WEBVTT - Classic TechStuff: The Nintendo Story: Part One 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:13.840 Tech with Technology tex Stuff from Hey there, everybody, and 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:17.040 welcome to Tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland, and 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:20.480 today we're gonna do another classic look at tech Stuff. 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.280 We're gonna pull up an episode from the archives, actually 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.760 a pair of them. Today we're looking at the story 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.639 of Nintendo. Part one. I bet you can guess what 0:00:28.760 --> 0:00:31.159 next week's episode is going to be. It's gonna be 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:33.760 Part two. But the reason why I'm doing this is 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:37.720 that in two weeks we're gonna have Part three, an update, 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.840 brand new update to this story. Now, these first two 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:45.280 episodes were recorded back in two thousand eleven, so it 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.920 has my original co host Chris Palette in there as well, 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:54.360 and we really had fun exploring how Nintendo transformed itself 0:00:54.800 --> 0:01:00.440 from its origins into a video game giant. And uh, 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.520 you know that's not how it was all way back 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:07.000 in the early early days of Nintendo. So let's take 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:09.479 a listen to this classic episode and find out how 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:18.520 things got started. All right, So today we are going 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:22.880 to talk about a company that is fairly well known 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:27.880 in tech circles, Nintendo, but did not start out as 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:32.360 a tech company as many a tech company has been, 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.800 especially the ones that have lasted as long as Nintendo. Yeah, 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:39.000 some of the other you know, video game companies also 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:44.319 have their origin in something other than video games. I'm 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:47.760 I'm thinking of Colico, Yeah, the Connecticut Leather Company. Yeah, 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.920 Connecticut Leather Company that. Yeah, we've already made the joke 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:53.440 about games coming out of the Connecticut Leather Company. And 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:57.720 Tandy also. Yeah. So Nintendo is also one of those 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:00.920 companies that and now they have their stree in games, 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.800 but it wasn't video games because in nine when the 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:09.079 company was founded, video games didn't exist yet because television 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:13.120 resolution was terrible as a non existent. Yeah, you had 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:17.000 to actually uh stop, draw the next picture, all right, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:18.959 and then you know, oh and this is what happened. 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.200 Hold on, it's time for this. It's kind of like 0:02:23.280 --> 0:02:27.440 Dragon's Layer, but at super slow speeds. Alright, So that's 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:32.120 a one nega hurt. Yeah. So so in order for 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.280 you guys to understand we we really actually have to 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:38.560 go back much further than even the founding of the company. 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:43.600 Um Chris um, yes, no, I'm kietting in that. Now. 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:46.400 You got to man, all right, the way back machine 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:48.680 is ready to go. Go on in there. I'm right 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.560 behind you. Chris. Yeah, you know, sometimes I'm afraid he's 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:53.280 gonna shove me in here and then shut the door. 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.639 But it's bigger on the inside anyway. All right, So 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:02.560 let me just set this to U sixty thirty three Japan. 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:15.079 Push the button, Frank, and here we are in sixteen 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:20.240 thirty three Japan. Uh. The samurai right over there, that's 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:25.000 UH watch out for the yakuza. Alright. So in sixty three, 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:31.360 the Japanese, Uh, well, there was a decision made to 0:03:31.440 --> 0:03:35.040 close the borders of Japan to be front away from 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.680 the outside world. And they shoved off and they pushed 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:39.840 themselves out in the middle of the ocean. I'm kidding. 0:03:39.840 --> 0:03:41.880 It used to be Japan used to be located next 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.440 to New Jersey. Uh No, that's not true, not true 0:03:45.600 --> 0:03:50.680 at all. Imagining thousands of people rowing paddles. Actually just 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:54.520 one Godzilla pushing really hard. Um No. As it turns out, 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.280 Japan had made this decision, the Japanese government made the 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:01.960 decision to to essentially ostracize themselves from everybody else. To 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:07.720 to the very xenophobic era in Japan, where the Japanese culture, 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.839 which was very much centered on UH concepts that were 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.720 UH based in things like family and honor and tradition. 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.440 They saw the outside world as threats to that, and 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:22.520 so a lot of contact was cut off from the 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:27.640 outside world in Japan became inwardly focused. Well. At that time, 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:35.160 the government banned the importation of all foreign playing cards. 