1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,280 Speaker 1: Guess what, Mango, what's up? Well? All right, So I've 2 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:04,640 Speaker 1: had this fact waiting to use it, and I think 3 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: today's episode is the right one. So did you know 4 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:10,560 Speaker 1: that Nintendo almost came out with a knitting machine? No? No, 5 00:00:11,160 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: was that in its earliest days? Are like with we 6 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:16,120 Speaker 1: not not like in the nineteen eighties when they came 7 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: out with the original A ne E S system. You 8 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,079 Speaker 1: remember this? Yeah. I found this old trade ad for 9 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: it when they were considering launching it. And here's how 10 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: it reads. So it says, now you're knitting with power. 11 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: It's not a game, not a toy, not something a 12 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: young girl can outgrow in three to six months or 13 00:00:31,280 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: even a year. It actually knit sweaters. That's so weird 14 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:38,599 Speaker 1: and sexist. Yeah, I mean the technology is kind of 15 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:40,920 Speaker 1: forward thinking, I guess. Yeah. I mean you could fashion 16 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: your own patterns, yarn it up, and have it knit 17 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 1: for you. I guess I think that's how it works. 18 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: And the guy who was asked to demonstrate it for 19 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,480 Speaker 1: Toys r Us called it one of his least genuinely 20 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: enthusiastic demos and it basically got zero demand. But reading 21 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: about the Nintendo knitting machine made me wonder you know, 22 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: how long has Nintendo been a round and how have 23 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: they survived for this long and such an incredibly competitive market? 24 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,199 Speaker 1: And just how much running and swimming is Mario doing 25 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: in Super Mario Brothers. So that's what we're going to 26 00:01:11,080 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: find out. Let's dive in, y hey their podcast listeners, 27 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as 28 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: always I'm joined by my good friend man guest Ticketer 29 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:41,800 Speaker 1: and on the other side of the soundproof glass holding 30 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: up a paper that says up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right, 31 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,040 Speaker 1: be a start. Wow, isn't that the Konami code from Nintendo. Yeah, 32 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: that's the secret code that gave you all those extra 33 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: lives in contra. That is just how thoughtful he is 34 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: sharing a top secret industry code on the air with 35 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: that's our friend and producer Tristan mc neal. So we're 36 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: talking Nintendo. Now. Everybody's familiar with Nintendo and its flagship 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: characters Mario, Luigi, Zelda. The list goes on. The video 38 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: games are only half of the company's a hundred and 39 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,840 Speaker 1: twenty eight year history, actually less than that. So with 40 00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: the holiday season upon us and the new Nintendo Switch 41 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: console topping all kinds of hot toy and tech list. 42 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: We thought it'd be fun to shed some light on 43 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 1: the lesser known history of the world's most recognizable video GameMaker, 44 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: the Nintendo. You don't know, right, And I'll be the 45 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,359 Speaker 1: first to admit there's so much I didn't know about Nintendo. 46 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:37,080 Speaker 1: For example, did you know the company actually when Emmy 47 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: back in two thousand seven, I thought Emmy's were just 48 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:41,919 Speaker 1: TV show, So I had a video game company wind 49 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,160 Speaker 1: up with an Emmy. Yeah. So it was actually awarded 50 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:47,239 Speaker 1: in recognition of one of Nintendo's most famous tech innovations, 51 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: the deep pad or the directional pad. So I'm sure 52 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: you know this, but the deep pad is the plus 53 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: sign shaped button that you see on video game controllers nowadays. 54 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,360 Speaker 1: And Nintendo introduced the new output method back in I 55 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:02,200 Speaker 1: think two and it quickly became a standard in the 56 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: industry over the old joysticks, like you know, the ones 57 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: where you have to use your whole hand to move 58 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,079 Speaker 1: the controller around instead of just a free thumb. Yeah, 59 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: I mean that makes sense. The deep had revolutionize gaming, 60 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: But that doesn't say how they got an Emmy. How 61 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:15,880 Speaker 1: did they want an Emmy? Well, most video games are 62 00:03:15,880 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: played on TV, So there's one connection there, but the 63 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: real reason is that the deep had got utilized by 64 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: most of the remotes in your house, whether for your 65 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: DVD player or streaming device or the TV itself. That's 66 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,079 Speaker 1: pretty crazy, all right. Well, it's clear Nintendo isn't your 67 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,079 Speaker 1: typical video game company, and as I was saying earlier, 68 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 1: Nintendo actually predates video games themselves by almost a hundred years. 