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| {{Good}}{{Infobox-Company | | {{stub}} |
| |image=[[File:Nintendo logo.svg|200px]]
| | {{NWiki}} |
| |caption=The current logo of '''Nintendo'''.
| | '''Nintendo''' is one of the world's biggest video game companies, made famous especially with series like the [[Kirby (series)|''Kirby'' series]], [[maw:Mario (series)|''Mario'' series]], and [[bp:Pokémon|''Pokémon'' series]], among others. However, before it was a video game company, Nintendo worked in other industries, such as the playing card industry<ref>[http://www.n-sider.com/contentview.php?contentid=34 Nintendo History Lesson, N-Sider.com].</ref>. Nintendo has released many consoles, beginning with the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]], also known as the NES, and with the most recent system being the [[Nintendo Switch]]. |
| |industry=Console manufacture<br>Video game development<br>Consumer electronics
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| |firstgame=''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'' (1992)
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| |latestgame=''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe]]'' (2023)
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| |othergames=[[Kirby (series)|''Kirby'' series]]<br>[[Super Smash Bros. (series)|''Super Smash Bros.'' series]]
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| |founded=1889
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| |president=[[mariowiki:Shuntaro Furukawa|Shuntaro Furukawa]]
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| |other wikis=[[nwiki:Nintendo|NintendoWiki]]<br>[[armswiki:Nintendo|ARMS Institute]]<br>[[bulbapedia:Nintendo|Bulbapedia]]<br>[[fireemblemwiki:Nintendo|Fire Emblem Wiki]]<br>[[fzerowiki:Nintendo|F-Zero Wiki]]<br>[[goldensun:Nintendo|Golden Sun Universe]]<br>[[harddrop:Category:Nintendo|Hard Drop Tetris Wiki]]<br>[[icaruspedia:Nintendo|Icaruspedia]]<br>[[inkipedia:Nintendo|Inkipedia]]<br>[[lylatwiki:Nintendo|Lylat Wiki]]<br>[[mariowiki:Nintendo|Super Mario Wiki]]<br>[[metroidwiki:Nintendo|Metroid Wiki]]<br>[[nookipedia:Nintendo|Nookipedia]]<br>[[pikipedia:Nintendo|Pikipedia]]<br>[[smashwiki:Nintendo|SmashWiki]]<br>[[starfywiki:Nintendo|Starfy Wiki]]<br>[[strategywiki:Category:Nintendo|StrategyWiki]]<br>[[warswiki:Nintendo|Wars Wiki]]<br>[[wikibound:Nintendo|WikiBound]]<br>[[xenoseries:Nintendo|Xeno Series Wiki]]<br>[[zeldawiki:Nintendo|ZeldaWiki]]
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| }} | |
| '''Nintendo''' is a multinational electronics and video game company based in Kyoto, Japan with numerous international branches, primarily in North America, Europe, Australia, and South Korea. Initially founded in 1889 as a distributor of [[wikipedia:Hanafuda|paper playing cards]], the company is now widely known throughout the world for its line of video game consoles and franchises, most notably those of ''[[mariowiki:Mario (franchise)|Mario]]'', ''[[bulbapedia:Pokémon|Pokémon]]'', and ''[[zeldawiki:The Legend of Zelda (Series)|The Legend of Zelda]]''. Today, it is one of the most successful Japanese companies in the world, having sold hundreds of millions of consoles and handhelds, and several billion games. | |
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| ==History==
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| ===Founding, playing cards, and early transitions===
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| Nintendo was originally founded in 1889 as "Nintendo Koppai" by [[wikipedia:Fusajiro Yamauchi|Fusajiro Yamauchi]], who became well known for his manufacture and distribution of Hanafuda (Japanese playing cards). Though the market for these cards was not always stable, Nintendo Koppai managed to become the top playing card company in Japan for a time, and would often make deals with foreign companies such as Disney to make use of their brands in their product. Over the decades, however, various external factors, such as the stress of World War II, changes in leadership, and narrowing market demographics would eventually force Nintendo to largely give up on the hanafuda market and branch out to new ones.
