Nintendo: How a Playing Card Company Built the Most Beloved Brand in Gaming

How did a Kyoto playing-card shop from 1889 become the company behind Mario? The arcade flop that created him, the maintenance worker who built its first hit, and the 1991 betrayal that helped create the PlayStation. Nintendo did not start with electronics. It started with hand-made flower cards. In this video, we trace Nintendo from a small shop in Kyoto, Japan, to the Switch and Switch 2, with the three crises in between. In this video: • How Fusajiro Yamauchi started Nintendo in 1889 making hanafuda cards • How 21-year-old Hiroshi Yamauchi took over in 1949 and fired the people who doubted him • Why the taxi, instant rice and other side ventures of the early 1960s put Nintendo in trouble • How maintenance worker Gunpei Yokoi’s toy led to the Game & Watch and the Game Boy • How 2,000 unsold Radar Scope arcade machines became Donkey Kong and Mario • The Famicom recall, the Universal lawsuit and how the NES won over America • Why Nintendo turned down Sony in 1991, and how that helped create the PlayStation • Pokémon, the Nintendo 64, the GameCube and Satoru Iwata’s Wii and DS • The Wii U years, the Switch and the Switch 2 What was the first Nintendo game you ever played? Tell me in the comments. ⏱ Chapters: 00:00 From a Kyoto Card Shop to Mario (1889-2026) 00:55 1889-1948: The Card Shop 02:09 1949-1959: The 21-Year-Old President 03:47 1960-1964: Crisis Number One 04:59 1965-1979: The Maintenance Man 06:44 1980-1981: Crisis Number Two 08:28 1982-1985: The Famicom Gamble 10:58 1986-1992: The Golden Age and the Betrayal 13:16 1993-1999: The PlayStation Years 15:14 2000-2011: Iwata and the Blue Ocean 17:06 2012-2015: Crisis Number Three 18:17 2016-2026: The Switch and Beyond 19:56 Five Lessons and the Card-Shop Payoff 👉 WATCH NEXT:    • Why Financial Decisions That Separate Mill...   🤝 Subscribe:    / @wealththink-b8j   Note: some details of Nintendo’s story are told differently in different accounts, including the meaning of the name Nintendo, the 1964 share price drop and the Kirby sailboat story. Sales and financial figures are as of June 30, 2026. Sources: Nintendo investor relations reports, Wikipedia’s Nintendo and Universal v. Nintendo articles, and the Nintendo Museum and Marufukuro hotel pages. #Nintendo #BusinessHistory #Mario