69 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: So I've read a little of this before that. Nintendo 70 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: started out as a playing card manufacturer, and this was 71 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: back in nine when a twenty nine year old businessman 72 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 1: named Fusia Zero Yamachi. He saw the chance to jump 73 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: start this dormant industry. And as you might know, Japan 74 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: had cut most of its ties with the Western world 75 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: during the seventeenth century. It was like this highly protected 76 00:03:56,680 --> 00:04:00,200 Speaker 1: society and the royalty didn't want invading cultures that the 77 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: country's values and traditions. But as part of this isolationist stance, 78 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: there was this ban on all foreign playing cards, and 79 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: this was to curb the rise in the legal gambling, 80 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: and when the Japanese devised their own card games in 81 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 1: the ensuing centuries, those two became used for gambling and 82 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: the government banned those as well. Pretty interesting art. So 83 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 1: it's a bit of a game of kind of whackam ale, 84 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:23,240 Speaker 1: now right, I mean, games pop up, they get extinguished, 85 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: then they pop up somewhere else, and then they get 86 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: extinguished again, exactly. And so this back and forth rise 87 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: and fall of Japanese card games goes on for more 88 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: than two fifty years, and then in six a new 89 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: game called hanafuda and I'm gonna mispronounce every single Japanese 90 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: word of this, but it's finally permitted by the government. 91 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: And this game loosely translates as flower cards, and they 92 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:47,640 Speaker 1: used flowers and animal pictures instead of numbers, so it 93 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: was a little harder to use for gambling, harder, I'm guessing, 94 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:54,520 Speaker 1: but but not impossible. Yeah, that's right. So whiley gamblers 95 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: still found ways to make money playing hana fuda, and 96 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: I mean, the general public isn't that interested in playing 97 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: card games since it's had such a bad rap for 98 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:05,039 Speaker 1: so long, but this new game did catch on quickly 99 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: among this group of near duells known as the yakuza. Wait, 100 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: so it's just like an organized crime syndicate, is that 101 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: they're the the early customers of Nintendo where they actually 102 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,680 Speaker 1: like Japanese gangster or something sort of. So the term 103 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: yakuza actually started as this reference to a losing hand 104 00:05:20,520 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: in this game that wasn't worth any points. And since 105 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: the game was popular mostly with unsavory types, Yakuza game 106 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,279 Speaker 1: slang for like useless individuals, And we should do a 107 00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: whole episode on the Yukuza down the road, But at 108 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: this point, these useless individuals are just kind of outcasts 109 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 1: in society. And the wider connection to organized crime that 110 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,919 Speaker 1: comes later, But the moniker itself does have a connection 111 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: to Nintendo, and specifically they're Hanafuda cards. All right, Well, 112 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about how our man Ya 113 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:51,640 Speaker 1: Manchi rises above this shady designation and and basically it 114 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:55,039 Speaker 1: all comes down to design. The cards of the company 115 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: Nintendo produced included hand painted images, you know, made from 116 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,680 Speaker 1: the bark of mulberry trees, and because they were so 117 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: ornate and super high quality and and frankly just eye catching, 118 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:08,679 Speaker 1: it it actually helped free the cards from that back 119 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,040 Speaker 1: alley stigma. And it wasn't long before Nintendo became the 120 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 1: top card game company in all of Japan, absolutely so 121 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: over the years and generations as the government relaxed their rules, 122 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,840 Speaker 1: Nintendo started releasing new types of cards and card games. 123 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,800 Speaker 1: But it's only in the nineteen fifties, when Yamuchi's great 124 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:29,280 Speaker 1: grandson took over the reins, that Nintendo started experimenting with 125 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: some oddball ideas. So what did they do. Well, there 126 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 1: are a few smart things, like hiro she signed this 127 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: deal to feature Disney characters on the card decks, specifically 128 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: to market them to children and families. But he also 129 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: did a few super strange things as well, like he 130 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,159 Speaker 1: dabbled in starting a taxi service and a line of 131 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:48,479 Speaker 1: instant rice, and for a little while he even invested 132 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: in love hotels where businessmen could rent rooms by the hour. 133 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: No questions asked, Oh my gosh, card Shark, Gangsters, CD motels. 