Nintendo

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Nintendo's logo.

Nintendo is a Japanese entertainment company founded in 1889 and headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. The company began as a manufacturer of playing cards, but got into the electronic gaming industry in the 1970s. They are now one of the largest video game companies in the world. Over the years, Nintendo has created arcade cabinets, dedicated home video game systems, video game consoles, hand held gaming devices, hundreds of games, dozens of video game peripherals, magazines, comic books, television shows, and even breakfast cereals. In addition to creating several of the world's largest video game franchises, the company is also responsible for defining many of the video game mechanics and genres in the medium.

Personal

I became aware of Nintendo in the mid-1980s with the American release of the Nintendo Entertainment System. I first saw it played at my baby-sitter's house who owned an NES with Super Mario Bros. and a couple other games. I remember being amazed by it, but our baby-sitters (whom I hated) wouldn't let us play with it. A short while later, my brother and I bought an NES with our combined paper route money. We both bought and rented various games over the years. Nintendo fever was in full force at this time, and the majority of my friends had an NES and plenty of games. I was severely engrossed in video gaming, and it's mostly due to Nintendo. Around 1992, I got a Super Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas and played many games. After the Nintendo 64 came out, I was becoming less interested in dedicated video game consoles, and I haven't bought a new console since.

I've read a couple books about the history of Nintendo, and I've become a bit disenfranchised with them. Despite their fun and playful public face they've actually been a very ruthless company that relied on anti-competitive tactics, shady business deals, and sold faulty hardware to become as popular as they were.

Video Game Platforms

These are the Nintendo platforms that are important to me.

Consoles

Handhelds

Games

As far as games go, Nintendo is my favorite video game developer, having created more of my favorite games and franchises than any other company. These are the games Nintendo worked on that are important to me. For all Nintendo games, see the categories for games developed or published.

Famicom Disk System

Game Boy

Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Color

Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo 64

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Publications

Note: Several of these publications were made by other companies on behalf of Nintendo.

Film

Note: Several of these films were made by other companies on behalf of Nintendo.

Other

Staff

These are people who are (or were) employed by Nintendo whose work I appreciate.

Regional Codes

This table lists the regional codes used by Nintendo in their game catalog numbers. New codes were added over the years as publications became more targeted. Some early NES releases do not have a region code, but display the region in text on the label. Manuals often have a different code than the box in regions which have several languages. Some of the codes (EUR and UKV especially) are often used a catch-all codes for many continents.

Code Name Nations
ASI Asia China, South Korea (Early NES carts didn't have a region code)
ASM Asia (and Malaysia)?
AUS Australia Australia, New Zealand
CAN Canada Canada
CHN China China
DAN Denmark Denmark
EAI  ? Used on the back of GBR games.
EAH Belgium, The Netherlands
EEC European Economic Community Finland, Norway, Sweden
ESP España Spain
EUR Europe Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom
EUT  ? Finland
EUU European Union ? Germany
FAH France and Holland Belgium, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands
FRA France Belgium, France, Switzerland
FRG Federal Republic of Germany Germany, Austria
GBR Great Britain
GPS  ?
GRE Greece Greece
HKG Hong Kong Hong Kong (Early NES carts didn't have a region code)
HOL Holland
ISR Israel Israel
ITA Italy Italy
JPN Japan Japan
KOR Korea South Korea (Early NES carts didn't have a region code)
LTN Latin America
MSA Mexico and South America
NOE Nintendo of Europe Austria, Germany, Switzerland
NOR Norway Norway
ROC Republic of China China
RUS Russia Russia
SCN Scandinavia Finland, Norway, Sweden
SWE Sweden Sweden
UKV United Kingdom Version? Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom
USA United States of America Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, United States of America, Uruguay
USZ  ?

Codes with a ★ are typically those where the only change is the update of Nintendo seal of quality from the circle to the oval, and the addition of a message reading "for sale in the USA, Canada and Mexico only" (though Mexico isn't always present). Codes with a Ⓣ are typically those where the only change is the inclusion of a warning not to play the game on a rear-projection television. Some games have both symbols or neither despite having the messages, as Nintendo wasn't entirely consistent with their markings.

Media

Logos

Nintendo has many earlier logos, but these are the ones that I'm familiar with.

Links

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