally decided upon a Star Wars-esque game starring animals as the playable characters. Other games released that used the Super FX Chip included Stunt Race FX, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and a bunch of canceled titles. Super Mario All-Stars was also released this year. It was a cartridge that contained upgraded SNES graphics and music/sound for Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.

Another version was later released that also included Super Mario World. This marked the first time the game Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was released outside of Japan, albeit with enhanced graphics. Around the time of All-Stars' release was the announcement that 100 million games within the Mario franchise had been sold, though All-Starswas not meant to coincide with this occasion despite being a fantastic game to celebrate with.

The NES 2.

Later in August, Nintendo announces the successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System codenamed Project Reality. Featuring 64-bit graphics, the new system by Nintendo in conjunction with Silicon Graphics was announced to be released by the end of 1995, though this claim would not hold true.

In other hardware news Nintendo tries to keep the original Nintendo Entertainment System afloat by releasing the NES 2, a redesigned Nintendo Entertainment System released in America and Japan. The system came bundled with Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, which helped it sell 1 million copies in 1993. The SNES-CD was, according to Nintendo and Philips, on track for a winter 1993 release date. Later that year Nintendo announced that it would be released early in 1994 for $200. Finally, Nintendo announced that they ultimately decided to cancel the project which was so hotly anticipated by consumers.

With Nintendo's persistent support of the Nintendo Entertainment System came with new NES games. HAL Laboratory, which had just recently started being funded by Nintendo, released a new Kirby game for the system titled Kirby's Adventure. Kirby's Adventure was vital for the series since it introduced the copy ability. This is an ability of Kirby's that grants him the ability to initiate an attack that sucks an enemy in. Subsequently after swallowing the enemy Kirby can then attain their powers and use them in battle. It was a chief component that drove the success of this title and future titles in the series. The sequel to Tetris, Tetris 2, was released on the NES (and Game Boy) this year as well as Yoshi's Cookie and Joy Mech Fight. Kirby's Adventure wasn't the only Kirby game released this year, as HAL also released Kirby's Pinball Land on the Game Boy. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, the first handheld Zelda title, was also released this year to much critical and commercial acclaim. Super Mario Bros.: The Movie, the first live action movie based on a video game, is released this year. The film was a critical and financial failure, grossing $38.9 million worldwide against a budget of $42–48 million. Though appearing on several lists of the worst films ever made, it has developed a following over the years, and has been reappraised by some as a cult classic.

1994

Nintendo announced this year that it had sold one billion game cartridges worldwide, with at least one tenth of the games being within the Mario franchise. This prompts Nintendo to deem 1994 the "Year of the Cartridge". To further their support for cartridges, Nintendo announces that Project Reality, which had now been renamed the Ultra 64, would not use a CD format as expected, but rather have cartridges. The Super Game Boy, which allows players to play their Game Boy games on the big screen by connecting it to a Super Nintendo Entertainment System, is also released. The Super FX receives an expansion, and Rare reinvents the Donkey Kong franchise with Donkey Kong Country using Advanced Computer Modeling for the SNES cartridge. The last Nintendo Entertainment System games by Nintendo are also released this year.

It is no wonder why Nintendo opted to use the slogan when so much was going on in the world of cartridges.

The PowerFest '94 cartridge playing on a television.

For the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo gave Rare the rights to make a Donkey Kong game for the system which resulted in Donkey Kong Country. The game would make Donkey Kong the hero as opposed to his villainous role in the arcade classics. The graphics for the game would far surpass that of any other game on the system thanks to the Advanced Computer Modeling, or ACM. The game was very successful and ended up becoming one of the most successful SNES titles of all time.

Meanwhile over in Japan Nintendo released Super Metroid for the SNES. Considered by EGM in 1997 to be the greatest game of all time, many people regarded Super Metroid as the best the series has to offer. Super Punch-Out!! is also released this year by the team that created the original classic. Meanwhile on the NES Nintendo released Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II, Wario's Woods and Mega Man 6, their last NES games. On the Game Boy they had Donkey Kong '94, Space Invaders, and Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!, one of the earliest non-first party cameos for Nintendo.

In mid-1994, seven video game giants including Nintendo, Sega, Electronic Arts, Atari, Acclaim, Philips, and 3DO approach the American Senate and demand a ratings system for video games to be enforced by Christmas season. Games such as Mortal Kombat and Doom, which portrayed a heavy amount of violence, helped in the decision to create the ESRB, which would be used to rate video games for the United States and Canada. The ESRB was enforced on September of that year.

Nintendo held a couple of events during 1994. One took place in Japan where Nintendo announced during Shoshinkai Show the Virtual Boy officially. Details and specs were revealed at the event, and it was confirmed that it would go on sale in the United States in April for $200. Over in America Nintendo hosted the Nintendo PowerFest '94 at San Diego in California. Players were required to participate in the SNES video games Super Mario Kart, Super Mario All-Stars, and Ken Griffey Jr.'s Winning Run. Michael Iarossi is ultimately the winner of the event.

1995

The Virtual Boy was released this year.

In January, Nintendo blew the lid off of the Virtual Boy in America at CES that year. Many critics are unsure about the product, though have faith in them due to the company's history and the fact that it was designed by Gunpei Yokoi. Around this time, Nintendo announces that it had discontinued its Nintendo Entertainment System support, though in Japan they would continue to manufacture it for quite some time. Finally, Nintendo and Silicon Graphics announce that they had put the finishing touches on the Nintendo 64 and that they planned to release it next year in all regions by April. In October of 1995 Nintendo would fully reveal the Nintendo 64, showcase its inspiring games and innovative joystick.

In Japan Nintendo reveals thirteen games for the Nintendo 64 including games like Super Mario 64, Super Mario Kart R, Star Fox 64, Wave Race 64, and Zelda 64. Hiroshi Yamauchi also announced the Nintendo 64's disk drive. 1995 brought with it the launching of the Satellaview in Japan for the Super Famicom. With this, people could play video games broadcast over the system for a set period of time. Various games were made exclusively for the system, though at the same time some were just remakes.

Nintendo was without question satisfied with the end result of Donkey Kong Country by Rare, and so Nintendo purchased a quarter of the company (which would make Rare the first Western developer Nintendo would buy into). Rare would later release new games using the Donkey Kong Country engine including a direct sequel, titled Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Killer Instinct. Even bigger than those titles was Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island on the SNES. Nintendo had asked Shigeru Miyamoto to create a Yoshi game with a similar graphical style to Donkey Kong Country. Miyamoto went on record, however, saying that he didn't care too much for Rare's game and decided to create a style that was practically the exact opposite. Nintendo approved of the unique interpretation of the Mario franchise and the game was released to critical acclaim. The Mother series, which had already gained popularity in Japan, was finally going to make its way to America with a sequel titled EarthBound, or Mother 2 in Japan. On the Game Boy, the sequel to Kirby's Dream Land, titled Kirby's Dream Land 2, was released. In Europe, Nintendo released Game Boy Gallery, the predecessor to the Game & Watch Gallery series.

On July 21 of this year, Nintendo released the Virtual Boy in Japan. About a month later on August 14 Nintendo released the system in America. Gunpei Yokoi, the creator of the Game Boy and Game & Watch series, along with various toys and video games, headed the project which was in development for many years. It was said that Nintendo was growing tired of how long the project was taking Gunpei Yokoi to develop, especially since the Nintendo 64 was also being created. When the launch date was announced, Nintendo hyped the system and upon release it bombed on the market. Few games were considered high quality and the actual graphics weren't easy on the eyes. Gunpei Yokoi was so distraught over the failure that he left Nintendo, nevertheless retaining relationships with people there and the company overall. The Virtual Boy would be Gunpei Yokoi's last invention at Nintendo. The man credited with making Nintendo so successful would leave a lasting mark on the company with his various creations, though the ill-fated launch of the system quickly led Gunpei Yokoi to leave the company.

Later on in 1995, Nintendo sued Samsung Electronics, claiming that they were delivering Nintendo games to pirates to created pirated software, even giving some software to the Chinese government. The case was settled out of court as it was found that, while Samsung did in fact deliver the components needed to create pirated software of Nintendo's video games, they weren't wholly involved with the creation. Following the case both companies announced that they would unite to stop the growing piracy problem together.

Nintendo 64 era

1996

A Nintendo 64 with controllers of six colors around it.

Early in February Nintendo announced that their next video game console, the Nintendo 64, would launch worldwide in 1996 and on September 30 in America. Nintendo felt pretty confident about their console. Despite the limitations set by using cartridges, the graphics of the Nintendo 64 far surpassed anything else available on the market, and the inclusion of a joystick on their controller helped push sales despite competitors copying the unique control scheme for their systems. Nintendo had shocked the world when they announced titles like Super Mario 64 and Zelda 64, though little did the consumers know that those games would be even more impressive as they inched closer to release. Then came the bombshell, when Final Fantasy series creator Square announced that they would discontinue their support for Nintendo systems and work exclusively with Sony on developing games for the PlayStation, which had been released in 1995. This was a major hit to Nintendo, and many companies, including Enix, followed Square in moving to the PlayStation.

1996 saw the launch of the Nintendo 64, though an even bigger phenomenon debuted in 1996 which would, in the long run, prove much more cost effective. It's beginnings are found in the man Satoshi Tajiri who had been an avid gamer for many years. He and his friend Ken Sugimori had their own fan magazine that focused on hot video games at the time. Eventually they would delve into developing video games while messing around with the Family BASIC many years ago, and finally get a game published for the Famicom titled Quinty (Mendel Palace in America on the NES). The game was somewhat successful, though Satoshi would really hit it big when he proposed to Nintendo his idea of trading creatures with the Game Boy. This idea would develop into what is known today as Pokémon, or Pocket Monsters in Japan.

The first games in the series, titled Pokémon Red and Green, were extremely successful. The games are RPG's where the player sends out Pokémon out to do the battling, while the Pokémon Trainer shouts out commands to the Pokémon. Players can find more species by going into tall grass or into caves, where Pokémon will randomly appear. Here the player can either battle them to the point where they faint or lower their health and catch them with a Pokéball. In all there were 151 Pokémon species in the first generation, which led to the phrase "Gotta Catch 'em All!" It would take a couple years until it reached the Western market, but by the time it did it was already one of Nintendo's most profitable franchises. When Nintendo launched the game, the developer GameFreak hadn't decided upon a mascot for the series, though had concluded that it would be one of the 151 species that were in the game. They decided to, rather than pick one themselves, to let the players pick one, and the clear winner ended up being Pikachu, the twenty fifth Pokémon on the National Pokédex.

The Game Boy Pocket.

Before Square announced its departure from Nintendo, they partnered up for their last game on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System with the release of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The game was the first Mario role-playing game and would be the basis for future RPG titles within the Mario series. The game was seen at an isometric angle and had a humorous story, fantastic characters and an involving battle system that had the players timing their button presses despite being turn based. Back at Nintendo Eiji Aonuma directed his first game this year, titled Marvelous: Another Treasure Island, though it was only released in Japan. 3D Tetris, a video game by Nintendo, was released on the Virtual Boy in March and is the last recorded Virtual Boy game released.

Finally in June, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in Japan. The video games Super Mario 64, Pilotwings 64, and Saikyō Habu Shōgi released alongside the system, with the clear winner being Mario. Super Mario 64 was directed by Shigeru Miyamoto and is credited for the success of the Nintendo 64 during the early years. To this day Super Mario 64 is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time. Many developers note Super Mario 64's sense of non-linearity as a key to its success. Various other things have been replicated in future video games, including main hubs, a mission-based system for levels, and a vast amount of freedom. Perhaps most importantly, Super Mario 64 was the first game with a camera controlled by the player. 3D games at the time were typically viewed in the first-person perspective or had a fixed camera, while this wasn't the case with Super Mario 64.