134 00:06:57,600 --> 00:06:59,040 Speaker 1: I mean, I have to be honest, like this is 135 00:06:59,080 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: not the house mark. Definitely not, definitely not yet. And 136 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:06,119 Speaker 1: while none of those ventures worked, they all went belly 137 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,440 Speaker 1: up quickly. Hiroshi knew that playing cards and the playing 138 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 1: card market had reached the saturation, so if Nintendo was 139 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: going to survive into the nineteen seventies, they need to 140 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: branch out well. And also, by this point they were 141 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: already dabbling in at least board games, right, that's right. 142 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: But toy companies like Tomy and Bandai, Like do you 143 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:27,680 Speaker 1: even remember those? I mean only vaguely? Yeah, me too, 144 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,600 Speaker 1: So it's worth googling Tony and Bandai games from the 145 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies because the titles and photos are amazing, like 146 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: they've got one called the Hamburger Game, and Run Yourself 147 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: Ragged and Nutzi Tennis like honestly are so intricate and plastic, 148 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: but they really look fun. But Nintendo needed an inn 149 00:07:46,240 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: and this They needed some sort of new product to 150 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: catch people's attention and helped establish it as like a 151 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: place for fun, not just like card and board games. 152 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:57,200 Speaker 1: I love those names, and I was like, what even 153 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: is like Nutzi Tennis run Yourself Ragged. Well, this is 154 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: the part of the Nintendo story that I really love 155 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: because you know, at first, you think, okay, al right, 156 00:08:05,960 --> 00:08:08,160 Speaker 1: here's where video games come in and the company we 157 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: know starts to take shape. But no, you know, instead, 158 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: the company's first fora into the untapped toy market. It's 159 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:19,200 Speaker 1: this wacky extending arm thing called the Ultrahand, and there's 160 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: nothing electronic about it. Basically, it's the invention of gun Pay. 161 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: Your kois this low level Nintendo factory workers has got 162 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: a little bit of a background and engineering, and it's 163 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: kind of an innovation on Ben Franklin's long arm grabber 164 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: you know, which he invented in his old age that 165 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: would help him get books high off of shelves. Yeah. 166 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: So Ben Franks's version was obviously just this long pole 167 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: with the tiny gratty thing at the end of it, right, Yeah, 168 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: that's it. But but Gunpay designed a prototype grabber claw 169 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: that that frankly, you'd almost picture kind of like an 170 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: inspector gadgets hands or something like. It expanded out across 171 00:08:52,080 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: the room with sort of a metal crisscross pattern, but 172 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: it collapses to a tiny shape. And when Hiroshi saw it, 173 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:00,960 Speaker 1: he fell in love with the idea and got gun 174 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: paid a mass produced a plastic version by the end 175 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:06,719 Speaker 1: of that year, and the thing was dubbed the Ultrahand, 176 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,280 Speaker 1: as I mentioned, And the toy was a massive success 177 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: for Nintendo. They sold over a million of them between 178 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six and nineteen seventy and with that initial success, 179 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,200 Speaker 1: Nintendo made the transition to toy manufacturer and and honestly, 180 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:23,280 Speaker 1: they never looked back after that. So I was just 181 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: on my phone and I looked up the box of 182 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: the Ultra Hand, and it is amazing. There's like one 183 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: version that's a cartoon box and it's got two kids 184 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: happily stealing some sort of money purse from businessman. That's 185 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: good marketing. And there's this other that's like a real 186 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:38,880 Speaker 1: life pick and it's got a boy in the background 187 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,400 Speaker 1: using this ultrahand to like maybe grab something off a 188 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:45,440 Speaker 1: top shelf, while this girl in the foreground seems to be, 189 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: I don't know, passing a tomato across the room to 190 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: her dad. It's amazing. Also, why would you get this 191 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:55,199 Speaker 1: for your kid? Like it only encourages like theft and 192 00:09:55,320 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: missif I mean, but it does look kind of fun. 193 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: Those pictures are ridiculous, though, But thankfully Nintendo brought gun 194 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: Pay along for the ride as they developed more and 195 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,719 Speaker 1: he was promoted from this maintenance engineer to the head 196 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:10,960 Speaker 1: of product development, and that's where he helped create all 197 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: these different unusual toys and and that includes Nintendo's first 198 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:18,560 Speaker 1: feature electronics, and that first one was called the Love Tester. 