\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
![\"Ted](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4007583_web1_CP174385392.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
Ted Shaffrey \/ Associated Press files<\/p>\n
The Super Mario Bros. franchise is a staple of Nintendo\u2019s gaming consoles and devices.<\/p>\n
Nintendo was founded in 1889 in Kyoto, when entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi began producing wood and cardboard hanafuda, cards emblazoned with floral images for entertainment at home. These cards had been banned in Japan for several centuries for being \u201cclosely associated with gambling and, therefore, with organized crime,\u201d and it was a savvy business decision to make them when the ban eased in the late 19th century.<\/p>\n
Starting in the 1960s, the company shifted to toys, including the Ultra Hand, a plastic hand-extender that sold in the millions. Then, in 1980, the Game & Watch arrived, a primitive version of the Game Boy that set Nintendo on course in the burgeoning world of handheld electronic gaming devices.<\/p>\n
The arcade was the next frontier to conquer \u2014 and Nintendo certainly did. The release of Donkey Kong in 1981 proved a major windfall, earning more than US$1 billion (in current dollars) over the course of two years and firmly establishing Nintendo in the lucrative American market. \u201cThe game was unlike anything at the time,\u201d MacDonald writes, with a \u201ccartoonist\u2019s eye to game design\u201d and \u201ccharacters with personalities and relationships.\u201d <\/p>\n
The game\u2019s love triangle between an ape, a carpenter and his girlfriend \u2014 creator Shigeru Miyamoto married King Kong with Beauty and the Beast \u2014 exemplified the company\u2019s penchant for narrative-driven gameplay and whimsical, lovable characters.<\/p>\n
When games moved from the communal arcade to the private home, it was thanks in large part to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The console launched Super Mario Bros., a blockbuster that allowed players to orient intuitively \u2014 around movement and story \u2014 on first play, a quality that would define many later Nintendo games.<\/p>\n
Against a psychedelic landscape of floating turtles and roving mushrooms, the peppy plumber \u201cembodies the joy and playfulness of movement,\u201d MacDonald writes, and the idea that \u201ccuriosity should always be rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n