In September, prior to the release of the Nintendo 64 in America, Nintendo released the Game Boy Pocket, a smaller variation of the Game Boy that generated more sales for the handheld. The system would soon be succeeded by the Game Boy Color in 1998. In America not many games were released on the Game Boy this year, with some of the most notable games being Donkey Kong Land 2 and Miyamoto produced Mole Mania. On September 29th, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in America. Wave Race 64, the successor to Wave Race which was released on the Game Boy years back, would eventually be released on the system. By the end of 2005 Nintendo had announced that they would no longer support the Virtual Boy.

1997

Pokémon the Series.

On the first of March this year, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 in Europe and Australia. The system had already found success in Japan and America, though this date marked the day when it was released in all major territories. In Europe and Australia the system would sell 2.3 million in 1997. Despite the success of the console, Pokémon would propel the sales of the Game Boy to an extent where it sold more units than the Nintendo 64 in Japan. By now, Nintendo had released Pokémon Blue version, which was nearly identical to Red and Green with minor differences. In April this year Nintendo held the Nintendo 64 Developer's Conference which lasted for two days. On April 1, Pokémon the Series began airing in Japan. The anime became the most successful animated series based on a video game, airing for over 25 years. The Donkey Kong Country TV series also premiered in Canada.

This same month Nintendo of America would release the Game Boy Pocket. Nintendo would release redesigns of the Super Famicom and Super Nintendo Entertainment System this year in an attempt to boost the sales of said consoles. In Japan, the redesign was titled the Super Famicom Jr. On October 4 of this year, famed developer Gunpei Yokoi died in a car crash. He had left Nintendo a couple year prior to this due to the failure of the Virtual Boy.

The Nintendo 64 Rumble Pak.

April brought with it the release of the Rumble Pak for the Nintendo 64 in Japan. The accessory was bundled with the video game Star Fox 64.

The Rumble Pak, considered to be one of the biggest controller innovations, was plugged into the Nintendo 64's controller. When certain events occurred in the game that called for a bit of a rumble, the Nintendo 64 would vibrate, giving the game an arcade like feel to it. After the game was released, Super Mario 64 and Wave Race 64 were both remade to feature Rumble Pak compatibility in Japan, though this feature wasn't present in Western releases. Prior to its release in America, Nintendo Power would distribute a video showing off the accessory and mocked Sony and Sega, showing fake representatives trying to infiltrate Nintendo of America's headquarters to get the technology.

On August 23, Golden Eye 007 was released in Japan, and subsequently two days later the rest of the world received it. To date the game is considered one of the most important first-person shooters ever released. Developed by Rare and published by Nintendo, the game quickly became one of the most popular games of the generation and was the best-selling Nintendo 64 game in America (not including pack-in titles). This month Nintendo also released Tetrisphere for the Nintendo 64, which wasn't greeted to the same success as GoldenEye 007. During SpaceWorld this year, Nintendo's biggest games of the show are The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Yoshi's Story.

1998

The Game Boy Color.

1998 was an essential year for Nintendo. So many pivotal events occurred this year that to this day make it one of their most important years of all time. It marked the release of the Game Boy Color, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Pokémon series in America and Europe, and the release of the Game Boy Camera and Game Boy Printer. The earliest Nintendo related event occurred in March with the release of Yoshi's Story in America. The game had already been released in Japan in December of last year. It wasn't welcomed to much critical acknowledgment, most claiming that it couldn't hold a candle to Yoshi's Island which was released three years prior in 1995, though it was a good beginners' platformer and ranked up quite a bit of sales.

Nintendo also announced the Game Boy Color this year. Considered the successor to the Game Boy, it would play games made specifically for it as well as games released for the Game Boy, albeit with added color. In Japan, Nintendo released the Pocket Pikachu, a fitness pedometer that was later recorded by the Guinness World Records as the most popular fitness toy ever released. The unit is better known in western territories as Pokémon Pikachu.

In June, Nintendo released the Game Boy Camera and the Game Boy Printer. The Game Boy Camera enabled the player to take pictures using the Game Boy, though the pictures it developed were of very low quality. Still, it was enjoyable since players could implement their faces in video games such as a Ball remake and a shooter and also put stamps on the images and draw on them. The Game Boy Printer, which took a staggering 6 AA batteries, would print the images you created on the Game Boy Camera and would later be used in other video games to print off pieces of artwork. This month Nintendo dropped the price of the Nintendo 64 for a second time to $129.

In July, Pokémon made their cinematic debut with Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back. The film primarily consists of three segments: Pikachu's Vacation, a 21-minute feature focusing on the series mascot Pikachu; The Birth of Mewtwo, the 10-minute prologue added to the extended version of the film; and Mewtwo Strikes Back, the main 75-minute film feature. It was a box office success worldwide, topping the box office charts in its opening weekend, and eventually grossing over $172 million at the worldwide box office. It also sold 10 million home video units in the United States, including 4.2 million VHS sales that earned $58.8 million in 2000.

With August came Nintendo introducing the Pokémon franchise to the Western market (one of the primary reasons for the name change was that, in Japan, there was an anime episode that left hundreds of children in hospitals after they experienced a seizure when Pikachu executed an electric shock. The Porygon line would later appear in minor cameos. The news story was so popular that it made its way to North America, which left parents remembering the Pocket Monsters name). About a month before it was released throughout the United States, Nintendo brought Pokémon Red and Blue to Topeka, Kansas

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

The city was renamed To Pikachu for the day to celebrate the event, and in Topeka kids could come and play the game, watch episodes of the anime and attend a carnival at Forbes Field. On September 7, the anime would debut on television before the games were released, and finally on September 30 the games were released throughout the states and Canada. Hasbro manufactured Pokémon toys while KFC also promoted the titles with their kid's meals.

In October, Nintendo released the Game Boy Color. The Game Boy Color was named so in every region, despite the incorrect spelling in European regions. To help generate sales for the Game Boy Color, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX, a remake of the Game Boy classic with minor enhancements, most notably improved, color graphics. The consumers were fond of the Game Boy Color, no doubt, but in two days something even bigger would be released. That was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the Nintendo 64. Link's Awakening DX certainly wasn't the only Zelda game released during this time period. In fact, Ocarina of Time was released shortly thereafter, and in turn caused a stir among gamers. To date, Ocarina of Time is hailed as the greatest video game of all time according to GameRankings.com. It was considered to blow every competitor out of the water. Years of hard work was well rewarded when the game was released to critical acclaim, which helped mobilized the sales, causing the game to become the most successful title in the series, a record which it to this day retains.

1998 also saw the opening of Retro Studios. The story of Retro Studios is an interesting one that would unfold after many years. On October first, Jeff Spangenberg had announced that he had opened a brand-new studio in Austin, Texas. Jeff's primary plan when creating Retro was to become an affiliate with Nintendo. Howard Lincoln of Nintendo of America, and various others at the company, agreed to fund Retro Studios. Nintendo gave the money needed to start up a new building in Austin, and provided various higher up technology which they could use when developing video games for their next console. Jeff would be in control of hiring employees, and soon thereafter the company would start to toss around ideas for new video games, knowing fully well that Nintendo had expected them to make something, and something big, for the successor to the Nintendo 64, which wouldn't be officially unveiled until 1999.

Hudson Soft is distinguished as being one of the earliest Nintendo third parties. In a time in which becoming an officially licensed developer was nearly impossible, Hudson Soft managed to become an early publisher of video games for the Famicom along with Namco. Since then, Nintendo and Hudson Soft has had a steady relationship, while the same couldn't be said about Namco's rocky start. When Hudson approached Nintendo in developing a game in the Mario series for the Nintendo 64, they would have to deliver to their promises on something very unique and interesting. Unquestionably they did so, and in the process, they conceived a new genre known aptly as the "party" genre.

The game they created was appropriately named Mario Party. Released on December 18, Mario Party had players going across game boards and, after each player moved, participate in one of many mini games. The overall goal of the game was to collect more stars than the other players, which could be attainable by various means. The game was an instant success, becoming the highest selling game in the United States in February the following year, when it was released, and the top selling Nintendo 64 game in March and April. It was released in Europe in early March 1999.

1999

Hudson Soft is distinguished as being one of the earliest Nintendo third parties. In a time in which becoming an officially licensed developer was nearly impossible, Hudson Soft managed to become an early publisher of video games for the Famicom along with Namco. Sense then, Nintendo and Hudson Soft has had a steady relationship, while the same couldn't be said about Namco's rocky start. When Hudson approached Nintendo in developing a game in the Mario series for the Nintendo 64, they would have to deliver to their promises on something very unique and interesting. Unquestionably they did so, and in the process they conceived a new genre known aptly as the "party" genre. The game they created was appropriately named Mario Party. Released on February 8, Mario Party had players going across game boards and, after each player moved, participate in one of many mini games. The overall goal of the game was to collect more stars than the other players, which could be attainable by various means. The game was an instant success, becoming the highest selling game in the United States in February, and the top-selling Nintendo 64 game in March and April.

In March, Nintendo and HAL partnered for one of the most popular Nintendo 64 games ever: Super Smash Bros. The game, directed by Masahiro Sakurai, pitted twelve of Nintendo's most popular characters (including Mario, Donkey Kong, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Kirby, Fox McCloud, Pikachu, Luigi, Jigglypuff, Captain Falcon, and Ness) against each other in an all out brawl. The game wasn't like traditional fighters where you had to memorize specific moves, but instead it was rather simple, though insanely enjoyable. As expected, the game sold millions, and was the top selling video game in the United States in May.

The Nintendo 64DD.

In May, Nintendo announced the Nintendo 64's successor, called the Dolphin. It would take a couple years, however, until the system would release. Meanwhile, Nintendo was focusing on the Nintendo 64DD, which was planned to be released much earlier. Now, Nintendo had a release date for December. Until then, they would have to work on crafting games for the system and making sure that it was up to Nintendo's standards. The device was finally released on December 1 of this year in Japan and included with it the games Kyojin no Doshin and Mario Artist: Paint Studio. Other games would eventually release for the disk system, though overall it was considered a failure and was never brought to America or Europe.

In July 1999, Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One was released in Japan, while in August 1999, Retro Studios got to work on Metroid Prime, which was set to be released on Nintendo's Dolphin system. Jeff, the president of Retro, had wanted his company to create at least four projects to develop. For a new game studio, this was nearly impossible, and within time his projects were shortly being cut by Nintendo. When they were given the right to develop a new Metroid game, that was certainly their foremost priority since the series had so many fans who beloved the franchise. Despite attaining the license to create a new Metroid game, it would take quite a bit of time until the world would find out about this. Meanwhile, the sales of the Nintendo 64 were slowly starting to descent. Nintendo lowered the price of the system to $99 in the U.S., partially because the competition, Sony's PlayStation, had filtered through the market and had taken a majority of it with games like Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo, and Metal Gear Solid keeping the system at a secure position.