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| Around this time, in 1963, the company would gain its modern name of "Nintendo Co., Ltd" and attempt a number of different business ventures over the following years, including instant rice, love hotels, and a taxi service. All of these were eventually discontinued for one reason or another and in rather short order. By the early 1970s, Nintendo would become best known for its production of board games and electronic toys, notably collaborating with Magnavox on their light gun for the first ever commercial home video game console: the Magnavox Odyssey. These sorts of products drew Nintendo further into the same circles as existing video and arcade game companies, and when an oil crisis in 1973 drastically drove up the price of plastic, Nintendo was pressured to innovate once more in order to remain profitable.
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| ===Video games and current works===
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| After dabbling in relationships with existing video game companies such as Atari and Magnavox, Nintendo would develop and release their own first line of video game consoles known as the [[wikipedia:Color TV Game|Color TV Game]], initially releasing in 1977. These systems came with a set of games already built into them, and would quickly become the best-selling consoles in the first generation market. They would follow up with a series of handheld consoles called the [[wikipedia:Game & Watch|Game & Watch]] series, which, as advertised, come with a game and a clock. From here, Nintendo would also work on a number of arcade games, with ''[[mariowiki:Donkey Kong (game)|Donkey Kong]]'' being the most noteworthy example.
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| In 1983, Nintendo would release the [[Nintendo Entertainment System|Family Computer]] (known as the Famicom for short) in Japan, which was their first system to make use of interchangeable cartridges for games. While the Famicom was enjoying success in Japan, the video game market crashed utterly in the western world, leaving little confidence for the old companies like Atari, Coleco, and Magnavox to pick up the pieces. Nintendo would manage to bring western interest in video games back when it released a new version of the Famicom called the Nintendo Entertainment System into the western market. To avoid the stigma that video games had created due to the crash, Nintendo would distance their product as far from previous consoles as possible; the console was reworked with a front-loading design similar to a VHS player, and bundled with various toy-like peripherals such as the [[nwiki:NES Zapper|NES Zapper]] and the [[nwiki:R.O.B.|Robotic Operating Buddy]] (R.O.B. for short). This marketing approach, along with early successes such as ''[[mariowiki:Super Mario Bros.|Super Mario Bros.]]'', ''[[nwiki:Duck Hunt|Duck Hunt]]'', and other titles, would help Nintendo corner the market in the west, selling over 34 million NES systems in North America alone.
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| As the 1990s approached, Nintendo would release the [[Game Boy]], which itself saw massive success and further cemented Nintendo's dominance in the gaming market. However, as the new decade wore on, serious competition began to emerge in the form of Sega's Genesis console and later the Sony PlayStation. Although the latest home console at that time - the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] saw reasonable success, it paled in comparison to the original NES, and a series of strategic blunders along with the disastrous release of the [[wikipedia:Virtual Boy|Virtual Boy]] would soon leave Nintendo in a much weaker position than before. Despite this, it would still see more modest success with the [[Nintendo 64]] and the [[Game Boy Color]], helped by landmark titles such as ''[[mariowiki:Super Mario 64|Super Mario 64]]'', ''[[zeldawiki:The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'', and ''[[bulbapedia:Pokémon Red and Blue Versions|Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', the last of which were developed by [[wikipedia:Game Freak|Game Freak]].
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| In the early 2000s, Nintendo jumped ahead in console technology to produce its first compact disc-based system: the [[Nintendo GameCube]], in order to maintain parity with its main rival, Sony and their PlayStation 2. Despite the capabilities of the GameCube, however, it was Nintendo's least successful home console to that point, and Nintendo's status in that field diminished further when Microsoft released the Xbox system. To compensate, Nintendo remained relatively strong in the handheld market, releasing first the [[Game Boy Advance]] and then the [[Nintendo DS]], both of which were quite successful. In 2006, Nintendo would be able to successfully bounce back into the home console market with the release of the [[Wii]]. This console boasted greater accessibility than its rivals along with basic motion control and sensor capabilities, which appealed to a much wider market, though the Wii itself would be a much weaker system in terms of its hardware, and from this point forward, Nintendo would lag behind the technology of its rivals in the industry.