199 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: So I thought we were past the more questionable bits 200 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,560 Speaker 1: of Nintendo's history. Well, you know, although this was aimed 201 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: at a slightly older crowd, the Love Tester was was 202 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: a whole lot tamer than that was paid by the 203 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: hour hotels you mentioned earlier. That's just so disgusting. It 204 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:35,319 Speaker 1: was this small device that kind of looked like a 205 00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: voltmeter with two wires sticking out of it, and there 206 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,280 Speaker 1: was this small silver disc at the end of each wire, 207 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: and the idea was that a couple would hold hands 208 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: while each person held one of the disks, and so 209 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: they had this resulting level of love that would then 210 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: be displayed on the screen. And it used the scale 211 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: from zero to one hundred. So, I mean, it's clearly 212 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 1: a cute, gimmicky item. But when the love tester actually 213 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,360 Speaker 1: test love Mango, you don't believe this really worked. I mean, 214 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: it was most likely the electric conductivity of the couple. 215 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: I don't know, like if their palms were sweaty it 216 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: would affect it. But you know, the specifics really didn't 217 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 1: matter that much, at least not to the target customers. 218 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:15,520 Speaker 1: There's this great site I found as we were doing 219 00:11:15,520 --> 00:11:19,320 Speaker 1: our research called before Mario, and it explains that dating 220 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,559 Speaker 1: culture in Japan during the nineteen sixties was actually still 221 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:26,040 Speaker 1: pretty strict. So really any excuse to hold hands and 222 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:29,840 Speaker 1: strike up conversation was was welcomes interesting. Yeah. Yeah, And 223 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,319 Speaker 1: so that's why the Love Tester was such a success. 224 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: It was a really smart idea for that time, and 225 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: because it made Nintendo so much money, the company continued 226 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: to dabble in electronic toys, you know, when video games 227 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: were just starting to make their debut. Sure, so I 228 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 1: mean we're talking about the late seventies here, when our 229 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: kids just started to take off, that's right. But you know, 230 00:11:49,679 --> 00:11:52,960 Speaker 1: gun Pays an extraordinary thinker because he actually had his 231 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:55,760 Speaker 1: sight set on a different market. The one day, while 232 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 1: riding a commuter train to work, he noticed this other 233 00:11:58,440 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: businessman playing with his cow it later just to kind 234 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,960 Speaker 1: of keep himself busy, I guess, And this gave gun 235 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 1: Pay the idea for a new line of handheld video games. 236 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:09,640 Speaker 1: You know that maybe would use the same LCD screen 237 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 1: and that that display technology that a calculator would use, 238 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 1: except in this case, the graphics would be used to 239 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:18,720 Speaker 1: create characters and then maybe objects that could be set 240 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,080 Speaker 1: against this pre printed background scene. And so you'd have 241 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: this built in controller buttons on either side of the 242 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 1: screen that would allow the player to move a character around, 243 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: you know, to complete basic task, I guess. And so 244 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: one early model of these Nintendo game and watch systems 245 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,720 Speaker 1: had the player controlled this deep sea diver. He just 246 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:37,559 Speaker 1: had to go from one side of the screen to 247 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: the other side of the screen and he would claim 248 00:12:39,960 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 1: a sunken treasure chest there and in all the while 249 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: he was avoiding the moving tentacles of this grabby octopus. 250 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: How captivating is this? kN I mean, I actually vaguely 251 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: remember those games as kids and really wanting one, but 252 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 1: they were so expensive. And of course that actually brings 253 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:57,360 Speaker 1: us full circle because it's actually these game in watch 254 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: systems where the dpad was used for the first time. Yeah, 255 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,040 Speaker 1: that's right, although I just had a memory. Do you 256 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:04,680 Speaker 1: remember when we took that computer science one oh one 257 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: class and we had to make a fish tank where 258 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,640 Speaker 1: the fish would just go one side for the other. 259 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: We're basically computer signed genius, that's right. But back to 260 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: the D pad, you know. It was another little master 261 00:13:15,760 --> 00:13:18,959 Speaker 1: stroke from Gunpay, and he'd run into problems while trying 262 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: to adapt Nintendo's successful Donkey Kong arcade game for the 263 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:25,880 Speaker 1: handheld market. And unlike most handheld games at the time, 264 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,600 Speaker 1: which only had the player moving left to right, Donkey 265 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: Kong was pretty different because it had them moving along 266 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,000 Speaker 1: both the X and the Y axis, which we both 267 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:38,360 Speaker 1: understand what that means as computer sciences. Yeah, I mean, 268 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:40,360 Speaker 1: it is funny, like you run along the platforms, but 269 00:13:40,400 --> 00:13:42,200 Speaker 1: you also have to climb the ladders and reach the 270 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,920 Speaker 1: top where Donkey Kong's keeping your kidnapped girlfriend. Right, right. 