While Europe was getting Pokémon Red and Blue, Japan was getting the game's successors, Pokémon Gold and Silver, which introduced a hundred new Pokémon species. Americans, on the other hand, received Pokémon Yellow, which had the mascot Pikachu following around the player character. Pokémon Yellow was accompanied by a special edition Game Boy Color that had various Pokémon on it. On October 22, Nintendo announced that a new in-car Nintendo 64 would be released with a partnership with Panasonic. On November 10, the first Pokémon movie, Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back was released in theaters. This, coupled with the success that the series had already received both in the states and globally, caused Time magazine to feature Pokémon on the cover of one of their November issues.

2000

2000 had its ups and downs. For one, Nintendo managed to sell its 1,000,000th Game Boy this year, which includes its redesigns and successor the Game Boy Color. On the other hand, Nintendo spent $80 million when it was reported that children were inflicted with serious hand injuries when playing Hudson Soft's Mario Party game. It was said that when playing some of the mini games, which involves players to quickly rotate their fingers on the joystick, it caused blisters on the users' fingers. Nintendo was then required to send out one million gloves for players when they chose to participate in a game of Mario Party. Nintendo of America, Sega America, and Electronic Arts, meanwhile, all sued Yahoo! for its Yahoo! Auctions service for distributing pirated video games. The case was settled out of court and Yahoo! announced that they would assist in battling piracy in video games. Despite the case with Mario Party, Nintendo continued on with its sequel, Mario Party 2, which was released this year. Howard Lincoln, who had been with the company since the early Donkey Kong days, announced this year his plans for retirement. Nevertheless, he would still be involved partially with Nintendo as he joined the Seattle Mariners, owned by Nintendo of America, as a key member of the team, representing the company. Back in Japan, Nintendo relocated its offices to Minami-ward of Kyoto, while Nintendo in the Netherlands was given control of both the Netherlands and Belgium.

In February, Nintendo launched a Pokémon 2000 Stadium Tour, which would visit twenty cities in the United States promoting the launch of the Nintendo 64 video game Pokémon Stadium in America. Players would play the game, which would launch on March 6, at various malls across the country. A month after the release of Pokémon Stadium in America, Nintendo would launch Pokémon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Color. Also released during this time period was a Nintendo 64 bundle that included a Nintendo 64, two Nintendo 64 controllers, the game, and a transfer pack for only $149.99. Meanwhile in Japan, Eiji Aonuma directs his first Zelda game with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. The game, released in Japan in April, used the same engine as Ocarina of Time though had enhanced gameplay and a unique and dark story that involved Link stopping the Moon from crashing into Termina.

SpaceWorld 2000.

In mid-2000, Nintendo released the Funtastic Nintendo 64 series.

Nintendo 64 consoles under the Funtastic brand were transparent, allowing the player to see the inner hardware of the system, similar to what Nintendo did when they released the transparent Game Boy Color shells. In a press release, Nintendo credited the sudden surge in Nintendo 64 sales to the release of Pokémon Stadium and the Funtastic series. The colors Nintendo released for the Funtastic series included Smoke, Ice, Watermelon, Grape, Jungle, Ice, and Fire. On July 8, 2000, Pokémon 3: The Movie: Spell of the Unown: Entei aired in Japan. On August 24, Nintendo officially unveiled the successors to both the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color. They had said a year earlier that the codename for the Nintendo 64 successor was to be the Dolphin, though at Nintendo's Space World, they revealed that the name had since been changed to the Nintendo GameCube.

The next Game Boy, which had been codenamed Project Atlantis (in keeping with the aquatic codename theme) was also shown, and was named the Game Boy Advance. The hardware and specifications for each system were revealed, as well as a bunch of games. Demos showing off new Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Star Wars, Wave Race and, perhaps most interestingly, Metroid were revealed. For the Game Boy Advance Nintendo showed off Mario Kart Advance, F-Zero, Tactics Ogre Gaiden, Wario Land 4, Fire Emblem, and a bunch of third-party games. At the end of 2000, Mewtwo Returns aired in Japan. Mewtwo Returns is the sequel to the first Pokémon movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back.

GameCube era

2001

The Game Boy Advance.

The Game Boy Advance was the key system that Nintendo launched during the first half of the year. The Game Boy Color hardly improved on the original Game Boy with its enhancements being the inclusion of color, though the Game Boy Advance took the franchise to new heights. The system's shape was different and easier to handle, and the inclusion of shoulder buttons would add a greater degree of playability to it. The graphics were also greatly improved, capable of generating images more impressive than that of the Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems. In its first week alone in maged to sell an estimated 610,000, while within just over a month it hit over 1.6 million.

Later in the year, the system would be released in Europe, where a new Nintendo UK office was built in Slough, Berkshire in January.

The GameCube.

Despite the oncoming GameCube, the Nintendo 64 was still chugging along, though its demise was quickly approaching. Games like Paper Mario by Intelligent Systems and Mario Party 3 would continue to keep it alive for a while longer. In Japan, the Nintendo 64 title Animal Forest was released which proved that innovation on the system was still possible. The game was the first in the Animal Crossing series which wouldn't make its way to the states or Europe until the GameCube's arrival.

Despite the successful launch of the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo would also still support the Game Boy Color, specifically with the Flagship developed game The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages. The two Zelda titles, however, would be overshadowed by Pokémon Crystal, also for the Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games like Super Mario Advance, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and Advance Wars, a series which wouldn't make its way to Japan until 2004 due to 9/11. In December, Nintendo would launched the e-Reader in Japan. It was an accessory for the Game Boy Advance that was bulky yet entertaining. Players could swipe cards on the e-Reader and soon thereafter play games that were encoded on the barcode of the cards. Pokémon 4Ever: Celebi: Voice of the Forest and The Legend of Thunder! premiered in Japan. Kirby: Right Back at Ya! also premiered in Japan.

Despite the terrible events that occurred on September 11, 2001, in New York, the GameCube would be welcomed to a successful launch in Japan on September 14. Save for the NES, the GameCube was the first system not to launch alongside a prominent Mario title, and instead Luigi's Mansion would be released along with Nintendo Software Technology's Wave Race: Blue Storm. Shortly after its release in Japan the GameCube would find its way To America. Of all the games released in 2001 for the GameCube, there were two that stood out among them all, which were Pikmin and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Pikmin was a new title from Shigeru Miyamoto that had the player looking for lost parts to Captain Olimar's ship with the help of a species known as Pikmin. Super Smash Bros. Melee, on the other hand, was a sequel to the Nintendo 64 classic with new characters, stages, and enhanced graphics.

2002

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's 4th president.

2002 marked the year when two of Nintendo's most important leaders, Hiroshi Yamauchi, global president, and Minoru Arakawa, Nintenod of America president, stepped down and named their successors. Hiroshi Yamauchi was succeeded by Satoru Iwata, who had previously run HAL Laboratory, while Minoru Arakawa was succeeded by Tatsumi Kimishima. The strict Yamauchi was replaced by a more laid back, peppy president who would bring Nintendo back into leadership in the years to come. Meanwhile in Europe, Nintendo would open up their Italian headquarters in Milan and shortly after the GameCube would be released throughout the continent, and soon enough the European union would fine them 168 million Euros for infringing on a treaty. On the GameCube, the hotly anticipated wireless GameCube controller called the WaveBird and the Game Boy Playerwere released.

The Triforce logo. Underneath it is the names of the three companies involved.

In February, during the AOU 2002 Amusement Expo, Nintendo and two other companies revealed something that no one could have anticipated. In December 2001, Nintendo had announced that an unusual announcement would be made at the expo, and they stayed true to their word when, at Sega's booth, Nintendo, Namco and Sega revealed the next advancement in arcade hardware with the Triforce arcade system. The name of the arcade alliance is drawn from the Legend of Zelda franchise, with the Triforce being a magical item that has three segments.

The Triforce this time represents the three companies involved. The architecture of the hardware could find its origins in the GameCube, and the purpose of it was to expand the arcade industry which had been taken over by home consoles. Not only was the hardware powerful, but it also gave Sega and Namco the rights to make games based on Nintendo properties for arcades. The relationship would be furthered even more when Sega and Namco were given Nintendo properties to make on the GameCube from franchises such as F-Zero, Star Fox, and Donkey Kong.

Then, in March, Nintendo made an announcement that fans had been waiting for years for. They announced that Square and Enix, who had by now united to form Square Enix, would once again develop and publish video games for Nintendo systems starting with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the GameCube and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. By May 3, Nintendo in Europe would release the GameCube. Ten days later they confirmed that a network adapter was in the works, and though it was released nothing much came from it. In July, Pokémon Heroes: Latios and Latias was released in Japan.

Within the colossal amount of quality games was a title that was lauded by many to be the best game of the year. That game was Metroid Prime. In development since 1999, Metroid Prime is considered by many to be the pinnacle GameCube experience. Retro Studios spent many tireless hours perfecting the game, from the platforming to the adventuring to the shooting. Many critics worldwide doubted that the Texas based studio could successfully replicate the immersive gameplay of the original games in a 3D title, though they managed to do so nearly flawlessly. The game sold well over 2 million copies which guaranteed a sequel which would be released in 2004. With Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime, there was no doubt that the series had made a triumphant comeback.

2003

The Game Boy Advance SP.

Satoru Iwata had taken the reigns of Nintendo and saw them experience a great deal of success in his first year in 2002. He planned to capitalize on the success by developing a variety of great new games for the subsequent year. One of his earliest orders of business was to release the Game Boy Advance SP, a redesign of the Game Boy Advance. When closed, the system was square, though when opened it almost looked like the original Game Boy, albeit much thinner. The Game Boy Advance SP was more attractive and thus would cause more units of the system to sell. Games like WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$! and Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were release this year for the system to much critical acclaim. AlphaDream, who had previously worked with Nintendo on Tomato Adventure, would release Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker, the sixth Pokémon movie, premiered in Japan on July 19, while Kirby: Right Back at Ya! ended on September 27, 2003.

On the GameCube, Nintendo would release The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Fans were skeptical at first due to the dramatic graphical change, though upon release some regarded it as the best the series had to offer. Mario Kart: Double Dash‼ was released as well and was so successful that it outsold Super Mario Sunshine. Also on the console front was the announcement that the Chinese Nitnendo division iQue would release a re-branded Nintendo 64 in the country. Sometime in 2003, Satoru Iwata opened up a new video game development studio in Tokyo. Initially the company was known as Tokyo Software Designing Department. The intention of the group was to find unfound talent in Tokyo and would typically hire people seeking a job right after college. Yoshiaki Koizumi, who had by then become a prominent Nintendo designer, joined the group in Japan along with various others. It would take a couple years until they would release their first game, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

2004

2004 marked the year of change. Every Nintendo console since the NES had sold less than the system before it, and the GameCube was continuing that tradition. Satoru Iwata, after taking charge, had a plan to reverse this unfortunate trend, though before venturing in untested waters with the console market, they would release a handheld first that was unlike anything before it. January saw the announcement of the handheld, which shook the gaming industry to its very core. It was then when Nintendo announced the Nintendo DS. The DS was a dual screened handheld that featured touch screen capabilities. Hiroshi Yamauchi said it best when he explained that, if the system failed, it would send Nintendo to "Hell", though if it succeeded, they would rise to heaven. Gamers would have to wait a while longer until they would unveil more information on the system that was slated to release this year.

The Nintendo DS.