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.920 Part of the problem was that there was an issue 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.200 with gambling in Japan that will come up later too. 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.279 So because of the issue of gambling, and the Japanese 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:51.640 government decided to to ban the the the importation and 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.440 sale of foreign playing cards. Now, this actually created a 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:59.599 market for domestic playing card companies um that were able 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:04.440 to within certain parameters produced playing cards. Now we've set 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.040 the scene, all right. For the rest of this, we'll 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:08.800 just tell it from the present day. So let's get 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.120 back in the way back machine. Come on, all right, 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.200 assuming let me set this to present day, which was 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:20.679 a late October, all right, and push the button, frank 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:34.400 and back into our cozy studio, all right. So seventeenth 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:38.680 century Japan cuts off this these ties to the outside world. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:43.240 And then in eighteen fifty nine, a fellow by the 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:47.520 name of Fusa Giro Yamachi was born. And uh I 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.840 would like to take this opportunity to apologize to any 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:53.920 Japanese listeners for the way I will butcher names throughout 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:57.240 the entirety of this podcast because it's gonna happen. I 0:05:57.279 --> 0:06:01.200 am non Japanese. I've never taken Japanese. So if you 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:05.120 will just extend me a a little slack, uh I 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:10.320 would owe you. And Agato um so in eighteen fifty nine, 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.359 he's born, Machi is born, and uh and and he 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.240 would found the company in eighteen eighty nine. He called 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:23.040 it Nintendo Copai and the company was making special playing 0:06:23.080 --> 0:06:27.240 cards uh out of out of bark actually for a 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:31.200 game called Hanna Fuda. Now do you know what Nintendo means? 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.960 What does Nintendo mean? It's it's it's translated frequently as 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:40.640 leave luck to Heaven, which sort of goes along with, 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:43.880 you know, playing cards, because you know, and you're talking 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:48.719 about games, luck would be involved, sure, And the Hannafuda 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.360 means flower cards. These were cards that instead of having 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:54.919 numbers on them, which is what the gamblers were using, 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:59.440 um had flowers on them, pictures of flowers hand painted. 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.359 Actually they first came out and they became really really 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.960 popular and uh and the company saw a lot of 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.680 early success. UH, and in eighteen eighteen eighty nine, the 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.840 same year that Nintendo was founded UH, the Japanese government 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.960 began to relax some of the restrictions that they had 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:20.880 placed around the whole industry of playing cards in the 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:25.120 first place. So it was perfectly positioned, and so Nintendo 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:29.560 CAPI began to UH to expand very quickly because everyone 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.920 thought that the artwork on the cards was really beautiful 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:35.520 and so they were desirable to have. And then the 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:40.120 restrictions at the same time, We're started to slack a bit. UH. 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:45.200 The company saw a lot of early success, and that 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.600 was really what it focused on, was producing playing cards. Now, 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:53.640 in nineteen twenty nine, Fusagiro retired and he handed over 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:56.080 the control of his company to his son in law, 0:07:56.600 --> 0:08:02.120 UH Sakiro and UH, who then took the family name, 0:08:02.160 --> 0:08:06.960 the Yamauchi family name. And in fact, all Nintendo CEOs 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:11.000 with the exception of the current one, were related to 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:17.600 U in some way, either by actual blood or by marriage. 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.520 UM really by marriage when you get down to it. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:24.200 But in nineteen thirty three, that's when the company changed 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.440 its name to Yamauchi Nintendo and Company. When they dropped 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:31.720 the Kapi at that point, and they created a a 0:08:31.760 --> 0:08:37.280 second company, a card game distributor company called Marafuku Company Limited, 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:41.120 and both of those companies at that time saw great success. 