Nintendo

How old is the original Nintendo?

Nintendo are an iconic videogame company who have brought us the likes of Super Mario, Donkey Kong and Kirby (plus many, many more) but their history starts long before videogames were even a concept. In 1889, their first product was playing cards, and it wasn’t until the 1960s that they began to develop toys, which then led onto arcade games in the 1970s.

In 1977, Nintendo disturbed its first home gaming system, the Colour-TV game, in Japan. By the 1980s, the company was in its stride, and it released smash-hit arcade game ‘Donkey Kong’ in 1981, and its first international console the Nintendo Entertainment System (often referred to as NES and known as Famicon in Japan) in 1983. From then on, a gaming giant was born.

What consoles are Nintendo known for?

Since entering the videogame market, Nintendo has produced many games consoles and arcade units, but some may stick in the memory more than others. The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was the company’s first international success and brought us the Super Mario Bros. in their first standalone game in 1983. Super Mario would go on to become the mascot of the company with games, figures and other paraphernalia with his face on becoming common place.

This success was followed by the Game Boy in 1989, a portable console which would go on to launch a whole line of Game Boy consoles that would become icons of the 1990s and early noughties. 1990 saw the follow up to the NES with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which could now play 3D games.

1996 marked a massive year for the company as they launched the Nintendo 64 (N64). With even more processing power it’s full array of 64-bit games was a revelation and introduced a whole library of iconic games that would make the N64 one of the most recognisable consoles of all time. Pokémon games also made their first appearance on the Game Boy with Pokémon Red and Blue, and started the powerhouse phenomenon that the brand has become today.

With a few minor successes in the early noughties, Nintendo redefined their approach to gaming and, effectively, revolutionised the industry with a focus on innovation rather high-performance. This brought about the Nintendo DS in 2004, which was a handheld console with dual screens, one of which had touchscreen features, and the Nintendo Wii in 2006, a console that used motion controls and focussed on family fun to appeal to a broader demographic. This worked and went on to see over 154 DS’ sold worldwide and over 101 million Wiis.

2017 brought the release of the Nintendo Switch console which combined both home gaming and portable gaming by creating a console that could be placed in the combined dock come Nintendo Switch charger for optimised play on a television, as well as having an inbuilt screen so it can be taken with you on the go in a Nintendo Switch case, with detachable Nintendo Switch controllers that could use the same motion control features introduced on previous consoles, or revert to the classic gamepad style setup. The Nintendo Switch would go on to become even more successful than the Wii. It’s successor, Nintendo Switch 2, launched in June 2025.

What was Nintendo's biggest game?

Nintendo has had many mega-hits through the years, with Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing all enjoying massive franchises off the back of their Nintendo games. However, the biggest selling game for Nintendo was their Wii Sports title, a game that utilised the motion controls of the Wii to play virtual versions of various real-world sports, with a whopping 82 million units sold.

This doesn’t tell the whole story though as Wii Sports was bundled with Wii consoles to show off what it was capable of, so many people ended up with the game whether they wanted it or not.

Outside of bundled games, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the most popular game for Nintendo, building on the success of the Mario Kart franchise. The first Mario Kart game was Super Mario Kart, released on the SNES in 1992, and introduced us all to cartoonish racing with Nintendo characters where you could hamper opponents by throwing objects at them.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe brought the eighth iteration of the franchise (earlier introduced on the Nintendo Wii U console) and added it to their collection of Nintendo Switch games whilst increasing the number of tracks and characters. With intense online play and exciting race settings, it makes for an awesome combination of family fun and competitive play and it’s little surprise that it has sold over 68 million copies.