In February, Nintendo released Metroid: Zero Mission in the states for the Game Boy Advance. On March 23, Nintendo announced that they had sold 160 million Game Boy units worldwide, furthering the companies' anticipation to release the Nintendo DS. On May 11, during Nintendo's E3 press conference, they blew the lid off of the Nintendo DS, revealing specifications, details of the system, and games that would be released on it. Also during the conference was the revelation of the codename for Nintendo's next system, which was the Revolution. In June, iQue releases the Game Boy Advance system to China, with one of the major titles being WarioWare. By September 1, the price of the Game Boy Advance SP was lowered to $79. Various media were released during the year including Pikmin 2, Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys (starring Deoxys and Rayquaza), Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, though there was only one thing on people's mind and that was the release of the Nintendo DS. In a single day internet retailers had purchased two million units of the handheld and Nintendo looked increasingly optimistic. The moment of truth was quickly approaching.

Then, on November 21, the system is released in America. A demo of Metroid Prime Hunters, titled Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt was made available with the system, and of the launch games the best-selling is Super Mario 64 DS, a remake of Super Mario 64 that included three new playable characters including Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario, as well as enhanced graphics, new stages, thirty more Stars to collect and touch screen mini-games. In its first month on sale, the system sells 1.2 million units, while the Game Boy Advance SP sells 800,000. On the second of Japan the Nintendo DS is released in Japan, and half a million units are sold before the week is over.

2005

In 2005, Nintendo's EAD was restructured by Satoru Iwata and separated into five different groups, each one working on different video game series. Nintendo EAD 1 would work on the Mario Kart and Nintendogs franchises. The same team worked previously on Luigi's Mansion. Nintendo EAD 2 would work with Animal Crossing and the Wii series. Nintendo EAD 3 would devote themselves exclusively to the Legend of Zelda franchise. Nintendo EAD 4 would create the New Super Mario Bros., Yoshi, Band Brothers, Brain Academy and Pikmin franchise. Finally, the Tokyo studio which was opened in 2003 would be renamed Nintendo EAD Tokyo and would create Donkey Kong Jungle Beat and the Super Mario Galaxy franchise. EAD 1 would lead the way this year with the release of release of Mario Kart DS, the first game to use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Up to four players could race against each other from all over the world on half of the available stages. It became one of Nintendo's most successful games of the year and would convince them that Wi-Fi was definitely the way to go. Starting today, McDonalds announced that they would provide free Wi-Fi to Nintendo DS users in America. By the end of the year Nintendo released Animal Crossing: Wild World, the second Nintendo published Wi-Fi enabled game.

The Game Boy Micro.

During the Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo held a press conference (it was unusual for the company to hold one at TGS). Something big was about to be revealed that no one expected, and it was the revelation of the Revolution's controller. The lights dimmed and a video played of buttons traveling around a smooth surface.

Suddenly. they all went adjacent to each other and up came a remote looking controller. Shortly after it was revealed that the controller was in fact a motion controller, and subsequently a cord shot from underneath it and a separate controller appeared. The remote for their next controller had been revealed, and the audience was left shocked. Developers had mixed opinions and fans certainly voiced their thoughts on the controller. Nintendo had a plan, which was to appeal to the mass market and not solely to the limited "core" players, a number which had been dwindling. They were aiming to replicate their success with the Nintendo DS's touch screen in the form of a motion sensing controller that resembled a television remote. Four days after the announcement, Nintendo released the Game Boy Micro in America. It marked the end of the Game Boy franchise and the beginning of the Nintendo DS's reign. It was the smallest Game Boy, and unfortunately the least successful. Instead of being a new Game Boy, it was a redesign of the Game Boy Advance and lost backwards compatibility with the Game Boy and Game Boy Color due to design changes. In the middle of 2005, Nintendo opened the doors to the Nintendo World Store in New York, which would sell Nintendo games and host launch parties for their titles.

On December 23, 2005, 4Kids Entertainment announced that it will not renew the Pokémon representation agreement set to expire on December 31, 2005. And that beginning in 2006, TPCi's in-house licensing group will handle all Pokémon licensing outside of Asia. However, the company will continue to receive commissions for the next several years, on payments made under existing Pokémon license agreements whose term expires after December 31, 2005. Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew (released on July 16th) is the final Pokémon movie and media dubbed by 4Kids and also, final 4Kids production with Nintendo.

Wii era

2006

The DS Lite.

Thanks to titles like Nintendogs and Mario Kart DS, the Nintendo DS had become a tremendous success. To capitalize on the success, Nintendo released the DS Lite in early in the year. It was smaller, lighter, brighter, and had a better battery life than the original model. Its improved design really appealed to the masses and thus is sold like hotcakes. There were plenty of games that were aimed for the casual audience that were released in 2005, though there was yet another game Nintendo had been developing called Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! for the system. To day it remains one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo DS, and would start the "brain training" craze among casual gamers. Meanwhile New Super Mario Bros. proved that Mario still had it in him when it was launched to the top of sales charts. To date New Super Mario Bros. is the most lucrative Nintendo DS game. The successful direction the Nintendo DS was going in indicated to Nintendo that their Revolution console, which had now been renamed Wii, would be a massive success. They would showcase various video games for the Wii at this year's E3 press conference, such as Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which would also be released on the GameCube. Amid all of the top Nintendo franchise titles, however, it was surprising to see that the most popular of them all was a game called Wii Sports, which included five different sports activities to partake in ranging from bowling to tennis. The motion capabilities of the Wii Remote really cemented Wii's position as the most attractive console on the show, even if it didn't have HD graphics.

The Wii.

The launch date for the Wii was quickly approaching. It would be released within two days of the new PlayStation 3, which visually had more attractive graphics and processing power. In comparison the Wii was puny, and the hardware was laughable. With this set in the minds of gamers everywhere, it was clear who the winner would be. Surprisingly, they all knew it would be Wii. Despite the fact that the PlayStation 3 was the most powerful video game console ever released, gamers new and old knew that Nintendo had created an unstoppable machine.

Their lineup was impressive with games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Excite Trucks and Wii Sports leading the way, and the premise of motion controls seemed fresh. Its November release date was during the busiest time of the year, which would generate even more sales. On November 19, the Wii was released. With hours the system was sold out nationwide. The Wii craze had begun, and for months to years it would still be a challenge to find the Wii. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was the initial reason to by the system, though people would soon find out that the driving force behind the console was undoubtedly the Wii Sports game. Nintendo's saving grace in the console market had been found.

4Kids Entertainment lost their rights to the English dub of the Pokémon anime after season 8, TPCi took over the anime ever since. Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea premiered in Japan to promote Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, that was released on September 28. Before season 9 premiered, the anime special The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon aired in the United States before Japan in late 2006. This change of the English voice actors of the anime caused controversy and extremely negative reception among many fans as it is considered one of the worst Pokémon specials and movies ever made.

2007

The Wii had been launched and proved to be one of Nintendo's most successful launches in years. The mainstream media went crazy over the console and the games that were being released for it. It was now time to crank out the quality titles for the system, while at the same time actively supporting the Nintendo DS. Wii Play would be the next game that would fly off shelves, in part because it came with a Wii Remote. Super Paper Mario, the third title in the series, would become the best selling of them all, while Pokémon Battle Revolution would introduce the Pokémon franchise to the system. This year Nintendo's stock value reached $53.06 billion, thus surpassing Sony's. The Legend of Zelda franchise would receive two new games this year, one for the Wii and one for the Nintendo DS. The Nintendo DS would get The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. A direct sequel to The Wind Waker, it was controlled completely by the touch screen. Meanwhile, the Wii would get Link's Crossbow Training. The first Pokémon Diamond and Pearl movie, Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai was also released.

The game came packaged with the Wii Zapper, a new accessory that is linked to the game's success.

The Balance Board.

The biggest title of the year was undoubtedly Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii. Developed by Nintendo's Tokyo development studio, the game was announced a year prior at E3. Whereas some thought Super Mario Sunshine didn't live up to expectations, Super Mario Galaxy far surpassed them. The game had Mario flying through space, collecting stars as he typically did, though the linearity of the levels and the wide range of suits reminded some of the classic 2D Mario titles that were released on the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Within a day of its release Super Mario Galaxy became the highest rated game of all time, though over the months it would slowly drop to number three according to GameRankings.com. While Super Mario Galaxy was taking over the world, there was another title that was taking over Japan. That game was Wii Fit. The game came packaged with the Wii Balance Board, and accessory that lays on the ground that the player can step on. Whereas Brain Age started the education fad, Wii Fit started the fitness fad, and shortly after other companies hoping to cash in on its success would be left with a popular product, but was nothing special when compared to the juggernaut that was Wii Fit. 2007 is also the year when Nintendo decided to partially buy Monolith Soft, a Bandai Namco studio known for their work on Baten Kaitos and the Xenosaga series.

2008

Wii Fit had already taken Japan by storm and was soon to do the same in America and Europe. When released in Europe, it was so popular that it reached number one during the week. While this wasn't exactly surprising due to the heavy marketing behind the product, fans were shocked to see that it didn't even manage to break the top forty the following week. When asked why this was the case, Nintendo announced that in its first week on sale it completely sold out, meaning in its second week no one managed to buy anymore simply because there weren't any available. The game found similar success in America when it launched in May, and soon became the highest-selling Wii game. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was likewise a massive success for Nintendo, partly in due to the director's blog which he updated every day for months, detailing all of the characters, items, stages and more in his blog posts.

A white Nintendo DSi.

Mario Kart Wii was packaged with the Wii Wheel and soared to the top of the charts, becoming the best-selling Mario Kart game of all time. The first half of the year was impressive, and it was expected that the success would be replicated during the most important time of the year - the holiday season.

Nintendo's key titles for the latter half of 2008 were Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior, Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk. The two titles were the focus of Nintendo's E3 press conference, and it was later revealed that they expected the game to sell millions as their previous counterparts (Wii Fit and Animal Crossing: Wild World) did. Wii Music was met with an unimpressive launch, and things only went downhill from there. It can be said that it was still successful, selling far over two million copies, but it didn't meet anywhere near the projected sales. Hopeful for Animal Crossing: City Folk, the same sales pattern occurred, and it didn't meet expectations. It was later said that Nintendo learned a tremendous deal because of the holiday season and would plan to turn things around for 2009.

While on the retail front Nintendo's lineup was depressing, Nintendo did release WiiWare in the Summer. Similar to Xbox Live Arcade or the PlayStation Network, WiiWare would offer new and original titles to the Wii Shop Channel in a similar fashion to their Virtual Console, which delivers classic video games released years prior to the current generation. WiiWare would give independent developers and huge publishers the chance to create bite sized, cheap titles that would be too small to release on a disk. As expected, Nintendo would also release titles through the service such as the Art Style series, My Pokémon Ranch and Dr. Mario Online Rx. While the Wii's software wasn't as high as Nintendo had hoped, they did release the Nintendo DSi during the holiday season in Japan. The system was the third redesign of the Nintendo DS, though this time had a menu similar to the Wii's and a shop channel where you could purchase downloadable content through DSiWare. Two cameras were stationed on the handheld, one facing towards the player and one facing outwards. Unfortunately, it lost Game Boy Advance backwards compatibility.

2009

The Motion Plus accessory.

Whereas 2008 started with a boom and success in terms of sales of the Wii, it was the same for 2009. 2009 had fantastic titles like ExciteBots: Trick Racing and Punch-Out!! for Wii gamers, though neither sold as much as the 10 million plus sellers like Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii. Fans were definitely pleased to receive a new game in the Punch-Out!! franchise due to its long omission from Nintendo's previous consoles, and it sold moderately well, but the big system sellers and media wouldn't come until the latter half with titles like Wii Sports Resort, the Pokémon movie Pokémon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and Wii Fit Plus. Back in 2008, Nintendo had announced prior to their E3 press conference that a new accessory by the name of Wii MotionPlus would be released in 2009.

