Ten Awesome Facts You Should Know about Nintendo

Nintendo is without doubt one of the most widely known and loved companies in the world of video games and consoles. While not everyone would like to admit it, but most of it has come about thanks to the unique character Super Mario.

Still, despite knowing so much about the company’s games and console releases, there is only so much that we know about the establishment itself. It has been their general tendency to keep to themselves and surprise their loyal customers, but the following ten facts are bound to offer you some insight into their workings.

1. The company Nintendo first started operating in the distant 1889, as a playing card company. It supplied many different types of playing cards, so much so that you wouldn’t have been surprised to find a section on their product at online-casino.ie, right next to all the different casino game guides.
2. A janitor and assembly line worker at Nintendo’s headquarters, Gunpei Yokoi, is the one to blame for the invention of the Game Boy. Soon after his talent for tinkering with technology was discovered, he developed some of the most epic Nintendo inventions – Donkey Kong and Metroid.
3. Jumping as a video character’s feature was created long before Mario had his own video game. In 1981, Nintendo released Donkey Kong – its game play required Mario to jump over obstacles set by the gorilla Donkey Kong, and thus gave birth to a whole new standard in the industry.
4. The same game was created on the basis of a failed venture that was supposed to have Popeye in the lead role, Pluto as Donkey Kong and Olive as Princess Peach.
5. Mario Kart had an unsuccessful introduction on US territory. Namely, the game was rejected by authorities on the basis of the claim that the race celebration showed Bowser or Princess Peach drinking a bottle of champagne, which indirectly promoted drinking and driving.
6. The iconic name of the even more iconic character, Mario, was actually the result of Nintendo’s unpaid rent for their US warehouse space. Considering that the owner was called Mario, they decided to honor him for being late on their payment and gave their new character his name.
7. Nintendo’s DS has been known to help cure a specific eye condition – amblyopia, also known as ‘lazy eye’. What first started off as a pastime for Isabelle Wurmser ended up helping her doctor prove that her hand-eye coordination greatly improved as a result of playing the NDS.
8. Not too long ago in 2014, the company Nintendo wanted to pursue the idea of creating a Game Boy smartphone. It was designed to retain its phone functions, but also provide a more immersive gaming experience.
9. Today, Nintendo Corporations owns the two most successful console and game franchises – Mario and Pokemon.
10. In Japanese, the name of the company can be roughly paraphrased as ‘leave luck to heaven’. It might have been a sheer coincidence, but heaven does seem to be supportive of their endeavors.