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| The early 2010s saw the release of both the [[Nintendo 3DS]] and the [[Wii U]], the former of which was fairly successful, and the latter of which was not, resulting in overall losses for the company. This increased pressure motivated Nintendo to branch out into mobile gaming and amusement parks, in addition to developing a new console that would have a separate identity from the dual-screen DS line and Wii U. The result of this development would be the [[Nintendo Switch]]; a hybrid home and handheld system that was released in 2017 and would eventually become Nintendo's sole video game console line after the 3DS was discontinued in 2020. Although the Switch has seen great success, Nintendo continues to branch out in its business ventures, with its most recent efforts going toward entering the film industry in order to produce movies based on their intellectual properties.
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| ==Relation to HAL Laboratory==
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| {{main|HAL Laboratory#History}}
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| Although they are often seen as synonymous, even regularly sharing staff between them, Nintendo and [[HAL Laboratory]] are distinct corporate entities. Their history of partnership goes back to 1983, when HAL was contracted to produce four launch titles for an unrealized Atari-distributed version of the Famicom, all ports of preexisting Atari 2600 titles. Three of these games – ''Defender II'', ''Joust'', and ''Millipede'' – would eventually be released in 1987 in Japan and 1988 in North America.<ref>[https://tcrf.net/Defender_II_(NES) Defender II (NES)]. ''The Cutting Room Floor''. Retrieved December 9, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://tcrf.net/Millipede_(NES,_HAL_Laboratory) Millipede (NES, HAL Laboratory)]. ''The Cutting Room Floor''. Retrieved December 9, 2023.</ref><ref>[https://tcrf.net/Joust_(NES) Joust (NES)]. ''The Cutting Room Floor''. Retrieved December 9, 2023.</ref> With a vicious combination of the 1992 Japanese asset price bubble collapse and chronic issues with project management putting HAL Laboratory in massive debt, Nintendo agreed to rescue the company from the verge of bankruptcy on the condition that [[Satoru Iwata]] be made president of HAL. Around this time, [[Masahiro Sakurai]] of HAL would produce ''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]'', and the [[Kirby (series)|''Kirby'' series]] would quickly become one of Nintendo's mainstays.
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| After HAL Laboratory paid off its debt in 1999, Satoru Iwata became directly involved in Nintendo's corporate structure, and would eventually become its president, holding the position until his death in 2015. HAL Laboratory and Nintendo continue to cooperate both in software and hardware development, and the intellectual property rights to the ''Kirby'' series in particular are still held jointly by the two companies.
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| ==Gaming systems== | | ==Gaming systems== |
| The following tables list each of Nintendo's home and handheld systems in order of release, and detail every ''Kirby'' game released (or re-released) for the systems:
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| ===Home systems=== | | ===Home systems=== |
| {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
| | *[[wikipedia:Color TV Game|Color TV Game]] |
| !colspan=5|Home systems made by Nintendo
| | *[[Nintendo Entertainment System|Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)]] |
| |-
| | *[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)]] |
| !rowspan=2|System
| | *[[Nintendo 64]] |
| !rowspan=2|North American release date
| | *[[Nintendo GameCube]] |
| !colspan=3|''Kirby'' games
| | *[[Wii]] |
| |-
| | *[[Wii U]] |
| !Original games
| | *[[Nintendo Switch]] |
| !Backwards compatibility / [[Virtual Console]]
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| !Canceled
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| |-
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| |[[wikipedia:Color TV Game|Color TV Game]]
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| |Japan-exclusive
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| |colspan=3|{{center|None}}
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| |-
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| |[[Nintendo Entertainment System]]
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| |October 18, 1985
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| |''[[Kirby's Adventure]]''
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| |colspan=2|{{center|N/A}}
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| |-
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| |[[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] | |
| |August 23, 1991<ref>{{twitterlink|NintendoAmerica|1429820774907584512|wbsnap=y}}. Retrieved 18 December 2023.</ref>
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| |''[[Kirby's Dream Course]]<br>[[Kirby's Avalanche]]<br>[[Kirby's Toy Box]]'' <small>(Satellaview, Japan only)</small><br>''[[Kirby Super Star]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Land 3]]<br>[[Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom)]]'' <small>(Japan only)</small>
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| |All Game Boy games <small>([[Super Game Boy]])</small> | |
| |''[[Kid Kirby]]''
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| |-
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| |[[Nintendo 64]]
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| |September 29, 1996
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| |''[[Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards]]''
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| |N/A
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| |''[[Kirby Ball 64]]''<br>''[[Kirby's Air Ride (Nintendo 64)|Kirby's Air Ride]]''
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| |-