The accessory would add a greater degree of precision to the Wii Remote when attached to the bottom of the controller. During the conference, it was announced that a sequel to Wii Sports, titled Wii Sports Resort, would be among the first games to make use of the interesting and innovative device. In Summer of 2009 Nintendo released Wii MotionPlus to stores. Critics and gamers alike were pleased with the end result, as it gave the controller true 1:1 motion, which means that it is capable of replicating nearly every movement done by the player.

In the latter half of 2009, Nintendo revealed and subsequently released the Nintendo DSi XL in Japan. The handheld system was the fourth and final entry in the Nintendo DS franchise. As its name suggests, the Nintendo DSi XL is a larger version of the NIntendo DSi which had been released a year prior to the Nintendo DSi XL in Japan. It featured larger screens, a better battery life, and preloaded games. Like its predecessor, the DSi XL removed GBA support.

2010

In early 2010, Nintendo of America released Glory of Heracles in the United States and Canada. The game was the first entry in the series to be released outside of Japan. In March, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi XL in North America, Europe, and Australia alongside WarioWare D.I.Y., which had been released the previous year in Japan. In March, shortly before the American release of the Nintendo DSi XL, Nintendo surprisingly announced the Nintendo 3DS, the successor to the Nintendo DS that is capable of generating 3D images without the need of glasses. A remake of Pokémon Gold and Silver under the name of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver was released in the west. In May, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy was released under the simple name of Super Mario Galaxy 2. In June, the first entry in the Xenoblade series, Xenoblade Chronicles was released in Japan, but was not planned to be released in North America which would lead to Operation Rainfall and its release two years later. In August, Metroid: Other M was released in North America and would release in the rest of the world in September. To end the year, Nintendo released in December the first Donkey Kong Country game since the SNES era, the game released shortly after its first presentation as it was shown for the first time during E3 2010. The 13th Pokémon movie, Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions was also released and to promote the Pokémon Black and White games in Japan.

2011

The Nintendo 3DS.

2011 marks the release of Nintendo's new portable system, the Nintendo 3DS, that allowed players to play games in 3D without equipement for the first time. The system launched in late February in Japan before releasing in the rest of the world by March. March saw the release of a bunch of 3D games made for the 3DS like Pilotwings Resort or Nintendogs + Cats, but also a few big Nintendo DS titles like Pokémon Black and White. In June, the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for 3DS, simply titled The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, released. The Wii U was announced at E3 2011 with a release date set to the following year. The system was intended to be the successor of the Wii and was designed to bring the advantages of having two screens to a home console, which is why the Wii U GamePad was designed as a fully working touchscreen with buttons on the sides. In July, the first Black and White movie, Pokémon the Movie: Black—Victini and Reshiram and White—Victini and Zekrom, premired in Japan.

In August, Xenoblade Chronicles would release on the Wii in Europe making this event, the first instence of the franchise gaining notoriety outside of Japan. By September, Star Fox 64 3D, another remake of a classic Nintendo 64 game, namely Star Fox 64 was released worldwide. By October, Kirby Mass Attack was released worldwide, making it the last major release for the DS of the year. By November Kirby's Return to Dream Land was also released worldwide on the Wii. Kirby's Return to Dreamland actually marked the return of Kirby on a home console after the 10-year development cycle of the game filled with scrapped versions notably the original GameCube game it debuted as. It is also the first of the Shinya Kumazaki era of Kirby games as it was his first fully original main line Kirby game as well as the game that would define the path the franchise would follow under his direction. A first redesign for the Wii, called the Wii Family Edition was released. The Family Edition is designed to sit horizontaly and is incompatible with Nintendo GameCube games and accessories.

November was also the month of release of Super Mario 3D Land, the first example of a 3D Mario game following the traditional 2D Mario formula instead of the usual 3D formula. It was also the first fully original mainline Mario game to be made specifically for a handheld and serves as the basis for what would become Super Mario 3D World. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword close the month of November, making it the second major Zelda game for the Wii behind Twilight Princess. Skyward Sword heavily relly on the motion control mechanics of the system and serves as an origin story for the Zelda series. It is alongside this game that the Zelda Timeline was made public in a Eiji Aonuma written book officially approved by Nintendo. Mario Kart 7 closed the year as the Nintendo 3DS' big title for the holidays.

Wii U era

2012

Wii U

Early in the year, Nintendo bought the remaining shares Namco still had in Monolith Soft, making a fully owned Nintendo subsidiary. In summer, the Nintendo 3DS XL was released. Like the DSi XL, it's a larger version of the previous model. Late November and early December saw the release of the next generations console Wii U, Nintendo again raising the bar in innovation in gaming. A number of popular games were released at the time of the console's launch, including New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, ZombiU, and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge. Others were released a month later, such as 007 Legends. Games released this year for the Wii and 3DS included Mario Party 9, Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, Kirby's Dream Collection, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. In September, it was also announced that Bayonetta 2, the sequel to Bayonetta, a game originally released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 was entirely funded and endorsed by Nintendo and as a result, PlatinumGames would release the game as a Wii U exclusive. A second and final redesign for the Wii, called the Wii Mini was released in Canada on December 7. It removed alot of features, like GameCube compatibility, internet connectivity, SD slot, and one USB port instead of two.

Pokémon the Movie: Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice premiered on July 14.

After 24 years, Nintendo Power magazine ceased publication in December, volume 285 marking its final issue.

2013

Satoru Iwata announcing the Year of Luigi during a Nintendo Direct.

2013 was a pretty slow year for Wii U releases, but for Nintendo, 2013 would be celebrated as The Year of Luigi as announced by Nintendo's president, Satoru Iwata, in a Nintendo Direct broadcasted in February.

In February, Fire Emblem Awakening would release for the 3DS and mark a renewal for the series who was about to be cancelled before the release of Fire Emblem Awakening. In March, the first game of the Year of Luigi, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, would release on the 3DS as the sequel of the original game on the Nintendo GameCube with it Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity is also released in the same month and the Wii Mini was released in Europe and UK.

In June, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is released on the 3DS. Later this month, Nintendo had its E3 2013 presentation and for the first time, the presentation would be online only, this kind of E3 presentation would be the model to follow for their future E3 presentations. In their presentation, they showed games like Pokémon X and Y, Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, The Wonderful 101, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2 and a newly announced Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Pokémon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend Awakened premiered in July 13th, featuring a different Mewtwo with Mega Evolution.

In August, two more game part of the Year of Luigi would be released, those games are the fourth game in the Mario & Luigi series named Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and a new version of New Super Mario Bros. U staring Luigi as the main character and named New Super Luigi U and with them Pikmin 3, the first game in the Pikmin series since 2004. In September, The Wonderful 101 and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, a remaster of the Nintendo GameCube game of the same name releases. In October, Pokémon X and Y and the Nintendo 2DS released worldwide. To promote X and Y's release, Pokémon Origins, a miniseries based on the first Pokémon games, Red and Blue was released on October 2, 2013.

In November, Super Mario 3D World releases worldwide, Mario Party: Island Tour releases in North America, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds releases in the West and the Wii Mini was released in North America, but it is also the month when Nintendo saw heavy competition with the release of its rival companies next generation consoles, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

2014

The first Amiibo unveiled during E3 2014.

2014 was a somewhat slow year for Nintendo in terms of development. Only a few titles were developed inhouse with the only Nintendo Kyoto EAD title being Mario Kart 8. This was because Nintendo had moved it Kyoto headquarters and consolidated it. Nintendo also has purchased some stock in Dwango, owners of Nico Nico and Spike Chunsoft.

The retail version of Wii Fit U was the first major release in 2014 though they had previously released the digital version on the eShop last December. The 3DS lineup was steady with games like Bravely Default, Yoshi's New Island, and Kirby Triple Deluxe being decent successes. Nintendo also released Tomodachi Life and it had surprising levels of success and controversy. While not as successful as it was in Japan, Tomodachi Life sold well over 1 million for the year. Mario Kart 8 also performed well, selling over 3.5 million for 2014, despite the limited install base.

Pokémon the Movie: Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction was released in July 19th, while the Ruby and Sapphire remakes Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire released on November 21st.

At E3, Nintendo stole the show with an impressive lineup of new entries in popular series like Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and Mario Party as well as new IPs like Splatoon and Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. and notably their new Amiibo brand. It was also during this E3 that Star Fox Zero and two technical demos then known as Project Guard and Project Giant Robot were revealed to the press. Project Guard would eventually release two years later as a Star Fox spin-off known as Star Fox Guard and Project Giant Robot would later become part of what would be known as Nintendo Labo and release four years later.

Nintendo also explored new avenues in Digital distribution, with two Free-to-play games, Rusty's Real Deal Baseball and Steel Diver: Sub Wars as well as expanding on DLC with Mario Kart 8, Mario Golf: World Tour, and Hyrule Warriors getting Season Passes. They also started themes on the 3DS as well as the Collectible Badge Center to further contribute to themes. Nintendo also started to pre-load games with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.

Nintendo also expanded their public relations with public support of video game tournaments like EVO, expansion of the Nintendo Minute show on YouTube, creation of Treehouse Live and publically supporting Let's Play in Japan on Nico Nico.

Two more models of the 3DS family were released: the New 3DS and New 3DS XL. Like the DSi, the New 3DS models are upgrades of the 3DS line.

2015

Tatsumi Kimishima, Nintendo's 5th president.

The first major release of 2015 would be a complete remake of Majora's Madk on the 3DS, this game named The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D would release on February 13 and feature enhanced graphic and reimagined Bosses. Soon after it, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse would release in North America on February 20 and Mario Party 10 would follow it, releasing on March 20.

In April of the same year, a port of the original Xenoblade Chronicles would release on the New 3DS under the name of Xenoblade Chronicles 3D. The game is exclusive to the new models and is incompatible with earlier models. In May, Splatoon would release worldwide and mark the beginning of one of Nintendo's most successful IPs. The same month, Nintendo announced their partnership with Universal Studios to create three Nintendo themed areas in their theme parks located in Tokyo, Hollywood and Orlando. In June and July, Fire Emblem Fates and Pokémon the Movie: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages would release in Japan (the latter was released in the US later that year). September, Super Mario Maker would release worldwide and allow player all over the world to create and share their own Super Mario levels. Still in September, Miyamoto revealed in an interview that Pikmin 4 was in development. The game would not be shown to the public for another 7 years after this interview.

The year ends with the release of Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon and the western release of the second game in the Xenoblade series, Xenoblade Chronicles X. 2015 is also marked with the death of Nintendo's 4th president and CEO, Satoru Iwata on July 11 and the appointment of Tatsumi Kimishima as Nintendo's 5th president in September. Iwata would later get tributes in various Nintendo games like Star Fox Zero and the future 3D Zelda game that would only get the name of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild the year after.

2016

2016 was a notable year for the Nintendo 3DS and mark Nintendo's debut in the mobile market. The year starts with the Japanese release of Hyrule Warriors Legends, the North American release of Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam and the Japanese release of Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash in January. February marks the release of Fire Emblem Fates in the West and the release of Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon in Europe as well as the Virtual Console of Pokémon Red, Blue and Yellow for the 3DS. In March, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD and Pokkén Tournament would release worldwide as well as the American version of Hyrule Warriors Legends and Nintendo's first mobile title, Miitomo. Nintendo would also release the first details about their first theme park located at Universal Studios Japan and gave the completion date of 2020, just before Tokyo's 2020 Summer Olympics.

