WEBVTT - Classic TechStuff: The Nintendo Story: Part Two 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:12.960 Technic Technology with tech Stuff from stuff Y everyone, and 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.880 welcome to tech Stuff. This week we're going to continue 0:00:15.880 --> 0:00:20.200 our story of Nintendo. These are episodes that Chris Bilette 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:23.360 and I recorded back in two thousand eleven. Last week 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.560 we talked about the story Nintendo Part one, where we 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.040 look at the origin of the company and how it 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.440 got started. In Part two, we talked more about video 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:34.680 game consoles and what the company did to really set 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:39.360 itself apart from other competitors in the space. So I 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.159 hope you enjoyed this episode, and remember we're gonna have 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.920 a part three coming up, a brand new episode that 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.559 I am going to record very very soon. It'll be 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.480 the next episode to Aero. Talk more about that after 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:58.640 this class episode, So see in a bit. Okay, so 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.480 we're going to do the the whole catch you up, 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.640 um if you're just tuning in previously on Tech Stuff. 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:10.280 Nintendo started out as a playing card company in nine 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.959 gradually diversified then got out of several other businesses, including 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:16.880 the toy market, but that did give them the idea 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:21.000 that possibly this whole video game thing might be an idea, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.839 and they started creating video game consoles that were only 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:27.399 able to play a game or maybe sit up to 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:29.600 six games, but you know, kind of like the old 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:31.840 Odyssey system and that it was very limited. It was 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:34.399 all hardwired into the system. You could not put a 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:36.920 cartridge in there was it was not cartridge cartridge based. 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.039 At that point, also created the game and Watch, which 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:44.520 was the portable variation of that, but again, single game, 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:48.040 that's all was on that system. Meanwhile, the arcade craze 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:50.920 is taken off all over the world and Nintendo finds 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:57.520 itself with a complete bomb and asks a young designer, Miyamoto, 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.720 Shigeru Miyamoto, to give it a shot. Can you come 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:03.920 up with something that we can use in the video 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.320 game market? And he thinks a storyline would sell games, 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:11.399 so he creates a simple story about a giant gorilla 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:15.480 who hauls off a a woman named Pauline to the 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:21.800 top of a skyscraper and challenges a young plumber well 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.040 actually he was just a guy with a big mustache 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:29.160 and overalls named Jumpman to come get her. And it 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.480 defies just about everybody in the company's expectations by becoming 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:38.760 a huge hit, inspiring several uh several follow up titles 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:43.760 and licensing agreements. With these different console manufacturers to bring 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:46.720 them into homes. Because home video games are becoming popular 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:50.440 in the early nineteen eighties, late seventies and early Nintendo 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:52.920 decides to get into that market. While the getting is good, 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.600 I want me some of that action. They and they 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:59.520 introduce the Nintendo Family Computer and they launch it in 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:05.000 Japan on July fifteenth. Yeah, it's a great name for 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:11.000 a console. Uh yeah, great name for the console, the Famicom. 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.240 So if you're not familiar with the Famicom, that is 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.520 what in America we referred to as the Nintendo Entertainment System. 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:20.440 It's gonna if you're not familiar with it, yes you are. 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.520 It didn't immediately come over to America because at the 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.120 same time as it was launching in Japan America, in 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.800 North America there was the video game Crash. We talked 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:31.320 about that. If you haven't heard it, go back and 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.000 listen to it. There's an entire podcast about it. But 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.600 to give you the short form of that, what happened 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.120 was the video game market was doing really well. Uh 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.000 so many players got into the system. Not not so 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:46.440 many players. So many companies got into creating video game 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:50.400 systems and video game titles that the market became saturated, 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.920 and there were there were there were several really really 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:58.680 good games, but there were way more crappy games and 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:00.960 some of those, Yeah, we talked about some of those 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:03.560 in our Worst Video Games of All Time podcast. There 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.080 were some of the two big ones that leap to 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.480 mind were the licensed version of pac Man for the 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:12.720 AY and of course the number one game on everybody's 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.159 list e T. The Extraterrestrial almost everybody's, but no, a 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:17.840 lot of that. That was the thing. A lot of 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:20.800 the game The idea was these games are a hit 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:24.279 in the arcade, let's bring him to the home console. 