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:46.640 So again Nintendo is already doing really, really well. Uh 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:50.280 And of course video games are not anywhere near the 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:55.280 picture at this point. Yeah. So in nineteen forty nine, 0:08:56.000 --> 0:09:00.560 Securio suffered a stroke and he was no longer able 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:04.840 to control the company, and so he handed over the 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:11.000 company to his grandson, Hiroshi. Now this caused a lot 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:15.440 of concern within Nintendo because Hiroshi was very young. He 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.680 was twenty one at the time when he was given 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.920 the company, and he was a law school student. He 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.160 wasn't a business student. Yeah, so he was starting to 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:26.600 become a lawyer. He dropped out of college, out of 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.360 law school in order to to take over this company, 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:36.360 and some of the the employees of Nintendo really objected 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.680 to him becoming the new head of the company, so 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:44.040 much so that there was actually a factory strike. As 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.040 a matter of fact, he uh, he went down in 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.880 history for firing a lot of those employees. That was 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.120 not a popular move within the company. Yeah, Hiroshi was 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:57.040 he kind of showed everyone who was boss he took. 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:01.360 He introduced a too corporate culture. He had the Darth 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:06.240 Vader method of of management, and that if you if 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:10.240 you thought that he was his decisions were not good ones, 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:13.680 then he didn't want you working for him anymore. Yeah. Yeah, actually, 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.480 uh I. Part of my research was done from a 0:10:17.480 --> 0:10:21.360 book called All Your Baser Belonged to Us UM by 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:24.520 Harold Goldberg. He has a chapter on It's a it's 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.280 a history of video games, but he has a chapter 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:29.200 on Nintendo, which is which is pretty fascinating. And they 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:32.040 said that that he was a really serious guy. I 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.080 mean they you know, watching him crack a smile, you'd 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.000 have to wait because he didn't do it very frequently. 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.240 It was a very very no nonsense sort of fellow, 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:44.280 but very business like exactly kind of like the cliche 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:47.360 idea we have of the Japanese businessman, you know, very 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:53.480 formal and very serious. Um. And he also instituted a 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:58.760 policy that would become something that sort of resonates throughout 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.840 Nintendo for years to come, which was that he demanded 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:05.680 that all products that Nintendo was going to produce be 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.400 cleared through him personally before the company would move on it. 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.800 So you think about that. I mean, this is a 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.920 CEO of a company. Now, most companies, the CEO is 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:19.080 directing the company, you know, since he's got a hands 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:23.000 onto involvement with the company. But you don't necessarily have 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:27.360 every single product cleared through your CEO and every company. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:29.600 There are a few companies that did you know, Apple 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:34.240 being another famous company. So Apple is another famous company 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.800 where that where the CEO had a real hands on approach. Well, 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:40.719 Hiroshi felt the same way, and and this is a 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:44.040 strategy that would pay off for Nintendo further down the line. 0:11:44.400 --> 0:11:47.200 Not necessarily that the CEO had to clear everything before 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:51.200 it went through, but Nintendo decided having this real focus 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.560 on product quality that would become very important when Nintendo 0:11:55.600 --> 0:12:00.360 would enter the video game market. Now I'm sorry, company 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.720 diversified quite a bit. Yeah. Well, first of all, nineteen 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:06.960 fifty three they started to produce plastic playing cards, which 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.480 was that was the first big move as far as 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:13.679 technologically speaking goes. Because but up to that point they 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:17.760 were using paper or wood cards. So in this case 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.880 they're they're moving to plastic cards. And they even started 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.319 to practice with some other stuff. In nineteen fifty nine, 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.520 they had they signed a big licensing agreement with another 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.000 huge company. Do you know which company I'm talking about? 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.319 Was it the one with the mouse with the big ears? Yes, 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:36.079 it was Disney. So in nineteen fifty nine they company, uh, 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.640 Nintendo and Disney form a partnership through licenses that allowed 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.280 Nintendo to prevent playing cards with Disney characters on it, 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.040 which I don't know if you know this, if you're not, 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:48.880 if you've never been to Japan and you don't know 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.040 a lot about Japanese culture, you may not be aware 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:56.320 of this. But Disney was enormous in Japan, still is, 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.640 but you know, it was one of those things that 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.760 really resonated with the Japanese people, and so these cards 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:08.840 were insanely popular. Um. And then they did try to 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:14.000 diversify because the playing card business, even at that point, 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:18.680 Nintendo could see that that the business was starting to 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:22.360 slow down, and so they started looking into other ways 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.000 of making money. Now, you did you have a couple 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.240 that you wanted to particularly mention, Um, there's one I'm 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.720 sort of debating mentioning the hotel. Yes it was the hotel. 