April would mark the release of Star Fox Zero, Star Fox Guard, and Kirby: Planet Robobot. In June, Nintendo hold their E3 2016 presentation, a presentation mainly dedicated to the new installement in the Zelda series, the recently named The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, later this month, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE would release in the West. In July, Pokémon GO is released on mobile and becomes a huge hit. Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel released the same month as Go. Pokémon Generations was released on September 16th to celebrate Pokémon's 20th anniversary.

The Super Nintendo World logo

October marks the reveal of Nintendo's next console and first hybrid console through an online presentation, the console allow the player to play in handeld and home console mode and even split the Joy-Con Controller to have two players use one controller. The last huge hit of 2016 is Pokémon Sun and Moon releasing worldwide in November. In December, the Nintendo themed section at Universal Studios Japan would recieve the official name of Super Nintendo World.

Switch era

2017

Nintendo Switch

The year started with a presentation dedicated to the Nintendo Switch on January 12, the presentation is also the first proper event hosted by Nintendo's 5th president, Tatsumi Kimishima. During the presentation, many new games from many big Nintendo franchise were announced like Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, ARMS, Fire Emblem Warriors, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as well as big third-party games like what would be known as Shin Megami Tensei V, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Octopath Traveler, and Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. On January 18, a Fire Emblem centred direct is broadcasted in which a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden is announced under the name of Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia and a new Fire Emblem game for the Switch said to release in 2018.

On February 2, Fire Emblem Heroes is released as Nintendo's third major mobile game. On March 3, Nintendo released the Switch along The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch. In June, ARMS and Ever Oasis are released worldwide. Still in June, Nintendo host its E3 2017 presentation in which they announce the coming of Kirby Star Allies and a new Yoshi game for the Nintendo Switch in 2018. Metroid Prime 4 and a mainline Pokémon game are also announced on the Nintendo Switch. Additionally, a crossover between Mario and Ubisoft's Raving Rabbids is announced under the name Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle and was released in August of the same year. The same month, Nintendo would announce the beginning of the construction of Super Nintendo World and would release the first teaser for it.

In July, Hey! Pikmin and Splatoon 2 released worldwide on their respective system, Splatoon 2 marks once again a stellar hit for Nintendo's most successful recent franchise. On July 15th, Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!, a retelling of the first Pokémon anime episode, was released with a mixed reception by many Pokémon fans and movie critics. A sixth and final model of the 3DS line called the New Nintendo 2DS XL was released around the same time. Pokkén Tournament DX released in September. In October, Super Mario Odyssey and Fire Emblem Warriors releases and Super Mario Odyssey soon became one of the Switch's best-sellers. The release of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ended the year for Nintendo. However, during the Game Awards 2017, the president of Nintendo of America, Reggie Fils-Aimé, announced ports of the two first games from the Bayonetta series on Nintendo Switch and Bayonetta 3 exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.

2018

The Piano Toy-Con.

On January 11, Nintendo posted a Mini Nintendo Direct on their website. in this direct, Nintendo announced a new Mario Tennis game under the name of Mario Tennis Aces to release in June of the same year. On January 17, Nintendo revealed Nintendo Labo in a dedicated event, the product allows the player to construct and uses Toy-Cons to interact with the main game. The first sets would be released on April 20. On January 31, Nintendo announced during an investor meeting that they were developing Mario Kart Tour, a Mario Kart game for mobile platforms. During this same meeting, they confirmed that an animated Mario movie was being realized by the American studio known as Illumination. On March 8, Nintendo broadcasted a Nintendo Direct where they announced a port of Luigi's Mansion to the 3DS, announced a remake of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story titled Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey for the 3DS, gave more details for Mario Tennis Aces, showed the Octo Expansion for Splatoon 2, announced a port of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for both the 3DS and the Switch, announced WarioWare Gold for 3DS and revealed the fifth installment in the Super Smash Bros. series under the working title of Super Smash Bros. This title would get info blowouts starting with E3 2018 where it was revealed that it would name Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and said to release in December 2018, the game act as a celebration of the series and bring back all fighters in its history as well as most stages in a single game but would also bring all-new content as well.

Shuntaro Furukawa, Nintendo's 6th president.

On April 26, Nintendo hold their investor meeting. During the press conference following the meeting, it was announced that Tatsumi Kimishima would step down as the CEO of Nintendo and would be replaced by Shuntaro Furukawa who by June would become Nintendo's sixth president. It was also announced that Satoru Shibata would leave his position of president of Nintendo of Europe and become a member of the board of directors of the company. Nintendo also announced Dragalia Lost, their first mobile game that is a totally new intellectual property and not an adaptation of one of their well-known series to the mobile market. The game is developed by Cygames, a famous Japanese mobile developer. This project also led to Nintendo buying 5% of Cygames' stock. The game would launch in September of the same year.

On May 30, Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! was revealed for the Nintendo Switch during a conference held by The Pokémon Company. Those two games are the first mainline Pokémon games to be on a system that can be considered to be a home console in some capacity. The game is a reimagining of Pokémon Yellow with heavy functionality with Pokémon Go and even some multiplayer features. Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us was released on July 13th, featuring Zeraora and Lugia.

During E3 2018, Nintendo announced DAEMON X MACHINA, an action game centered around mechs said to be released in 2019. They also showed the Fire Emblem game announced at the beginning of 2017, now named Fire Emblem: Three Houses allow the player to control entire armies with their battle formations rather than just individual characters, the individual character is however still in the game and acts as leaders of various groups of soldiers, the game's release date was announced for Spring 2019. The story DLC of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 was also shown during the conference and is set to release in September 2018. The 11th Mario Party game, named Super Mario Party, was also revealed during this E3 and returns to the original style of gameplay where all characters move on the board independently from others. This E3 also served as a mean to show the good relationship Nintendo had with Ubisoft as the Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle DLC was featured as well as the integration of Fox McCloud and his team in Starlink: Battle for Atlas, a game developed by Ubisoft and first revealed during their conference. Like in 2017, Shigeru Miyamoto also made an appearance in Ubisoft's conference to promote the inclusion of Fox in Starlink. On June 28, Tatsumi Kimishima officially retired to let his place as Nintendo's president to Shuntaro Furukawa.

Octopath Traveler released in July on the Nintendo Switch and was immediately a huge success that caused many shortages in Japan during its first month on the market. At the beginning of August, WarioWare Gold released on the Nintendo 3DS. A few days later, Nintendo broadcasted a Nintendo Direct focused exclusively on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and new characters, items, stages, Assist Trophies, game modes, and Pokémon were showcased. Later in the same month, Nintendo broadcasted two presentations focused on the future indie games releasing on Nintendo Switch, they then broadcasted a Nintendo Direct focused on Dragalia Lost around the end of the month. Nintendo planned to have a Nintendo Direct on September 6 but because of an earthquake hitting Japan, Nintendo decided to delay the direct as a big part of the country suffered a power outage, this became the first Nintendo Direct in the history of the company to have been publicly delayed. The Nintendo Direct was finally broadcasted almost a week after the direct. The third game in the Luigi's Mansion series was announced during this direct as Luigi's Mansion 3. A new game in the Animal Crossing series then simply referred to as Animal Crossing was also announced during the Direct. The Yoshi game announced during E3 2017 was shown for the first time in over a year with its new title being Yoshi's Crafted World and featuring the ability to replay the levels in an inversed version. Various information's about other Nintendo games like Pokémon Let's Go, Super Mario Party, Splatoon 2, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, DAEMON X MACHINA were also featured in the direct. Game Freak also announced Town, a RPG located entirely in a small village. One other big announcement was the return of mainline Final Fantasy on a Nintendo platform with ports of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster and Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age. Nintendo also launched the online subscription portion of Nintendo Switch Online in late September.

In October, Super Mario Party, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and the 3DS port of Luigi's Mansion released. In November, Nintendo broadcasted a Nintendo Direct focused exclusively on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate followed by a treehouse live with new information's on Pokémon Let's Go, Yoshi's Crafted World and Diablo III: Eternal Collection. Later that month, Pokémon Let's Go released worldwide and broke the record of fastest selling Nintendo Switch game. In December, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate released and on the same day, Joker from Persona 5 was announced as the first DLC character during the Game Awards alongside a few new third party games said to come on the Switch in the near future. Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey also released in Japan on December 27.

2019

In January, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story + Bowser Jr.’s Journey released worldwide on the 3DS and later that, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe released worldwide on the Nintendo Switch. Later this month, it was announced by Shinya Takahashi that the company had trouble with the development of Metroid Prime 4 and that the game was restarted from the ground up due to a project failing to meet the standards of quality of the company. It was also announced that Retro Studios, the ones who worked on the trilogy, would be the ones to handle the development of the game from now on, making it their first known project since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze in 2014. At the end of the month, Nintendo announced that Mario Kart Tour would be delayed to the summer of 2019 before announcing a new mobile game based on the Dr. Mario franchise, Dr. Mario World.

In February, Nintendo broadcasted a Nintendo Direct focused exclusively on the Nintendo Switch and hosted by Yoshiaki Koizumi. During the presentation, they announced Super Mario Maker 2, a sequel to the original Mario level editor on Nintendo Switch. They also gave news updates on Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Yoshi's Crafted World, and DAEMON X MACHINA with new release windows and demos for the two later ones. Astral Chain, a new game made as part of their partnership with PlatinumGames was announced and given a release date. The development situation of Bayonetta 3 was briefly mentioned by Koizumi and they then announced The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, a remake of the original Game Boy game of the same name.

Doug Bowser, the new president of Nintendo of America.

On February 21, it was announced that Reggie Fils-Aimé would retire from his position as the President of Nintendo of America in April and leave his place to Doug Bowser, the former Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Nintendo's American branch. On February 27, Nintendo broadcasted a Pokémon Direct during which the first games of the 8th Generation of Pokémon, named Pokémon Sword and Shield, were shown. A trailer was shown and details about the starters and the region were revealed by various Game Freak employees, namely Junichi Masuda and Shigeru Ohmori. On March 20, Nintendo announced their biggest collaboration with an indie studio yet during the Nindies Showcase. The game titled Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer feat. The Legend of Zelda is a full game that acts as a crossover between The Legend of Zelda and Brace Yourself Games' Crypt of the NecroDancer.

Yoshi's Crafted World released on March 29. Reggie Fils-Aimé retired from his position as President of Nintendo of America on April 15. On May 29, the Pokémon 2019 Press Conference was held. A Detective Pikachu game was announced to eventually come to the Nintendo Switch. Two mobile spin-offs named Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon Masters were also announced. On June 5, Nintendo broadcasted a Pokémon Direct with Pokémon Sword and Shield as its focus. New information's about the games were revealed like the release date, new Pokémon, and features proposed in this new iteration of the Pokémon franchise. Two Pokémon movies were released the same year: the live action Detective Pikachu movie and the CGI remake of Mewtwo Strikes Back, Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back—Evolution, in which both movies featured Mewtwo.

Nintendo's E3 2019 presentation was hosted on June 11. It is the first presentation hosted by Doug Bowser and served also as an introduction for the new president of Nintendo's North American branch. Nintendo revealed two new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate characters: The Hero from Dragon Quest (with Erdrick, Solo and Eight as costumes) and Banjo & Kazooie from Banjo-Kazooie. New details on Luigi's Mansion 3 were revealed, Animal Crossing was renamed Animal Crossing: New Horizons and delayed to March 2020 and new information on Astral Chain were highlighted. DAEMON X MACHINA, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening and Cadence of Hyrule got release dates. No More Heroes 3 was shown for the first time with a 2020 release date. a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild was also revealed for the first time during the presentation.