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.679 So you had games like pac Man and Donkey Kong, 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:32.880 um stuff like Amadar Burger Time Reactor, and they tried 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.480 so hard to make them work on home consoles immediately 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:39.719 that they ended up being complete and under dogs. Yeah, 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.000 they were just a was such a rush to get 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:46.600 to the market with that quality. Was was really sacrificed 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:51.120 in order to get sacrificed in favor of speed. Well, 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.760 Nintendo ended up not launching in America right away because again, 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.200 this video game crash was taking place mostly through and 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.880 so it wasn't until October eighth five that the fam 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.120 Con made its debut in the United States, and of 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.239 course then it was known as the Nintendo Entertainment System. 0:05:09.240 --> 0:05:13.359 And originally Nintendo took a very very controlled approach to 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.120 introducing its system. It wasn't it wasn't like a a 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.640 nationwide launch. In fact, you could originally only get an 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.760 inn e ES if you were willing to go to 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.680 New York City to get it. That was the limited 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:29.839 market they introduced it to and it was something like 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.200 a hundred thousand units and they sold out of ninety 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:36.280 thousand of them in a heartbeat. Um in a New 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.000 York minute, Yeah, in a New York minute. And the 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:42.600 original in as when it first came out in New York, 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:46.840 was loaded with extras in order to tempt people to 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:49.000 buy it, because you gotta remember, at this point, the 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.839 home video game market in the United States is toast. 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.600 People are starting to move to personal computers. Video game 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.160 consoles are looked at his things for kids, and it's 0:05:58.200 --> 0:06:03.040 and there's just no insistency and quality. So Nintendo had 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:05.800 an uphill battle here. So when they launched it in 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.159 New York, here's what he came with. This is a 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:11.240 huge difference to the way you buy a video game 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.080 console today. You got the console, you've got two games, 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:18.560 you've got two game pads, you've got the Zapper light gun, 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:24.120 and you got the Robotic Operating Buddy or rob one 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.640 hundred and twenty five dollars. Wow, that would be about 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:32.080 two fifty dollars in today's money. So it's still sort 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:34.200 of affordable in terms. I mean, you think about the 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:39.479 PlayStation three debuting it what six United States? Yeah, so 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:43.799 it's it's you know, it was a pretty amazing deal 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.039 at the time, and uh, it does very well, and 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.080 then Nintendo starts to open up in other test markets 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:53.800 places like Chicago and Los Angeles. Um, still very gradual 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:58.800 until it goes nationwide pretty much in six uh and 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:01.600 at that point, the h the price had moved up 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:04.920 to a hundred and ninety nine dollars, so the d 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.040 was kind of the introductory price to kind of get 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.240 that word of mouth campaign going. And and once it 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.440 went nationwide, they figured they could price it at one 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:14.280 and that would be the right market value for then 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:19.400 Intoo Entertainment System. I don't know, it might hot cakes, yeah, sure, 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.960 dead And in eighty six that was also when in Japan, 0:07:23.360 --> 0:07:27.520 Nintendo introduced a special disc system accessory in the Famicom, 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.160 because I could remember in Japan it was it was 0:07:31.080 --> 0:07:34.600 built as a family computer system, not just a video 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.360 game console, so it would allow you to actually use 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:42.800 discs to uh play games on the Famicom. Back in Japan, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.440 you could even go and have you know, a disc 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.200 made of a game or whatever at special vendors in Japan. 