Nintendo’s Success

2016-18 was a comeback period for Nintendo Co., Ltd. with multiple cultural and financial successes in a short time-span e.g. Pokemon go was the most downloaded iPhone app in worldwide in 2016.

• Amiibo demand
• Pokémon Go
• 1st Mario game for iOS/Android
• NES Classic Edition
• Nintendo Switch

The NES Classic alone sold 2 millions units with a notoriously limited supply.

The product was THE stocking stuffer of 2017.

The NES classic includes multiple franchises with origins in the arcade including Donkey Kong, the original Mario Bros w/the Pow Button, and Punchout.

Nintendo’s current industry relevancy is built on a video game legacy that started in 1981. That was the year the company “Cracked the Code” on fun + profitability.

In this article, we’ll take a look back to 1981 and a few arcade releases that changed the space of interactive product history, art, business, culture, design, and gameplay forever.

One Hundred Years

Nintendo has existed for over 100 years; Let that sink in. 100 years. They are a toy company turned video game mega-presence.

Their pre-video game history (playing cards, love testers, toys) has recently gained some rescue from obscurity via Erik Voskuil’s book/blog Before mario.

Here is a Nintendo toy, Ultra Hand, which was designed in 1966.

From playing cards to toys to electronics, Nintendo’s track record of consumer-centric offerings provides a fascinating history of product development leading up to the arcade video game boom of the 1980s.

In their first decade of experimentation with coin operated/amusement games utilizing technology (The 70s), there was little memorable. Overall, releases made zero impact outside of japan or were commercial flops.

That’s Right. Nintendo made GAMES in the 70s, like the racing game below that no one has heard of:

EVR Race (1975)

In general industry progress since Atari’s original pong (1972) was stagnant. The late 70s and early 80s however saw a watershed period which started a momentum of video game cultural and popular growth that has not stopped.

Arcade Video Games of the 80s

The success of Space invaders (1978) paved the way for the Golden Age of Video Games. This phase lasted for around 5 years followed by a monumental business recession known as the video game crash of 1983.  Space Invaders is still the most profitable video game of all time.

Success however did not come easily to Nintendo (particularly in western markets) with a string of duds including:

• 19?? – Space Firebird
• 1980 – Sheriff
• 1980 – Radar Scope
• 1980 – Heli Fire

Playing video games at home was still in it’s infancy; limited to pong RF clones and iterations on the 2600.

In 1981 the video game industry in the United States was generating an annual revenue of over $5 billion roughly.

• In quarters.
• Not adjusted for inflation.

 

In 2016 the video/digital game industry earned over 90 billion.

While not the only key player during this early period of video game history; Nintendo outlasted nearly all of their competitors.

• Atari
• Namco
• Taito
• Rockola
• Exidy
• Sega
• Williams Electronics
• Commodore International
• Gotliebb

Nintendo Arcade Games of the early 80s:

• 1981 – Donkey Kong
• 1982 – Popeye
• 1982 – Donkey Kong Jr
• 1983 – Mario Bros
• 1983 – Donkey Kong 3
• 1984 – Punchout
• 1986 – Playchoice 10

 

It’s interesting to look back at the art, design, and feel of the golden age compared to what the Mario Bros, Donkey Kong, and punchout francises have become.

They’re still a set of games and characters with gameplay mechanics and a creative language full of originality, continuity, and whimsy. Many would say the product line reached a cultural and historical peak during NES era.

Here you can see the trend of pricing for hardware and software for this system over 10 years via pricecharting.com.

 

NES Cultural Totem

What does the acronym NES stand for? Well, it’s not:

• Navy Exchange Services
• New Equipment Sales
• Non English Speaking

Any fun-loving nerd, child, parent, or Gen-X/Millenial will tell you it’s the Nintendo Entertainment System (1983).

The cornerstone of retro gaming culture; NES content has been as common place as goomba t-shirts and kirby toys in department stores for decades now.

As gamers

The Nintendo Entertainment System SAVED the video game industry after a saturation of mediocre games for the 2600, etc. corrupted the market. Super Mario Bros was the Killer app.

Mario has only increased in ubiquity. Video Games = Super Mario Bros.

The world never got sick of Nintendo’s weird japanese world of mushrooms, flying octopuses, and cartoonish characters. After 30 years of software, hardware experimentation, and 1 scarring movie Nintendo (and MARIO of course) has become multi-generational nostalgia.

New Games, Systems, Interactive sculptures, Mobile releases, and merchandise keep selling and finding new audiences.

The NES system is the core icon of retro gaming culture, there are no ColecoVision T-Shirts at target

 

 

According to a 2016 interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, donkey kong was Nintendo’s first big swing towards globalism and success.

http://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/donkey-kong-developer-interview

 

Characters

Mario is more well known than Mickey Mouse.

DK

Mario

TEST

Story

Mario/Jump man’s mcguffin is the “Lady”. The “Girl in Trouble” would carry on in Mario’s history with Princess Peach becoming kidnapped; repeatedly.

Previously unknown sounds for this character were publicized decades after release

Mechanics

Platforming

TEST

Level Design

 

The Platforms on the DK barrel stage are echoed in all of the smb games.

TEST TEST

Platforms

Test

Springs

Barrels

> Bullet Bill, later DK games,

Enemies

Fireballs

Nintendo Entertainment System

NES A

 

In March 2017, hardware sales in the United States amounted to approximately 490 million U.S. dollars.