The Nintendo Switch Lite.

Super Mario Maker 2 released worldwide on June 28th. On July 10 Koizumi announced the Nintendo Switch Lite, a version of the Nintendo Switch that remove the ability to detach Joy-Cons and their functions like the HD Rumble and the IR Camera to reduce the cost of the system to $200 in North America and its regional equivalent everywhere else. Fire Emblem: Three Houses released at the end of the month. At the end of August, Astral Chain released worldwide. Nintendo hosted a Nintendo Direct on September 4th. Luigi's Mansion 3 was confirmed to have multiplayer focused minigames and Animal Crossing: New Horizon had several small brand-new features showcased. Banjo & Kazooie were set to release just after the presentation and with it a new Kirby free to play spin-off similar to Team Kirby Clash Deluxe called Super Kirby Clash. Terry Bogard was announced as the new DLC character for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a SNK representative. Town was renamed Little Town Hero and was given the release date of October 16 2019. Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE was also announced to rerelease on the Nintendo Switch in January 2020 under the name of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore, which features brand new content. Xenoblade Chronicles was announced to have been entirely remade in an art style mixing the original and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 for the Nintendo Switch under the name of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition with seemingly brand-new content. The Nintendo Switch remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was also briefly shown with info's on the role of the Amiibos in the game. Finally, it was announced that new DLCs were planned for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate beyond the original season pass.

On September 5, Nintendo teased new accessories called the Leg Strap and the Ring-Con in a trailer. On September 12, Ring Fit Adventure was shown for the first time in its own trailer. Ring Fit Adventure is the first game to use the accessories announced a few days earlier and is a hybrid between a role-playing game and a fitness game that require the player to themselves perform certain actions outside of the game in order to accomplish certain tasks within the game. Little Town Hero released on October 16 and Luigi's Mansion 3 later released worldwide for Halloween. Pokémon Sword and Shield was then released worldwide on November 15. Pokémon Journeys: The Series premiered in Japan on November 17. The series have Ash travels across all eight regions (including Galar) to compete in the World Coronation Series. Along the way, he's accompanied by his new friend and co-protagonist Goh, whose dream is to catch all the Pokémon in the world, especially Mew. Several characters from past series made several guest appearances or flashbacks/cameos. Journeys marked the final time Ash appears as the anime's protagonist. Unlike the previous six series of the anime, the English dub aired on Netflix instead on television with 12 episodes released quarterly.

2020

Animal Crossing: New Horizons climbed to the spot of second best-selling Nintendo Switch game in less than a year.

On January 9, Nintendo hosted a Pokémon Direct during which a remake of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team called Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX was announced with a release date set in March. During the same presentation, two DLC packs for Pokémon Sword and Shield were announced to release within the year. On January 16, Byleth Eisner was announced as the last DLC character for the first DLC pack of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate during a broadcasted presentation. During this event, Masahiro Sakurai also announced more details about the second DLC pack such as the number of fighters and the release window. The Sword and Shield web animated series Pokémon: Twilight Wings was released on January 15. On January 17, Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore was released.

Nintendo hosted an Animal Crossing direct during February to reveal more details about Animal Crossing: New Horizons, including terraforming. Still in February, the original Nintendo 2DS was discontinued in North America. On March 6, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team released. Animal Crossing: New Horizons released on March 20. On March 26, Nintendo broadcasted a mini–Nintendo Direct that amongst other things announced the release date of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, DLC for Ring Fit Adventure, and an unprecised ARMS character (confirmed as Min Min) as the first DLC character of the second Super Smash Bros. Ultimate season pass. It is with this direct that Nintendo addressed their changes of plans as a result of the measures taken to eliminate the COVID‑19 pandemic that took off at the beginning of 2020. As a result, Nintendo and the video game industry had to rethink their release schedules and live events. The March Nintendo Direct was the first concerned as it was the first Nintendo Direct that wasn't live and was instead just posted on Nintendo's various social media platforms. Around the same time, E3 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic. This makes it the first year since E3's creation in 1995 that Nintendo was not able to attend to present their future games alongside the other publishers.

On the 14th of May, Nintendo uploaded a trailer for a brand new Paper Mario game on the Nintendo Switch, which was titled Paper Mario: The Origami King and was set to be released worldwide in July of the same year. Pokétoon, an original net animation (ONA) series featuring different kinds of short animations with different Pokémon, first aired in June 2020. On June 17, a Pokémon themed presentation was published. During the presentation, a new Pokémon Snap game, simply named New Pokémon Snap, was announced for the Nintendo Switch. Alongside it, Pokémon Smile was announced for mobile and Pokémon Café Mix was announced for both the Nintendo Switch and mobile. Soon after the presentation, a second one was announced to be broadcasted on June 24. This second Pokémon presentation was dedicated to Pokémon Unite, a Pokémon themed MOBA made in partnership with Tencent. Paper Mario: The Origami King released on the 17th of July. On July 20, Nintendo hosted a mini Nintendo Direct dedicated to their partners. The highlight included DLCs for Cadence of Hyrule as well as updates on Shin Megami Tensei V, including a 2021 release date. It was also announced that a remake of Shin Megami Tensei III titled Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster would also release on the Nintendo Switch in early 2021. On August 8, Nintendo announced that Pikmin 3 would be rereleased on the Nintendo Switch in October under the name of Pikmin 3 Deluxe. This new version was stated to include new story missions as well as new features and all of the original's DLC.

On September 3, Nintendo published a direct dedicated to the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.. Multiple products were announced during said direct. One of the major one being the Super Mario 3D All-Stars compilation that compile Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy into one package. A Game & Watch version of Super Mario Bros. called Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. was also announced. Super Mario Bros. 35, a battle royale version of Super Mario Bros. was also announced for the Nintendo Switch Online. An enhanced port of Super Mario 3D World called Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury was also announced. This game features a new mode titled Bowser's Fury. Finally, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, an augmented reality game coming with a kit comprised of two racing karts and poles used to create circuit in real life and play on them with the Nintendo Switch. On September 8, Nintendo revealed Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity in a trailer. The game is a second The Legend of Zelda themed Dynasty Warrior. The game is set 100 years before Breath of the Wild and serves as a prequel telling the events that led to the Great Calamity. Pikmin 3 Deluxe was released at the end of October. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity released later that year at the end of November, making it the last 1st party release of the year. Animal Crossing: New Horizon actually sold more than 30 million copies before the end of the year alongside Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This is an incredible number to reach in a few months and the two games immediately entered the top 15 best selling games of all time (including every port). This means that New Horizon was not only the best-selling game of the year but also one of the most popular games in Nintendo history and even video game history up to that point. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate added Steve (with Alex, Zombie and Enderman) from Minecraft and Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII on October 13 and December 17, respectively. On December 25, Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle was released. The original release date of July 10, 2020, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. The film released worldwide (excluding Japan, Korea, and China) on Netflix the following year. Secrets of the Jungle is currently the most recent animated film of the Pokémon series because the film was largely unsuccessful at the box office, having one of the lowest proceeds among all 23 mainline movies. This was largely because of Japan reinstituting lockdowns under a national emergency regarding an unexpected spike in COVID-related cases in January around the time of the film's release.

2021

Logo of Next Level Games

Nintendo started the year by announcing the purchase of Next Level Games on January 4th. The Canadian studio had actually been working with Nintendo for years at this point. They had also worked for other publishers in the past but since 2010, they had exclusively been working for Nintendo. The company had made the games of the Mario Striker series in the past as well as Punch Out!! for the Wii. After working exclusively for Nintendo, they made Metroid spinoffs and Luigi's Mansion games. The insane success of Luigi's Mansion 3, which had sold over 9 million copies at the moment of the buyout probably convinced Nintendo of going through with their purchase. Their 10 years long relationship prior to that probably also helped.

In February, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury released. It was soon followed by Bravely Default II. February also marks the return of the regular Nintendo Directs, which had been missing since the beginning of the pandemic. One such direct was hosted on the 17th of February. During that Direct, Mario Golf: Super Rush was announced with a release date for June of this same year. A port of Skyward Sword called The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD was also announced and set to release later in the year. The direct also provided updates on DLC for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, as well as new information on upcoming games such as no More Heroes 3 and Monster Hunter Rise. The Direct also revealed that Pyra and Mythra from Xenoblade Chronicles 2 were the next DLC fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The direct ended with the reveal of Splatoon 3, which was given a 2022 release date. On the 26th of February, Nintendo hosted a Pokémon themed event during which two major new games were revealed. The first was a remake of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl called Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, set to release later in the year. The next was an open world styled Pokémon game called Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which serves as a prequel to Generation IV games and is set to release in 2022.

Not much happened in March aside from a big game release. On March 26, Monster Hunter Rise was released worldwide. During April, New Pokémon Snap was released. It is also during that time that talks about the return of E3. It was soon confirmed that E3 would be hosted digitally, and that Nintendo would be participating as usual. E3 2021 is a special case as it is the first to follow the cancelled E3 2020 and still has to abide by strict rules due to the Covid-19 epidemic that was still ongoing alongside it. It should be noted that this style of presentation affected Nintendo the least since they had already ditched physical press conferences back in 2013. It mostly affected their presence at exposition, not their actual show. In May Nintendo released two remakes of games from the Famicom Detective Club series on the Nintendo Switch. The first being a remake of Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir, which shares the same name. The other is a remake of Famicom Detective Club Part II: The Girl Who Stands Behind, called Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind. The same month, a port of Miitopia was announced and released on the Nintendo Switch. The port's main new feature is an enhanced Mii creator that allows for the creation of the most detailed Miis ever seen. During June, Game Builder Garage, a game made to help people learn how to design games.

At E3 2021, Nintendo announced various new games and additional footage for already announced games set to release in the reminder of 2021. Nintendo's presence at E3 started before their own conference, however. Indeed, Ubisoft announced a sequel to Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle titled Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope on the first day of E3. The game would later appear in a smaller capacity on Nintendo's conference proper with a 2022 release date. Nintendo's own conference started with the announcement of Kazuya Mishima from Tekken as the next DLC fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A new Mario Party titled Mario Party Superstars was announced with a release date set for the end of the same year. The game is a best of of the series with 5 boards selected from older games with over 100 returning minigames. Metroid Dread was finally announced after a notoriously convoluted development. It is a new 2D Metroid game that acts as a sequel to Metroid Fusion and inspired by Metroid: Samus Return gameplaywise. The game is set to release in 2021. A new WarioWare game titled WarioWare: Get It Together! was also announced with an emphasis on multiplayer gameplay and the ability to control other characters. Shin Megami Tensei V was also showcased with new gameplay elements and a release date set for the end of the year. Mario Golf: Super Rush and Skyward Sword HD were also briefly featured. The event ended with a new trailer for the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which showed an emphasis on the sky, new powers, and floating islands it also received a 2022 release date. The conference was followed by a three hour long Treehouse presentation showing gameplay of the games revealed during the presentation.

the OLED Model

On July 6, Nintendo announced a new revision for the Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo Switch (OLED Model). The OLED model's main new feature is the 7-inch OLED screen. The screen is larger than the original model, with reduced bezels. The OLED screen producing higher quality than the standard LCD display with darker blacks and brighter whites. Beyond the screen, the OLED model has improved speakers, a new adjustable stand and more built-in memory at 64GB. The stand is much wider than the original model, covering the width of the Switch console and can be adjusted to a multitude of angles.

