Super Mario

_Elsa_

“Are you guys getting tired or bored yet?” questions the man. “Do any of you remember Super Mario? How about some history from that time frame?”  

Elsa remembers her children playing Super Mario and the others who have gathered shake their heads in agreement. Some remember playing Super Mario but never knew the history behind the game. 

‘The world was first introduced to one of the most iconic characters in video game history in 1981. He wasn’t much, just a handful of colored pixels on a grainy screen, a figure trying to save his girlfriend from a giant ape named Donkey Kong. By the time the 1990s came around, Mario had not only rescued his lady love from her simian kidnapper, he’d become the face of Nintendo itself. With the upcoming release Super Mario Odyssey for the Nintendo Switch system, find out how Mario went from playing second banana to an overgrown gorilla to conquering the video game world.

It all started in 1889, when Fusajiro Yamauchi founded a small company named Nintendo Koppai to manufacture hanafuda, a type of Japanese gambling cards (the word Nintendo translates roughly to “luck-heaven-hall,” or a place where your fortune is placed in the hands of the gods). Business boomed for many decades—Nintendo is still one of the top hanafuda manufacturers in the world—but when Yamauchi’s grandson, Hiroshi, took over in 1956, he began looking for ways to diversify the company’s revenue streams.

The younger Yamauchi tried his hands at some pretty outside-the-box businesses. There were instant rice packets, “love hotels” catering to amorous couples, a taxi cab company and other missteps. He finally found Nintendo’s new niche in the late 60s, gaining a foothold in Japan’s electronic toys market. When Hiroshi saw the incredible success of home computer and arcade company Atari in the 1970s, he next set his sights on the video game market, and in 1977 Nintendo introduced the Color TV-Game home video game console. The machine came pre-loaded with several versions of the same game (initially, Nintendo’s version of Pong, one of the most ubiquitous games of the era), and would sell roughly 3 million units over the next three years—a modest success for the company. (Read more here)

“I hope that you all enjoyed learning all about the history of gaming,” says the man. “If you come back here later on today I will continue with a continuation of this history.”

Elsa can’t wait to call her children later to tell them how much she learned about the games that they used to play. Now it’s time to move on to another booth. Just up ahead she sees a booth and it says “King”. None of the CMs told her that King had a booth here. She heads on over there to see what’s going on.

Let’s continue here - Elsa visits the King booth

Start at the beginning – Elsa goes to the game fair