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.280 It's a very special kind of hotel. Yes, it wasn't 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.360 just a regular hotel. It was a hotel that didn't 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:41.640 have windows. Well, of course not, it's an intend Oh 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:44.360 wait never mind, all right now, so while we're dancing 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.440 around here, is that and is this was gonna be 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:48.640 something that's shocking to people who think of Nintendo as 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.240 this family friendly sort of video game company. Um, it 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.360 was a hotel that didn't have windows. It was meant 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:58.760 for people who wanted a discreet place to whisk away 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.480 too and have a romantic interlude. Yes see, that's that 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:06.679 was very that was putting it. And they had a 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.880 taxi company, yeah yeah, which they it did have windows 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:12.520 because it turned out that if you had a taxi 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:14.440 with no windows, it was very dangerous to drive on 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:18.480 the road. Yes, so anyway, yeah, so they Nintendo, by 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.280 the way, was not the only company that tried this 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.840 whole hotel, this love nest hotel thing. Um, there were 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.320 many other companies that tried it as well. So Nintendo 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:31.000 tried that and the taxi service, as well as producing 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.440 foods essentially foods that you would buy it a supermarket. 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:38.520 But none of these lines of business really panned out, 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:41.760 and these were all failures for Nintendo, and Hidroshi had 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:45.000 sort of a black eye for kind of pushing the 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:49.280 company into these areas. But as it turns out, um 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.120 it was important for for the company to try and 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:58.600 diversify because in nineteen sixty four, the the game card 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.640 industry in Japan crashed. Just like you know, we've talked 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:05.440 about the video game crushure, we'll talk about it again 0:15:05.480 --> 0:15:07.880 in a in a little bit, but we've talked about 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.440 that in the past. The same sort of thing happened 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:14.960 in Japan with playing cards, and oddly enough, it was 0:15:15.000 --> 0:15:18.760 for the same reasons that are largely the same reasons, 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:22.200 and one of the big reasons was saturation. Yeah, you know, 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:24.680 you got to a point where these cards were really 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.600 really popular for a really long time, so everyone owned them. 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.600 But if everyone owns them, why would you go out 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.720 and buy another one. You've already got them. You don't 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:37.360 need anymore. So because of that, the whole industry started 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.280 to suffer because you know, no one needed to buy 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.320 more cards. Uh. And this was right around the same 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.760 time that Tokyo was hosting the Olympics. So it was 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.280 weird because you had this huge influx of money coming 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:50.880 into the country, but you also had this industry failed. 0:15:50.960 --> 0:15:56.320 This this historically relevant industry failing, yes, at the same time, 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:04.040 but Ninteno manages to um skirt the shoals of bankruptcy. 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:08.000 Uh to quote Monety Python. Um. Well they got into 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.320 toys for a while too. Yeah. Well, in nine five 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:16.000 they hired a guy named gun Pay Yuki, and gun 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:21.880 Pay was a fellow who was very inventive. Um. He 0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.960 worked in one of the playing card factories, and there 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:27.880 he happened to be working there on a day when 0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:32.480 Hiroshi came through, and Hiroshi sees Gunna Pay playing around 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.920 with something that he had invented that was essentially do 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.480 you remember those in in cartoons that happens all the time. 