- Nintendo founded 1889 in Kyoto. Only made playing cards to about 1970's when diversified into toys. In mid 70's moved into arcade games.
- The legendary Shigeru Miyamoto employed in 1977, with a degree in industrial design.
- Nintendo's early 1980's arcade games included Radarscope (1980) and Donkey Kong (1981), designed by Miyamoto
- Some consider Donkey Kong to be the first video game with any significant narrative content. (see Chapter 3, Power Up - How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life by Chris Kohler)
- Donkey Kong introduced Jump Man who went on to become Mario.
- Nintendo's first console release in 1983
- Called Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan
- Released with ports of three of Nintendo's arcade hits - Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr. and Popeye.