271 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 1: But I went to a pizza place this weekend with 272 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:50,120 Speaker 1: my kids in town here and they had a few 273 00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:52,760 Speaker 1: old school n s set up while you're waiting, and 274 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,360 Speaker 1: my four year old was actually trying to play Donkey Kong, 275 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,320 Speaker 1: and she had no idea what she was doing, and 276 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,680 Speaker 1: she was really angry. That's this ape was like tossing barrels. 277 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: That's pretty great. All right. Well, here's where I'm going 278 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: to hand the baton off to you, because it sounds 279 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: like Gunpay was the guy at the forefront of electronic gaming, 280 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,520 Speaker 1: but actually someone else came up with the games like 281 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 1: Donkey Kong and Mario and Zelda. Right, Yeah, that's true. 282 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:22,760 Speaker 1: So credit for those goes to Shigeru Miyamoto, also known 283 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,239 Speaker 1: as the father of modern video games, like his creativity 284 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:29,160 Speaker 1: and attention to detail was this massive part of Nintendo 285 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: success when it transitioned into home consoles in the eighties. 286 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: All right, well, we should definitely talk about what he 287 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 1: brought to the table and how it affected the video 288 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 1: game industry going forward from there. But before we do that, 289 00:14:40,240 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: why don't we take a quick break. You're listening to 290 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:58,120 Speaker 1: Part Time Genius and we're talking about how Nintendo made 291 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 1: the transition from playing card manifest Acture to video game icon. 292 00:15:02,760 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: All right, Mango, So, Shiguero Miamoto is the mastermind behind 293 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: Super Mario Brothers and that whole series and really kind 294 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: of a gaming legend. But how did he wind up 295 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: working at Nintendo in the first place? So, I mean, 296 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: to be honest, there might have been a little nepotism involved, 297 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: because Miamoto's father was able to line up an interview 298 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: for him right out of college and he had some 299 00:15:23,040 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: connections with Nintendo. But once Miamoto had his foot in 300 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 1: the door, the young designer impressed everyone like he had 301 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:31,760 Speaker 1: all these great toy ideas, and he started out as 302 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:34,520 Speaker 1: kind of a staff artist for the company's planning department. 303 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: And this was in and he's still with the company today. 304 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: I mean that's forty years since Nintendo hired him, and uh, 305 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 1: he's never worked a single day for any other company. 306 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 1: It's pretty incredible, is pretty incredible, And obviously he's an 307 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: insane talent, and it will find out why the company 308 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 1: wanted to keep him. But what kind of stuff was 309 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: he working on in those early days. I mean, he 310 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,400 Speaker 1: couldn't have come up with Mario right out of the gate, right, well, 311 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: I mean yes and no. So in the early nineteen 312 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: eighties and Nintendo tried to expand into the North American 313 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,640 Speaker 1: arcade scene. But one of their earliest efforts, which was 314 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: this sci fi shooting game called Radar Scope, it failed 315 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,680 Speaker 1: to find an audience outside of Japan. So one of 316 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: Miamoto's first assignments was to build a new, low cost 317 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,560 Speaker 1: game using the existing tech and this engine of Radar Scope. 318 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 1: And that way the company could you know, rejigger and 319 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 1: convert the thousands of arcade cabinets they already had into 320 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: something fresh. And Miamoto was eager to prove himself, so 321 00:16:29,240 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 1: under the mentorship of Gunpay, he came up with this 322 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: idea for Donkey Kong Oh and you should explain what 323 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,600 Speaker 1: that has to do with Mario though, right, so nothing 324 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: at first. Originally the game was going to be based 325 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: on Popeye the Sailor Man, but when the license for 326 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: that property fell through, Miamoto redesigned the game to include 327 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,240 Speaker 1: original characters. So the brutish villain of Bluto became this 328 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: guerrilla named Donkey Kong, the perpetual damsel in distress Olive 329 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,360 Speaker 1: Oil became a woman named Pauline, and Popeye got turned 330 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: into this carpenter named Jumpman. And since Jumpman is the 331 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: catchiest of names today, he goes by Mario, and so 332 00:17:03,160 --> 00:17:06,160 Speaker 1: it's the same character definitely. So according to the story, 333 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,440 Speaker 1: the president of Nintendo America known as the similarity between 334 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: the Italian landlord they had, the one they've been renting 335 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:16,720 Speaker 1: warehouse space from and the mustachio Jumpman, and the Nintendo 336 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,520 Speaker 1: crew nicknamed the character Mario and his Honor, And by 337 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:21,920 Speaker 1: the time the carpenter turned a plumber and was ready 338 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:24,439 Speaker 1: for his breakout roll into his own series, the nickname 339 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:27,000 Speaker 1: it stuck. That's pretty great and and it actually reminds 340 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: me of another story about early Nintendo, or at least 341 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:32,520 Speaker 1: the video game phase. So apparently Donkey Kong was a 342 00:17:32,560 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 1: big hit for the company, pulling in over a hundred 343 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,119 Speaker 1: eighty million dollars in just a year after its release. 