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:43.280 There's a character that picks up a a boxing glove 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:47.200 that's on like an accordion hnt uh accordion sort of 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:49.760 lattice thing. Then if you pull a trigger, it extends 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:53.880 out and punches someone who's twenty feet away. So one 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.680 of those at home, well, that's essentially what gun Pay 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.280 had invented. He had invented this thing that was a 0:16:59.360 --> 0:17:02.360 claw on the end of one of those, so you would, uh, 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:04.879 you know, you pull these two levers together and it 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:08.000 would extend out this accordion arm and at the end 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:10.320 of the accordion arm was the claw, and the very 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.440 last action is that claw would close, so it allow 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.560 you to pick stuff up that was slightly inconvenient for 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.560 you to get up and pick up yourself. And Um 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.520 and Hiroshi came to the conclusion that perhaps what Nintendo 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:27.920 could do is diversify and get into the toy business. Yes, 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:33.359 and that that invention became the ultra hand. That's, you know, 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:37.359 very typical and in my head Japanese name for something 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.240 like that, I'm probably thinking of ultraman at that point. 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:42.919 So um. But yeah, it actually came with h with 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.720 some plastic balls that you could pick up. Um you know, 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.000 well anything like that, you got to include the thing 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.720 to pick up. So they did that for a little while. 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:55.720 But that wasn't the only thing they didn't. They didn't really, 0:17:56.280 --> 0:18:00.280 from my research, get into toys wholesale like where you know, oh, 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:02.040 this is what we're gonna do in the future. It 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.359 was more like a um, a trial thing that they 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:08.560 sort of experimented with for a little bit. Yeah, and 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:12.919 there were other there were several examples of toys that 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.600 they got into UM, some of which gave a hint 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:18.320 at what they would be doing in the future, like 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:22.159 they had a love tester. Ah, yes, the old the 0:18:22.160 --> 0:18:24.679 old love testers, which you know, just sort of measure 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:29.320 the um, the your compatibility with another person. Yeah, you 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.720 hold a little handle and it tells you how red hot, Yeah, exactly, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:40.520 or or a cold fish cold fish yeah, stuckies. Oh man, 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:43.920 that's taking me back to a comedy album anyway. But yeah, 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.879 the the Yeah, I was just looking at looking it up, 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:48.959 and it's a little slower to do this in uh, 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.199 in a non electronic format. But Goldberg's got He's got 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.240 the Dead Tree edition. Actually had the Dead Tree Edition. 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:57.880 Wine checked it out from the library. Um, apparently they 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:03.200 sold about one point two million Ultra hands. So and 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:06.239 the the Love Tester came out in nine nine, but 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.760 both of them we're going with uh with the company's 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:15.399 philosophy of because Yo Koi apparently said, and this is 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.359 a quote, the Nintendo way of adapting technology is not 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:20.159 to look for the state of the art, but to 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:25.160 utilize um mature technology that can be mass produced cheaply. Yeah. 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:28.520 I feel like this is going to come up again. Um. 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:30.320 But yeah, that's that's a very it was a very 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:33.159 responsible way of doing things because it enabled them to 0:19:34.000 --> 0:19:37.639 put something together using existing technology no R and D. 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:42.320 But at the same time it's sold very well, so 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:44.440 that's that's a good way to make money. In fact, 0:19:44.960 --> 0:19:49.120 the toys really turned Nintendo around. Without without that that 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:56.119 serendipitous uh discovery where Roshi saw Yokoi's work, really the 0:19:56.160 --> 0:19:59.600 company may not have survived because that the playing card 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.520 industry it was in such such a such dire straits, 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:06.800 and uh the other attempts of Nintendo to diversify had 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:10.440 failed pretty dramatically that without that, it may not have 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:12.440 been able to stay afloat long enough to get into 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.720 the video game era. But moving ahead a couple of years, 0:20:15.760 --> 0:20:20.199 in nineteen seventy three, Nintendo developed a technology called the 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:25.280 Laser Clay Shooting System, which was clay. It was it 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:27.240 was a light gun game. Because I was trying to 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:29.680 figure out what laser clay was, Well, you know, it's yeah, 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.200 it was a skeet shooting system, a skeet shooting game. 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:34.840 Like if you've ever been to one of those giant 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:38.280 arcades that has like the rifle that's really a light gun, 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.480 and then you're you're firing at the image of a 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:45.120 of a clay pigeon duck hunt. Yeah, yeah, like duck 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.960 Hunt eventually would become. But then this case, it was 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:50.359 stuff that was projected on the wall. It wasn't necessarily 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:54.040 it wasn't like a screen screen. Um, they installed these 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.920 and old bowling alleys that had gone out of business. 