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| |[[Nintendo GameCube]]
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| |November 18, 2001
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| |''[[Kirby Air Ride]]''
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| |All Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games <small>(Game Boy Player)</small>
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| |''[[Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble 2]]<br>[[Kirby for Nintendo GameCube]]''<br>[[Kirby for Nintendo GameCube#The Three Lost Kirby Games|"Lost ''Kirby'' game"]]
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| |-
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| |[[Wii]]
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| |November 19, 2006
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| |''[[Kirby's Epic Yarn]]<br>[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Collection Special Edition]]
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| |All GameCube games <small>(only some models)</small><br>''[[Kirby's Adventure]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Course]]<br>[[Kirby's Avalanche]]<br>[[Kirby Super Star]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Land 3]]<br>[[Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom)]]'' <small>(Japanese systems only)</small><br>''[[Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards]]''
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| |"Lost ''Kirby'' game"
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| |[[Wii U]]
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| |November 18, 2012
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| |''[[Kirby and the Rainbow Curse]]''
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| |All Wii games<br>''[[Kirby's Adventure]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Course]]<br>[[Kirby Super Star]]<br>[[Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom)]]'' <small>(Japanese systems only)</small><br>''[[Kirby's Dream Land 3]]<br>[[Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards]]<br>[[Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land]]<br>[[Kirby & The Amazing Mirror]]<br>[[Kirby: Canvas Curse]]<br>[[Kirby: Squeak Squad]]<br>[[Kirby Mass Attack]]<br>[[Kirby's Epic Yarn]]'' <small>(Wii U eShop)</small><br>''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land]]'' <small>(Wii U eShop)</small>
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| |None
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| |-
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| |[[Nintendo Switch]]
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| |March 3, 2017
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| |''[[Kirby Star Allies]]<br>[[Super Kirby Clash]]<br>[[Kirby Fighters 2]]<br>[[Kirby and the Forgotten Land]]''<br>''[[Kirby's Dream Buffet]]''<br>''[[Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe]]''
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| |''[[Kirby's Adventure]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Course]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Land 3]]<br>[[Kirby Super Star]]<br>[[Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards]]<br>[[Kirby's Avalanche]]'' <small>(International versions only)</small><br>''[[Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom)]]''
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| |None
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| |}
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| ===Handheld systems=== | | ===Handheld systems=== |
| {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
| | *[[Wikipedia:Game and Watch|Game and Watch]] |
| !colspan=5|Handheld systems made by Nintendo
| | *[[Game Boy]] |
| |-
| | *[[Game Boy Color]] |
| !rowspan=2|System
| | *[[Game Boy Advance]] |
| !rowspan=2|North American release date
| | *[[Nintendo DS]] |
| !colspan=3|''Kirby'' games
| | *[[Nwiki:New Nintendo 3DS|(New)]] [[Nintendo 3DS]] |
| |-
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| !Original games
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| !Backwards compatibility / [[Virtual Console]]
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| !Canceled
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| |-
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| |-
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| |[[Wikipedia:Game & Watch|Game & Watch]]
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| |Various
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| |colspan=3|{{center|None}}
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| |-
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| |[[Game Boy]]
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| |July 31, 1989
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| |''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]<br>[[Kirby's Pinball Land]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Land 2]]<br>[[Kirby's Block Ball]]<br>[[Kirby's Star Stacker (Game Boy)]]''
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| |colspan=2|{{center|N/A}}
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| |-
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| |[[Nwiki:Virtual Boy|Virtual Boy]]
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| |July 21, 1995
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| |colspan=3|{{center|N/A}}
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| |-
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| |[[Game Boy Color]]
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| |November 18, 1998
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| |''[[Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble]]''
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| |All Game Boy games
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| |''[[Kirby Family]]''
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| |-
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| |[[Game Boy Advance]]