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:52.080 Now and in the United States, we were not so 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.520 fortunate as to get access to this, although I'm sure 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:56.680 there are plenty of collectors out there who have the 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.640 Japanese version of it. In America, that's always been a 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.920 hot like underground market in the United States. Yeah. Now, 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:07.560 keeping in mind too that in the late seventies, when 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.280 or the mid seventies, when consoles were starting to come 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.160 into the homes, all this stuff was hardwired into the 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.240 console itself, as as Jonathan was just saying a minute ago, 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:21.160 and they figured out that it was possible to make 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.560 a connector slot so that all the ROMs would be 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:27.160 actually in the cartridge itself and it would make a 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.760 connection with that cartridge when you plugged it. You had 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:31.960 to give it a firm push to get it snapped 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:33.720 into the slot the right way. Also, you had to 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:35.640 you had to breathe into the cartridge. That was that 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:39.760 was required before you. That's what we always did, ye 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:43.920 before you. Well, it's good to get the dust out 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:46.000 of it. Of course, some of the Atari cartridges had 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.839 a little flap they protected the guts. Not all of them, 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.880 some of them, but yeah, they the Nintendo Entertainment System 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:56.280 used similar cartridges too. They were they were wider than 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:00.280 the the Atari cartridges of course, and and bigger. But yeah, 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:04.320 they were using the same types of programmable rum chips 0:09:04.400 --> 0:09:07.320 that you would just snap into the game slot. Didn't 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:09.840 have a disk like the game systems do now. So 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:13.880 in eight six they also introduced some titles that became big. 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.480 Commando huge in e S game, I think I heard 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.240 of that. Yeah, fun one too, Ghosts and Goblins one 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:24.000 of the most difficult games ever. Also fun but hard. 0:09:24.559 --> 0:09:29.120 And then um there was came out in six If 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.760 that's not confusing, that's a little weird. Uh. And in 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:39.120 eight seven, two other big names in Nintendo franchises debuted, Castlevania, 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:45.240 Yes and Metroid Yeah. So a lot of the games 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:49.000 that would become sort of emblematic of Nintendo Entertainment System 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:52.600 started to launch right around this time, and uh, the 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:57.160 NES does incredibly well. Now, I never owned an in NES. 0:09:57.880 --> 0:09:59.839 I had a friend who lived down the street from 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:01.600 me who did own an NES, and I used to 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:03.719 go over to his house all the time and play. 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:06.000 And in fact, I played one of the games that 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.280 won the best Video Game of the Year for Nintendo 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:13.640 now that that happened back in. That game was punch Out, 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:16.760 and we're talking about the arcade game at that point, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.839 but man oh, the arcade game was a huge hit. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.640 I loved punch Out so much. That's one of those 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:25.199 arcade consoles. Like you know, you always have that fantasy 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:29.439 of some of us anyway of owning certain video game consoles, 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.600 like having a special room that would just have video 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:33.760 game consoles in it. Punch Out would be one of 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.040 the consoles I would own punch Out. There there are 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:37.520 two other titles I can think of right off the 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:38.920 top of my head that I would have to own 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:41.400 for that and on the one one would be the 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:46.920 original Star Wars arcade game use the Forest Luke and 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:50.840 also the Spy Hunter. Those are the so those would 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:55.280 be the three Elevator Action maybe yeah, if I had room, 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:56.719 but if I only had room for three, it'd be 0:10:56.800 --> 0:10:59.959 Spy Hunter, it would be Star Wars, and it would 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:02.760 be punch Out. Forget those of you keeping scored home. 