In 1966 Nintendo expanded its line of business products from hand cards to electronics when the entertainment company invented Ultra Hand. Christmas 1967 was particularly kind for Ultra Hand. The game sold a whopping 1.2 million copies in Japan alone. Color TV Game 6 was the first video game that Nintendo created.
Early Color TV Games
The game debuted in 1977. Initially, the game was only released in Japan. Light tennis was the only game available on the system upon its release. The golden yellow game console was designed with knobs that allowed players to ping the game ball back and forth across the screen.
Despite the popularity of Nintendo's previous video and hand card games, it wasn't until Nintendo released Donkey Kong in 1981 that the company became more globally known and respected. Originally released as an arcade game, Donkey Kong, was sold mainly in Asia. In 1999 the game was released throughout North America and Europe.
The expansion came after Nintendo won a lawsuit (as a defendant) after Universal City Studios charged them with trademark infringement. Universal stated that Nintendo used the likeness of King Kong to create Donkey Kong. A clear similarity in both in the game and the film is that a gorilla fights to protect a damsel from pursuers.
Can Nintendo Top Donkey Kong
Following the success of Donkey Kong, Nintendo developed and released Super Mario in 1985. When New Super Mario Brothers Wii was released in 2009, the game sold over 900,000 units in Japan during the first few days it was on the market. Other versions of the Mario games include Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Mario and Luigi and Super Mario 64.
Zelda was the next hugely popular video game to be released by Nintendo. The video game which is known in Japan as The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda, was released on August 22, 1987. Maps, weapons and mazes were designed into the game to keep the storyline interactive and engaging. Children and adults played the game for entertainment and to see how quickly they could rescue the damsel, Zelda.
As if to keep up with or several steps ahead of the video game industry at large, Nintendo developed a smaller, hand held game system. The game system was released on April 21, 1989 as Game Boy. Following Game Boy came Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Nintendo 64. Over the years, Mario has remained one of Nintendo's more popular games.
Why Do So Many People Like Nintendo's Wii Fit
November 2006, just in time for the start of the winter holiday shopping season, Nintendo released their widely popular Wii game system. Mario Brothers, Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Wii Fit are some of the more popular Wii video games.
Nintendo reports that in less than 10 days (from March 9 to March 17) Super Smash Brothers Brawl sold over 1.4 million units in the United States. Its predecessor, Super Smash Brothers Melee, sold 7 million copies globally. It remains to be seen how successful Wii Fit video games will be. Wii Fit video games are popular, especially to adults, because they make exercising and being fit look and feel fun.
Sources:Nintendo Official Website. 6 February 2010.
Washington State University. Tokugawa Japan. 6 February 2010.
Old Computers Museum. Nintendo. 6 February 2010.
Rhonda Campbell - Reading gave me entrance into the world of writing. As a kid, I loved to read. I still do. I was in the fifth grade when I started ...