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| |June 11, 2001
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| |''[[Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land]]<br>[[Kirby & The Amazing Mirror]]<br>[[Kirby Slide]]'' <small>(via e-Reader)</small>
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| |All Game Boy and Game Boy Color games
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| |None
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| |-
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| |[[Nintendo DS]]
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| |November 21, 2004
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| |''[[Kirby: Canvas Curse]]<br>[[Kirby: Squeak Squad]]<br>[[Kirby Super Star Ultra]]<br>[[Kirby Mass Attack]]''
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| |All Game Boy Advance games <small>(only some models)</small>
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| |None
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| |-
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| |[[Nintendo 3DS]]
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| |March 27, 2011
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| |''[[Kirby: Triple Deluxe]]<br>[[Kirby Fighters Deluxe]]<br>[[Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe]]<br>[[Kirby: Planet Robobot]]<br>[[Team Kirby Clash Deluxe]]<br>[[Kirby's Blowout Blast]]<br>[[Kirby Battle Royale]]<br>[[Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn]]''
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| |All DS games<br>''[[Kirby's Dream Land]]<br>[[Kirby's Adventure|3D Classics: Kirby's Adventure]]<br>[[Kirby's Pinball Land]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Land 2]]<br>[[Kirby's Block Ball]]<br>[[Kirby's Star Stacker (Game Boy)]]<br>[[Kirby's Dream Course]]'' <small>(only on New Nintendo 3DS systems)</small><br>''[[Kirby's Star Stacker (Super Famicom)]]'' <small>(Japanese New Nintendo 3DS systems only)</small><br>''[[Kirby & The Amazing Mirror]]'' <small>(3DS ambassador program only)</small>
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| |None
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| |-
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| |[[Nwiki:Nintendo Switch Lite|Nintendo Switch Lite]]
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| |September 20, 2019
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| |N/A
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| |All Nintendo Switch games
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| |N/A
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| |}
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| ==See also== | | ==References== |
| *[[Nintendo Power]]
| | <references /> |
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| ==External links==
| | {{Navbox-Consoles}} |
| *[http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ Official Japanese website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.com/ Official American website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/en_CA/ Official Canadian (English) website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/fr_CA/ Official Canadian (French) website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.co.uk Official website for the UK and Ireland]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.com/es_LA/ Official Latin American website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/pt_BR/ Official Brazilian website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/es_CO/ Official Colombian website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/es_AR/ Official Argentinian website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/es_CL/ Official Chilean website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/es_PE/ Official Peruvian website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo-europe.com/ Official European website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.dk/ Official Danish website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.fi/ Official Finnish website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.no/ Official Norwegian website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.se/ Official Swedish website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.hu/ Official Hungarian website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.pl/ Official Polish website]
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| *[http://www.mojenintendo.cz/ Official Czech website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.sk/ Official Slovak website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.co.il/ Official Israeli website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.com.au/ Official Oceanian website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.co.kr/ Official Korean website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.com.hk/ Official Hong Kong (Traditional) website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com.hk/index_sc.html Official Hong Kong (Simplified) website]
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| *[http://www.nintendo.tw/index.html Official Taiwanese website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/sg/ Official Singaporean website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/my/ Official Malay website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/ph/ Official Filipino website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.com/th/ Official Thai website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.co.za Official South African website]
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| *[https://www.nintendoswitch.com.cn/ Official Mainland Chinese website]
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| *[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/en/index.html Corporate website]
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| {{ref}}
| | [[Category:Companies]] |
| {{clear}}
| | [[Category:Nintendo|*]] |
| {{Navbox-Consoles}}
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| [[Category:Nintendo]] | |
