Many folks think of Nintendo’s story beginning in the 1980s, when it came onto the burgeoning video game scene as a force to be reckoned with. While that’s true, the history of the company actually begins nearly a century earlier. In 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi started a small business creating and selling Hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto, Japan. This planted the seed for Nintendo’s long-standing but ultimately simple mission: to bring a smile to players' faces. 

In 1980, Nintendo announced the establishment of the wholly owned subsidiary Nintendo of America Inc. (NOA). Things took off from there, with the creation of iconic games and characters like Donkey Kong in 1981 and the beloved plumber brothers from Super Mario Bros. in 1985. The company’s first gaming system was the Nintendo Entertainment System, which began as a world...