0:20:57.400 --> 0:21:00.280 So this is kind of creating an entertainment destined nation. 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:03.119 It wasn't. It was still a little too early for 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.359 the arcade era. We're talking nineteen seventy three here in 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.000 The arcade era really started to take off in the 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:15.080 late seventies. It was heading into that period though. The Yeah, 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:16.960 that's when you started seeing them pop up. And of 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:21.240 course in Japan arcades are still incredibly popular. In in 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:25.080 the United States, they are a rare breed. Uh So. 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:30.280 In nineteen seventy four, Nintendo formed a partnership and arranged 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:33.720 to become the distributor in Japan of the Magna Vox Odyssey. 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:38.560 I yes, I remember it well, unfortunately. Yeah, so the 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:42.160 Honesty was a a home video game console, very limited. 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.440 We talked about it on our home video Games podcast, 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:47.680 The Crash of the Video Game. Yeah, so this is 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:50.520 one of the first actually it was the first video 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:53.639 game home video game console that really reached wide distribution, 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:57.440 and so Nintendo became the Japanese distributor for this. Now 0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:01.760 Nintendo did not develop the Odyssey, but they the companies 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:06.760 saw the the potential for that in Japan, and actually 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:10.880 it did very well. And then in uh moving up, 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:13.480 over the next few years, Nintendo storty to market its 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:17.040 own game consoles. The game and Watch oh that was 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:20.120 one of them. Yeah, the game that was the first 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:22.359 portable system that was back in that that I officially 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:26.080 launched the nineteen eighty but just before that, in the seventies, 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.359 Nintendo had some game consoles that were similar to the Odyssey, 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:31.639 and that they were not. It wasn't the kind of 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:33.399 game console where you would put a cartridge in and 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:37.159 play a game. It was had had games hardwired onto 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:42.399 the console, so you couldn't switch between games or you could, 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:44.479 you know, if there were like multiple games on that console, 0:22:44.520 --> 0:22:47.359 you could, but you couldn't put a new game into it. Yes, 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:52.560 and and and that really endeared Nintendo to Magnavox. Yeah, 0:22:52.920 --> 0:22:57.960 and by endeared, I mean completely ticked off and inspired lawsuits. Yeah, 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:01.840 because again Nintendo had come the distributor of this device. 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:04.360 And then starts to come out with its own competing products, 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:10.119 and Magnavox says, hey, but Nintendo didn't stump Nintendo. They 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:13.000 had they lost the lawsuit and had to pay licensing, 0:23:13.200 --> 0:23:16.200 but they put out their own version of games like Pong. 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.160 Uh and this is also yeah Pong ninety seven. That's 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:26.000 also when Nintendo hired a certain young artist who would 0:23:26.000 --> 0:23:33.439 become instrumental in the company's success, Shighetto Miyamotoomoto, Yes, a 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:36.199 famous name in video games. If you do not know 0:23:36.200 --> 0:23:42.160 who Miomotosan is, then you are not a known Nintendo fan. Yeah. 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.840 I think it's safe to say that if if there 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:51.080 is a polar opposite to the company's CEO, Miyamoto San, 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:54.560 would have been that guy. Miyamoto is like a rock star, 0:23:55.119 --> 0:23:57.840 and he really is treated like a rock star. Well, 0:23:57.920 --> 0:24:00.920 he wasn't at first see that. When he was first hired, 0:24:00.960 --> 0:24:03.360 he was just an artist, a no name artist. Yeah. 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:06.000 And as a matter of fact, he uh he got 0:24:06.000 --> 0:24:10.840 the job because of his parents connections. Um. Yeah, this 0:24:11.000 --> 0:24:15.400 again is according to uh Goldberg's book. But apparently um 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:17.760 he he had his uh he he wanted to be 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:24.960 a manga artist. Um and his parents happened to know. Well, 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:29.120 you know, when your parents know the CEO of a company, um, 0:24:29.320 --> 0:24:31.600 you know there, they may very well try to get 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:34.159 you a job, which is what happened in this case. 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:36.919 And uh it wasn't It wasn't like it was a 0:24:37.000 --> 0:24:39.879 high level job. Now he was a basic artist for 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:43.920 this company. Yeah, basically. Uh. During the interview process, you 0:24:44.000 --> 0:24:47.800 Wanta was asking him questions like why should I hire you? Um, 0:24:47.920 --> 0:24:49.960 and and and told him, you know, if I hire you, 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:53.320 it won't be because I know your parents, It'll be 0:24:53.320 --> 0:24:56.919 because you're good enough to work here. Uh here Again, 0:24:57.080 --> 0:24:59.080 he's a no, no nonsense kind of guy. He's a 0:24:59.119 --> 0:25:02.320 real business person. Um. But he said yeah, okay fine 0:25:02.760 --> 0:25:04.760