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:07.199 Punch Out is the only one that's a Nintendo game anyway. Yes, 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.440 but there you go, that one of the three games 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:12.720 would be a Nintendo game, because when most of us 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.600 think of Nintendo, we don't necessarily think of the arcade 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:18.400 games that much because they made such a huge name 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.520 in the home console market. Now, Donkey Kong of course 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.200 being like the big exception. Yeah, well that's how I 0:11:23.240 --> 0:11:25.840 think that's how Nintendo was able to sell the Nintendo 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.880 Entertainment System was that they could say, hey, we were 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.800 the guys behind Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. And 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:33.960 Super Mario Brothers. Yeah, you don't have to worry about 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:38.120 us taking some sort of u uh well, especially when 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.760 they were reporting games from the arcade to the console, 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.120 you know, since it was the same company that was 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:47.880 producing these hit games, so much more faithful. Yeah, and 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.760 and so they you know, that could be a message 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:51.360 they send out to the market, is like, you don't 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:54.200 have to worry about some terrible port of our game, 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.079 because we're the ones who made the Arcade game, We're 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:58.040 the ones who made the console. You know that the 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:01.680 console is gonna reflect the gameplay that you are familiar 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.599 with in the Arcade. Well. One of the things that 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.719 Jonathan touched on in the first episode, and again, if 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:08.720 you haven't listened to it, will wait for you to 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.520 come back and listen to that first. But one of 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:15.199 the things he touched on was that the the CEO, 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:20.840 the CEO at that time of Nintendo, insisted that everything 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.760 go through him for approval. And that was important in 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.360 a way because it ensured that there was going to 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:29.679 be some quality in the stuff. They weren't just throwing 0:12:29.679 --> 0:12:31.600 it out the door like certain other companies that I 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:35.520 can mention, I didn't mention. Well, that was part of 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:38.880 the problem of Video game crash. Yes, So Nintendo had 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.120 had taken the certification process, yes, and that that was 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.160 a selling point from the Nintendo Entertainment system that the 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:47.599 other consoles didn't have at that point. Because if a 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.720 title was going to be on the NES, it had 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.160 to meet certain criteria, it had to had to pass certification. 0:12:53.520 --> 0:12:56.640 It's frustrating for developers because the developer might have a 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:59.240 great idea, but for some reason they run up against 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.280 a barrier that to the developer seems arbitrary and then, uh, 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.240 you know, we see this today with developers who developed 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.520 for Apple, for example, for for apps on the iPhone 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:12.640 and the iPad. They're developers who say, I submitted this, 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:14.800 I thought it was a great idea, and then I'm 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:17.880 hitting a wall. And in some cases it may seem 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:21.600 arbitrary to an outside observer, but to Apple it may 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:24.880 seem like, no, this is not following our rules, and 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.920 this the rules are there in order for us to 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:31.480 ensure that the user has a good quality experience. At 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:33.640 the end of the day, that was a Nintendo's approach 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:35.360 to with the video games, and said they did not 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:37.559 want to fall into the same trap that Attari and 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:40.680 Collico had fallen into, where they started to put out 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.079 and publish games that or they allowed third party publishers 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.880 to publish games that just did not measure up. Now, 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:50.720 that did not mean that Nintendo was free of bad games, 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.600 but they weren't glutted with them like the Atari was 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.120 towards the end of its days. Yeah, it killed both 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:59.800 at and Calico. Yeah, and if you say yes, but 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:03.360 it are still around it a different company. They purchased 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:06.880 the name anyway. Anyway, Um, yeah, that was that was 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:10.240 one of the selling points. Um. And the other was, 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.640 in addition to good marketing, they had something that they 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:18.600 could market around, and that was Miamoto's characters. Um. Donkey 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:22.040 Kong had made a name, well not literally because his 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.600 name wasn't his name at that point, but had a 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:28.040 name character and Mario and they were able to use 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:33.760 those characters in successive games and so uh, they basically 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:38.040 had exclusivity. You didn't see Mario on games that weren't 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:42.480 licensed by Nintendo. Nintendo was was uh, basically ensuring a 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.720 future for itself by creating a storyline in its games 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.000 that could be carried from game to game. Yah. They 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:51.080 really started to protect their intellectual property. They were very 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.320 protective of it. So still still are. Yeah, you still 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.440 are not going to find Mario pop up on say 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.640 an iPhone game, which that'll come into playing at the 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:03.800 end of our conversation today. So Nintendo has taken this 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.520 approach and it's working well for them now. In n 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.440 uh So this is ninety nine years into the company's history. 