344 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: Eight million dollars then, I mean, that's a lot of money. 345 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,080 Speaker 1: But with all that success came the attention of Universal Studios, 346 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,040 Speaker 1: who now believed that the game was infringing on its 347 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:50,880 Speaker 1: King Kong copyright, and the studio made some pretty tough demands, 348 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: insisting that Nintendo destroy all unsold copies of the game 349 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 1: in hand over every penny they had made along the way. So, 350 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:00,720 Speaker 1: I mean, I'm guessing Nintendo it didn't go for any 351 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,359 Speaker 1: of that. No, not so much. Instead, they lawyered up 352 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:05,600 Speaker 1: and proved that not only did the game have nothing 353 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: to do with the events of the movie, but Universal's 354 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 1: copyright had long since expired. Anything that actually meant King 355 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: Kong was now in the public domain. How crazy is that? 356 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:18,920 Speaker 1: Which we had snapped it up, But that isn't the 357 00:18:18,960 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: craziest part. Actually, it turns out that Universal had allowed 358 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: Tiger Electronics to create this game based on King Kong 359 00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,000 Speaker 1: and it was actually kind of a knockoff of Donkey Kong. 360 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,479 Speaker 1: So in the end, the court ruled in Nintendo's favor 361 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,560 Speaker 1: and Universal was made to pay the company millions in 362 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:39,639 Speaker 1: damn it. That's amazing. Yeah. So, actually, Nintendo's lawyer, John Kirby, 363 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 1: he was given this brand new sail boat as a 364 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:43,879 Speaker 1: thank you gift, and of course he christened it the 365 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: Donkey Kong. But that name may sound familiar, because the 366 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:50,200 Speaker 1: best part is he also got a character named after him, 367 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: and that is the character Kirby. Oh, I love that. 368 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,160 Speaker 1: I like that. Not only did he get this new boat, 369 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 1: but he also got video game immortality. Yeah, no kidding. 370 00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,200 Speaker 1: So I'm glad you mentioned knockoff games because is that 371 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,560 Speaker 1: speaks to something I don't think a lot of people remember, 372 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: and that's that America's video game industry was in really 373 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,359 Speaker 1: bad shape in the early eighties. In fact, it was 374 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:11,439 Speaker 1: almost on the verge of total collapse. So companies like 375 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: Colico and Atari, they've made a killing in their early days, 376 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 1: but their lack of foresight left them with no way 377 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:20,480 Speaker 1: to keep unlicensed games from being designed and released for 378 00:19:20,520 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: the systems. So as a result, there were tons of cheap, 379 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:28,080 Speaker 1: low quality software and games out there, and frustrated buyers 380 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: and and all these parents and kids were disappointed in 381 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:32,879 Speaker 1: the quality of the products well, and that had to 382 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: be a huge headache for Nintendo, right. I mean, they 383 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: released their first home game console in Japan and nine three, 384 00:19:39,400 --> 00:19:41,919 Speaker 1: so of course the next logical step was bringing it 385 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,200 Speaker 1: to the Western market. But then all of a sudden, 386 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:46,119 Speaker 1: the rug gets pulled out from under them and it 387 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: starts to look like video games will never make it 388 00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:51,320 Speaker 1: out of the arcade in the US exactly. But the 389 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,919 Speaker 1: company couldn't afford to let a whole market fall by 390 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,680 Speaker 1: the wayside, so they came up with this new battle plan. 391 00:19:57,080 --> 00:19:59,919 Speaker 1: So first Nintendo developed a lockout chip to prevent company 392 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:03,919 Speaker 1: from releasing unauthorized games, and then they redesigned the system 393 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,120 Speaker 1: itself to avoid any bad connotations that you know, home 394 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:10,840 Speaker 1: video game systems might have developed among consumers. Wait, but 395 00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,520 Speaker 1: so how do you make a video game system not 396 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,360 Speaker 1: look like a video game system by making it look 397 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:20,160 Speaker 1: more like a VCR? Apparently? Yeah. So, in Japan, Nintendo's 398 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: first system was known as the Famicon or Family Computer, 399 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:25,720 Speaker 1: and it loaded from the top, so the games were 400 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,199 Speaker 1: inserted vertically, the way you know you'd put it a 401 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 1: game in an old atari. But for the US release, 402 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,560 Speaker 1: the system was given this like flip up panel where 403 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: cartridges would be inserted like a VHS tape. That's pretty interesting. 