The History of Nintendo v1: A mini review

The benefit of a new job which is half an hour by Metro (the name of my local underground system) is that I have plenty of time to play portable games. However the last week or so I’ve spent it reading and no it wasn’t a book about wizards, vampires or any such but it was about the history of Nintendo. It’s not Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America which I’ve already reviewed but The history of Nintendo Volume One and dates from 1889-1980. It is by Florent Gorges in collaboration with Isao Yamazaki and was published by Pix’n Love publishing.

You're not in this volume mate!

For those who like to judge a book by its cover you can judge by the array of Nintendo products on the front ranging from playing cards to the Ultra hand with Mario on the back holding a Joker card with Napoleon on it. You just know this is going to be a very different book.

Indeed it was, it starts right from the pre 1889 days up until game and watch and leaves no stone unturned. Starting in 1336 the book gives a history of the culture of Japan and how out of that how the removal of a ban on playing cards led to take Nintendo where it is today.

It’s a very good book to read setting the tone of the culture at the time and the breakthroughs made at certain points and it also gives a rather good insight into Hiroshi Yamauchi and the calls he made to bring Nintendo where it’s at. The book also looks at the emergence of GunpeiYokoi with chapters designated to cards, games and toys, board games, electronic toys, arcade machines, the first games consoles and an assortment of other products.

I’ll be honest and say I’m a bit of a Nintendo obsessive but the more I went through this book the more I learnt about the vast history of this great company. Did you know Napoleon was on the first Nintendo cards? Did you know Nintendo did push chairs at one point? Did you know they even did Twister in Japan?

I recommend this book to any gamer out there, you can pick it up from http://www.pixnlovepublishing.com/ or if you’re in the UK your local Travelling man or Forbidden Planet.