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.240 For those scores, ninety nine years in the company's history. 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:20.640 Nintendo makes an agreement with another company called Sony. I 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:22.680 think I've heard of them too. Yeah, they were going 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:25.600 to work together and put out a new video game 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.520 console system that would use optical disks instead of cartridges 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.240 to store games. Hey, that seems like a great idea 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:34.880 because Sony is really good with this electronics stuff here, 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.640 as Nintendo doesn't take them off. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:42.920 Nintendo and Sony could not see eye to eye on 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:46.200 many aspects of the deal, and ultimately the deal fell apart. 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:51.400 Now this this collapse. Yeah, the collapse of this deal 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:54.200 would later lead Sony to develop its own video game 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:56.920 console system called the PlayStation. I think I've heard of 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:58.720 that too. You may very well have heard of that. 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.080 Nintendo wishes it had. Yeah, PlayStation ended up causing a 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.280 big headache for Nintendo, particularly in Japan in a couple 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.680 more years. But we'll get into that in so on 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:13.360 the company's centennial, which is so hard to think up. Like, 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.320 there's so many companies out there, and you're like, how 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.960 many of them are a century old or older? Not many? 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:21.840 Not many are still around. Nintendo is one of them. Uh. 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.800 In nine the company introduces the game Boy. Now, the 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.240 game Boy sold for eighty nine dollars in the United States, 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.440 which is about a hundred and fifty dollars a hundred 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:35.520 fifty six dollars today. Uh, and the game Boy sold 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:40.080 very well, partially because it was marketed not just kids, 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:43.240 but to adults who would spend time doing things like 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:46.040 writing the train or the bus. If you were one 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:48.600 of those people who are commuting on a system like that, 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:53.880 then you would want something to occupy your time. And uh, yeah, 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:56.440 Chris is humming the theme song to the game that 0:16:56.560 --> 0:17:00.560 was packaged with the game Boy that became like it was. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:02.520 If you want to call about talk about a killer 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:05.840 app or a killer title, this is like one of 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.560 the top killer titles of all time. We're talking about Tetris, 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.280 which was not a video game developed specifically by Nintendo. 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:18.520 Actually came from a Russian developer. But Tetris was such 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:23.320 a compelling puzzle game and still is today that it 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:27.640 it was probably responsible for selling more Game Boy units 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.480 than just about anything else. I played Tetris for so 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.520 long on my game Boy that I could see when 0:17:34.520 --> 0:17:36.600 I turned off, you could tell this this is a 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.520 good game. When you turn off the game and you 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:41.880 close your eyes to go to sleep, and you're still 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.719 seeing those little shapes drift into place. Or when you 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.679 are moving and you're packing up the moving van and 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.080 at the time you're going do do do do do 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:52.760 do do crooked space piece, I don't I needed an 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:58.520 L shape? Uh yeah, So why did I get that sectional? Um? Yeah? 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:02.480 I spent many many hours with my game Boy. Yeah, 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:05.760 it was a very popular device, and that was my 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.359 first Nintendo system. And game Boy also was developed by 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.480 It was designed by gum Pay Yakoi, who we talked 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.320 about in the last podcast. He was the fellow who 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.600 was hired and had had turned Nintendo's fortunes around by 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.879 introducing a toy that became the Ultra Hand, basically an 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.439 extendable claw that would grip uh toy balls or you know, 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.000 that was what came with it. But you could use 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.159 it for all kinds of other games like harassing the 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:34.720 family cat. But yeah, the often than not probably. Yeah. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:36.960 So he was the fellow who designed the game Boy. 