404 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:39,680 Speaker 1: Actually reminds me of This is kind of unrelated, but 405 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,199 Speaker 1: it's a little bit like how Subway realized, if you 406 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: compare their sandwiches to other sandwiches, you've got this mediocre proposition. 407 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 1: But when you compare a sandwich to other fast foods, 408 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:54,240 Speaker 1: suddenly it seems like, you know, this healthy idea exactly. 409 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:58,439 Speaker 1: So they reframed this as modern family entertainment and it 410 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: was also renamed as the nintend To Entertainment System, where 411 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 1: the NES to further obscure it's role as a piece 412 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: of gaming hardware. And then they played with the color 413 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 1: scheme so instead of being like bright red and white 414 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,840 Speaker 1: like the Japanese version was, they muted it down to 415 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: this two tone gray color scheme, so that the strategy 416 00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: for the US was to kind of make it duller. 417 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: Did that end up working, Yeah, it did, but consumers 418 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:23,000 Speaker 1: were only part of the hurdle. Like Nintendo also had 419 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,119 Speaker 1: to deal with retailers, and when it was time to 420 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:29,200 Speaker 1: launch the NES, most stores were hesitant to devote any 421 00:21:29,200 --> 00:21:33,440 Speaker 1: shelf space to another, you know, slow selling video game system. 422 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:36,239 Speaker 1: So to solve that problem. Nintendo came up with this 423 00:21:36,359 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: robotic accessory that they dubbed ROB. It was the Robotic 424 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: Operating Buddy, and when the marketing push for the NES began, 425 00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:47,199 Speaker 1: Robbed the robot was front and center, helping to assure 426 00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:50,520 Speaker 1: parents and store owners that the NES was this worthy investment. 427 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:52,679 Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of funny to think that this 428 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:57,240 Speaker 1: physical toy robot being a selling point for a video game. 429 00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: I mean, it's just the opposite. Now, most kids would 430 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,320 Speaker 1: pick an iPad over an action figure any day. I 431 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:04,880 Speaker 1: would think, Yeah, I mean, that's definitely true. And honestly, 432 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: rob was never a hot item, like the robot was 433 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,239 Speaker 1: this last minute edition solely designed to move units, so 434 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: it's interaction with the system was limited to a few 435 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: week titles that you know, hardly anyone remembers today, but 436 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,199 Speaker 1: none of that really mattered. Like ROB was basically this 437 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: trojan horse. It was a way of sneaking a quality 438 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:26,640 Speaker 1: video game system into American society without much notice. And 439 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:28,679 Speaker 1: once he was there, people were able to play like 440 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,480 Speaker 1: Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt and kid Icarus or whatever. 441 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,120 Speaker 1: At that point, like nobody was complaining, and in fact, 442 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 1: the rules worked so well that by over six million 443 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:42,879 Speaker 1: as consoles and more than thirty three million games had 444 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 1: been sold in the US, and the systems weren't cheap either. 445 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: That's pretty crazy. Yeah, when you're talking about Duck Hunt 446 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: in these additions to the games. I remember playing that 447 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: game and just how close the gun would be to 448 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: the TV screen, like basically touching the screen, cheating, But 449 00:22:57,320 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: it felt good, you know, to win. That was that 450 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:00,960 Speaker 1: That's the most experience I've had with hunting. But I 451 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:05,919 Speaker 1: was pretty good get out. But this was definitely some 452 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 1: smart strategy. And I guess robots were super popular back then. 453 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,679 Speaker 1: I mean, that's right around the time when Transformers and 454 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:17,480 Speaker 1: Voltron and short Circuit were popular. Short Circond two was 455 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:19,600 Speaker 1: so good. But you know, I do like how the 456 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: story kind of shows Nintendo drawing on its experience as 457 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,120 Speaker 1: a toy company, you know, because I actually think there's 458 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,880 Speaker 1: a case to be made for still thinking of Nintendo 459 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: as a toy maker first, rather than maybe it's a 460 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,199 Speaker 1: video game company. Well, I mean, I think that's an 461 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,000 Speaker 1: interesting line of thinking, and I definitely want to hear 462 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 1: more about what you want to say about that. But uh, 463 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:47,639 Speaker 1: why don't we take a little break first? Okay, Mango, 464 00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: it's quiz. Time