On September 2, the web animation Pokémon Evolutions was released on YouTube, while on September 10, WarioWare: Get It Together! was released. On September 23rd, Nintendo broadcasted a Nintendo Direct. During this direct, a new Kirby game titled Kirby and the Forgotten Land was announced with a spring 2022 release date. It is the first truly 3D mainline Kirby game in history. The closest before that was Kirby's Blowout Blast, which was a 3D spinoff. More details about the Metroid Dread and Shin Megami Tensei V were also shown. Masahiro Sakurai briefly appeared to announce a separate broadcast on October 5th to reveal the last Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fighter. Shigeru Miyamoto also had his own segment where he gave us the casting for The Super Mario Bros. Movie that was announced back in 2018. Monster Hunter Rise also had its expansion, Sunbreak, announced. Splatoon 3 received more details on its main story with a big emphasis on the return of mammals. The direct closed off with the first real trailer for Bayonetta 3 with a 2022 release date. On October 5 Sora from Kingdom Hearts was revealed to be the final character to appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. On October 8 Metroid Dread was released worldwide. The same day, the OLED model released in most of the world. On October 15 Nintendo broadcasted an Animal Crossing Direct during which a Animal Crossing: New Home Designer themed expansion was revealed alongside another free update. On October 29, Mario Party Superstars was released. On November 12, Shin Megami Tensei V was released. On November 19 Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shinning Pearl was released.

2022

On January 12, Nintendo released a new trailer for Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which included a reveal of Co-op and a release date set in March of the same year. Pokémon Legends: Arceus releases on January 28. To promote Legends: Arceus, Bidoof's Big Stand, Pokémon: The Arceus Chronicles and Pokémon: Hisuian Snow was also released. On February 9, Nintendo broadcast a general Nintendo Direct. During said direct, a second Fire Emblem Warriors game based exclusively on Fire Emblem: Three Houses is announced for a June 24 release. The game is titled Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes and is based on three additional alternate routes set in Three Houses continuity. The event causing the divergence in the timeline being the involvement of a mysterious mercenary named Shez. A new Mario Strikers was also announced. Titled Mario Strikers: Battle League, it was set to release on June 10. They also gave new details on the Salmon Run mode of Splatoon 3, including some new Salmonids enemies that can be encountered in this new game. Then a new trailer for Kirby and the Forgotten Land was shown. That new trailer introduced the new Mouthful Mode as well as the upgrade system for copy abilities and a release date set for March 25. Nintendo also announced a new entry in the Wii Sports series called Nintendo Switch Sports. One of the interesting detail of that game is that despite including Miis, they are not the primary avatars used in the game as a new type of more detailed avatar called Sportsmates are featured front and center. It is also the first game in the series to drop the Wii part of the series name. Probably to associate the image of the series as a multigenerational IP instead of something that is set to be limited to the 7th and 8th generation of consoles. The game was also given an april 29 release date during the presentation. Two updates focused on a boss rush mode and a hard more for Metroid Dread were also announced during this presentation. A new expansion pass containing 48 tracks from older Mario Kart games was also announced to be releasing in waves all the way to the end of 2023 for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The presentation ended with the announcement of Xenoblade Chronicles 3. A sequel depicting the events after Future Connected and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 in a world that was combined after the ends of these two games. The game was set to release in september. First party aside, this Nintendo Direct also featured the announcement of a port of both Portal games to Nintendo Switch in a collection called Portal:Companion Collection. A 2D-HD remake of Live A Live by Square Enix was also announced.

On February 27th, a Pokémon Present live event was broadcasted. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were announced during this event with a late 2022 release date, kickstarting the Ninth Pokémon generation. On March 25, Kirby and the Forgotten Land released as part of the cellebration for Kirby's 30th anniversary and it quickly became one of the most successful Kirby game of all time. On April 19, Nintendo posted a second Xenoblade Chronicles 3 trailer. The trailer introduced the main Ouroboros mechanic of the game but it also changed the release date to July 29, showing that the game was probably finished for a few month already. The reason for this change was probably due to some minor troubles in the development of Splatoon 3 as it was announced a few days later that Splatoon 3 would now be releasing in september instead of the vague summer release date that was given beforehand. Interestingly enough the two game seem to have swaped place in Nintendo's schedule. Nintendo Switch Sports released a few days later in April 29. On June 9, Nintendo announced that they would be aquiring SRD, a support company that had worked on a staggering amount of Nintendo games since 1982. Despite this they were a separate company that just so happen to opperate almost exclusively for Nintendo while residing in their headquarters. On June 10, Mario Strikers: Battleleague releases as planned.

Like in 2020, E3 was cancelled this year so Nintendo made its announces all through the following months. They started with a Xenoblade Chronicles 3 direct on June 22. On June 24, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes was released. This direct was followed by a big third party partner showcase were long awaited games for the Switch were announced. Including NieR:Automata, Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, and Persona 5 Royal. As well as new details on games like Ubisoft's Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Sega's Sonic Frontiers. On July 12, Nintendo announced a new Kirby spinoff called Kirby's Dream Buffet. It is a food themed mini game compilations where multiple Kirby fight eachother in various challenge to gather the most food. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 released on july 29. On August 3, a Pokémon Direct was broadcasted. It mostly contained minor announcements for the Pokémon mobile games and a new trailer for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. On August 10, Nintendo broadcasted a Splatoon 3 centered Nintendo Direct, which showcased changes to the modes and finished with the reveal of the hosts of the game Deep Cut. Kirby's Dream Buffet then released on August 27. Splatoon 3 released on September 9.

On September 13, Nintendo broadcasted a Nintendo Direct. The Direct started with the announcement of the 17th mainline Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem Engage, with a January 2023 release date. This game takes place on the new continent of Elyos. The main character is a Divine Dragon named Alear who uses rings containing remanants of old Fire Emblem protagonists to fight against the fell dragon Sombron. The first wave of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 dlc was announced. The first Splatfest of Splatoon 3 was also shown. Next was an overview of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. The third wave of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe booster pack was then shown, followed by the golf update for Nintendo Switch Sports. Then Miyamoto came to show Pikmin 4 for the first time since it was teased in 2015. It was given a release date of 2023. A trailer for Bayonetta 3 was the next segment of the direct. It served as the final overview trailer before release. The Nintendo Direct ended with two big announcement. The first was a remake of Kirby's Return to Dream Land titled Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe. The game features new copy abilities and is set to release in february 2023. The second one was a new trailer for the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The brief trailer shows mainly cryptic story elements in the form of murals but also new powers Link can use to navigate the world. The more important part of the newtrailer is the reveal of the official title of the game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which was unknown until then. For third party games, Octopath Traveler II was revealed.

logo of Nintendo Pictures

On October 3, Nintendo announced the purchase of Dynamo Pictures, a japanese company specialized in animation productions for video games and animes. The studio was renamed Nintendo Pictures and integrated into the other first party studios. On October 20, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope was released. One week later Bayonetta 3 was released on October 28. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was released on November 18. It was quickly announced that the game had beaten sales records for Nintendo. Becoming the fastest selling Nintendo game this far with 10 million units sold in three days. This was the last major release,of the year. On November 29, Nintendo Broadcasted a Nintendo Direct with the purpose of showing the first The Super Mario Bros. Movie trailers. The direct also featured interventions from Chris Pratt and Jack Black, the English voice actors for Mario and Bowser in the movie. The Japanese dub voice cast of the film was also revealed at the same time, starring Mamoru Miyano as Mario. On December 9, the game awards. Not much was shown here regarding future Nintendo releases but Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, a Bayonetta spinoff featuring a young Bayonetta in search for her mother in a fairy infested forest during her training to become a witch.

On December 16, The Pokémon Company announced that Ash Ketchum is stepping down from the Pokémon anime on April 2023. A miniseries titled Pokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master served as his grand finale to the series.

2023

The first big release of the year is Fire Emblem Engage, which was released on January 20. Metroid Prime Remastered (remaster of Metroid Prime) was released on February 8, followed by Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe (remake of Kirby's Return to Dream Land) on the 24th, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on May 12 and Pikmin 4 on July 21. More upcoming releases of 2023 include Detective Pikachu Returns (October 6) and Super Mario RPG (Switch) (November 17).

After 26 years, Ash Ketchum and Pikachu stepped down as the Pokémon anime's protagonists. A new Pokémon anime series based on the Scarlet and Violet games, Pokémon Horizons: The Series started airing in Japan on April 14. The new anime series star Liko, Roy and the three Paldean First partner Pokémon, including a new Pikachu named Captain Pikachu as they adventure through the Pokémon world. Before the premiere of Horizons, the TV special Pokémon Music Festival aired on March 31, one week after Ash's final Pokémon episode. The special featured various artists such as Rica Matsumoto, Shoko Nakagawa and asmi performing various songs from Pokémon the Series, with some from the movies. Three new Pokémon miniseries was announced besides the new anime, Pokémon: Path to the Peak, Pokémon: Paldean Winds and stop motion Pokémon Concierge. TV Tokyo and TPCi also announced their first live-action series titled Pokétsume: Pack Your Pocket With Adventure, and the series premiered on October 20, 2023. Nanase Nishino stars as Madoka Akagi, a young girl who moves to Tokyo after graduating from university. However, life doesn't match her dreams but she ends up falling back into the world of Pokémon. The series consists of 10 episodes.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was released in the United States on April 5th and in Japan on April 28th. The film received mixed reviews from critics, though audience reception was more positive. The film has grossed over $1.36 billion worldwide, setting multiple box-office records, including the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film and becoming the highest-grossing film based on a video game. It is the highest-grossing film of 2023 until it was surpassed by Barbie in September, the third-highest-grossing animated film (second if not counting The Lion King remake), and the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film.

Everybody 1-2-Switch! was released on June 30, 2023. The game is the sequel to 1-2-Switch, it is a collection of team-based minigames.

On August 21, 2023, Nintendo announced that Mario's long time voice actor Charles Martinet stepped down from voicing characters in the Mario franchise, and will be taking on the role of Mario Ambassador. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, released on October 20, is the first Mario game without Martinet's involvement. On October 13, Kevin Afghani is confirmed to be Mario's new voice actor. Wonder received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Sonic Superstars, a similar 2D side-scrolling platform game by Sega, was released three days prior to Wonder. It was the first time a Mario and Sonic game had been released close to one another since the 1990s Nintendo–Sega console war. Two weeks later, WarioWare: Move It! was released, Move It! is the sequel to WarioWare: Smooth Moves.

The F-ZERO series made its comeback with F-ZERO 99, an online multiplayer free-to-play battle royale racing game released on September 14, 2023.

In the 2023 Game Awards, three Nintendo games won three awards: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Best Action/Adventure Game), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Best Family Game), and Pikmin 4 (Best Sim/Strategy Game). After the 2023 Game Awards, E3 was discontinued after 28 years.

2024

Upcoming games such as Princess Peach: Showtime!, Another Code: Recollection, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch) and Mario vs. Donkey Kong (Switch) will release in 2024.

2025

So far, Pokémon Legends: Z-A will release around 2025.

2026

The sequel to the The Super Mario Bros. Movie will release on April 3, 2026.

External links

• History of Nintendo at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Nintendo of Europe's official time line.
• Nintendo of America's brief company history.
• Gameplayer's "The Complete History of Nintendo" (1889-2006).
• Nintendo Database's "The History of Nintendo" (1889-2006).
• Nintendo Land's "The History of Nintendo" (1889-1997).
• Chronology of Nintendo Video games (1977-present).