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.960 So yeah, very popular design, very simple design, you know, 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:44.239 unlike his first portable uh for a this was this 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:48.800 was basically the hundred of portable games, because before that 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.920 they were all hardwired, like the Mentel games with the 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.320 little led s that would go you know yeah, and 0:18:55.359 --> 0:19:00.160 even even Nintendo's UH game games were all hard fed 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:02.359 at that point. So this was the first cartridge based 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:06.080 one that really started to take off. So in nineteen nineteen, 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:10.440 into No introduces the Super Famicom, which in the United 0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:13.399 States a year later in ninety one was known as 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:16.600 the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Yeah, the NES was starting 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:18.840 to near the end of its life cycle, though it 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.560 was still supported for a few years after this. UM 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:24.399 and the NES was an eight bit video game system, 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.560 the S and E S the Supernintendo was a sixteen 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:32.040 bit game system, twice the bits, and at that time 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:37.080 Nintendo boasted an ownership a market share of about eighty 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.840 percent of the United States game industry and nine percent 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:45.840 of the worldwide game industry, so truly a dominant company 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.480 at this point. Also, this is a good time to 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:54.399 mention the character designs that Miyamoto came up with. The 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:56.720 reason why the characters look the way they do is 0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:01.080 because the eight bit gaming era was so low resolution 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.800 that you had to pick a very simple yet iconic 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:07.879 design to be able to show people what your character 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.480 look like. So he has Mario has a giant nose, 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:12.720 so you could see that he had a nose at all. 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.240 Mario has a mustache because it was easier to see 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:19.480 than a mouth. His his his overalls, his hat, all 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.760 of that was designed because in order for him to 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.320 show up well against multiple backgrounds, he had to have 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:27.400 a very simple design. And we're done all the way 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.480 back to the Donkey Kong days. So um yeah. Even 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:33.040 in the sixteen BET the designs get updated, of course 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:36.320 because now you've got higher resolution, but they're still based 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:39.080 on that very simple premise and it was something that 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:45.800 guided Miyamoto's design for for many years. Uh yeah. So now, 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.679 right around the same time in Japan, Nintendo starts to 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:52.600 face down lawsuits brought against it by competitors who are 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:57.960 accusing Nintendo of fixing prices with retailers, so that essentially 0:20:58.000 --> 0:21:00.760 the Nintendo products would stay on store shell and and 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:03.800 and keep selling, while the competitor peditors would end up 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:08.119 getting pushed. Aside um, Nintendo was is no stranger to 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:11.520 lawsuits century which makes sense. I mean, you know, if 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:14.120 you're the dominant player, then the antitrust lawsuits are gonna 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:17.800 start popping up, because really, for a while, Nintendo was, 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:21.159 and no pun intended, the only game in town, or 0:21:21.200 --> 0:21:24.640 so it seemed. Now we're gonna I'm gonna skip ahead 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:26.960 a little bit. So SNDS is really popular. A lot 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:29.280 of really popular titles come out on the SNS. But 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:32.280 I don't think I need to go into all of those. Um, 0:21:32.440 --> 0:21:36.600 let's let's talk about one of Nintendo's major missteps, not 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:41.760 the power Glove, which was its own problem. Nintendo hasn't 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:44.960 always succeeded when it's come up with some innovative products, 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:48.120 and one of those innovative products that really bombed by 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:53.040 Virtual Boy. But what could be wrong with that Virtual 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:55.760 reality was the wave of the future. We're all going 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:57.680 to be walking around with these things on our heads 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:02.680 that would show us these amaze immersed in a computer 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.840 world that would be uh indistinguishable from our real world 0:22:06.840 --> 0:22:08.560 all around us, as long as our real world all 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:13.320 around us is a monochromatic vector graphic. As it turns out, 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.240 there's a glitch in the matrix. Yeah, so the Virtual 0:22:16.280 --> 0:22:20.040 Boy comes out. It's a head node display. It's actually 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:22.080 on a little stand and you lean forward, it's almost 0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:24.240 like a pair of binoculars. You you lean your head 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.680 forward and you have a screen for each eye, and 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:30.040 it if only it didn't have to be hardwired into 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:34.680