to be ready. I guess we're not 465 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 1: the ones that really have to be ready. We're gonna 466 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 1: we're gonna play a quiz because we're talking Nintendo today, 467 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: and we decided to bring on one of our friends 468 00:23:56,480 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 1: from here and how Stuff works, also the producer of 469 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,880 Speaker 1: the always brilliant Tech Stuff, Ramsey Young. Welcome to part 470 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: time genius. Glad to be here. Alright, are you nervous 471 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,239 Speaker 1: about this quiz? Very nervous? Okay, but before we do 472 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,919 Speaker 1: the quiz, you are a big video game fan, so, 473 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,000 Speaker 1: so what's your go to console and video games? Now? 474 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: It is actually a PlayStation four, um, but I grew 475 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: up playing pretty much most of the consoles. I still 476 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: have my attor console that still works and collection of 477 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,280 Speaker 1: games for that. But it's definitely not attached to television 478 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: because it's a process. Okay, but you had an original 479 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:34,000 Speaker 1: Nintendo as well? Yes, yes, alright, well that qualifies you 480 00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:36,919 Speaker 1: to play this game. Okay, So, Mengo, what game are 481 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: we playing with Ramsey today? It's called real unpopular Nintendo 482 00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:45,320 Speaker 1: game or something we just made up. Okay, right, so 483 00:24:45,359 --> 00:24:47,000 Speaker 1: we're gonna give you the name of a game and 484 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:49,640 Speaker 1: and a quick description, and you just have to tell 485 00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:51,840 Speaker 1: if it's real or if it's something that we made up. 486 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 1: And some of them are a Nintendo games, some of 487 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:58,919 Speaker 1: them are Super Nintendo games. Before we get hate mail, alright, 488 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:03,199 Speaker 1: Question number one Baby Boomer and here's the description. A 489 00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:05,840 Speaker 1: game where a baby escapes his crib and you have 490 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: to use the duck hunt gun to shoot birds, cobras, 491 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,159 Speaker 1: and other annoyances out of the way. Is this a 492 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:16,120 Speaker 1: real game or something we made up? I'm gonna say 493 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: it is a real game. Yeah, it's a real game, 494 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:20,639 Speaker 1: just like real life. Or use a gun to shoot 495 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 1: things out of your baby's way. I forgot that was 496 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:28,199 Speaker 1: your style. Okay. Number two, TV tag the game and 497 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,440 Speaker 1: here's the description. This trivia slash skill game was set 498 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,680 Speaker 1: in a retirement community where you wheeled around your grandfather 499 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: in a game of TV tag. Whenever you got tagged, 500 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:41,480 Speaker 1: you answered TV trivia to unfreeze yourself with the occasional 501 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: help of your daughtering grandfather. Is this real or something 502 00:25:46,119 --> 00:25:49,560 Speaker 1: we made up? I'm gonna say that is something you 503 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:54,320 Speaker 1: made up. It sounds really how this real is shooting 504 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,120 Speaker 1: the things in the way of your baby? I want 505 00:25:57,119 --> 00:26:03,119 Speaker 1: to play this game, yeah, grandfather, all right? Number three, 506 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:07,439 Speaker 1: Oh this is good? All right? Bill Lambier's Combat Basket 507 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,199 Speaker 1: Mango is is l a Lakers fans as kids like 508 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:15,720 Speaker 1: we couldn't okay Bill Lambier's Combat Basketball And here's the description. 509 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:19,000 Speaker 1: This game is set in a dystopian future where the 510 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:23,080 Speaker 1: Pistons player runs an ultra violet beetball league where players 511 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,280 Speaker 1: use armor, minds and spinning blades to get to the hoop. 512 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 1: Is this real or something we made up? I'm gonna 513 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: say yes. I think I remember seeing something style basketball game, 514 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,000 Speaker 1: like you could pick weapons and then go out and 515 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:44,479 Speaker 1: play basketball. It's curious why this wasn't a big seller, 516 00:26:44,520 --> 00:26:45,880 Speaker 1: but it might have something to do with the fact 517 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:51,200 Speaker 1: that Bill Lambier was the start kids Sandil Lamber number four. 518 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: He is what three out of three two left? Stewart 519 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: the Goat Hurder and the description. In this game, Stewart 520 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:01,359 Speaker 1: the Terrible Goat hurt Or tries to prove his family 521 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 1: wrong by hurting a flock of goats through increasingly difficult challenges, 522 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 1: from walking them one by one across the river to 523 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,520 Speaker 1: trying to use various skills to lure them away from 524 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: a Pebo Bryson Concert. Is this real or something we 525 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,040 Speaker 1: made up? That sounds like the worst game ever. I'm 526 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: going to say it's something you made up because I'm 527 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: hoping some last one. You gotta get this for the 528 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: big prize? Okay? Alright? Number five Home Improvement Power Tool 529 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: Pursuit and the description in this super a ne s 530 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:39,720 Speaker 1: game you shoot dinosaurs and mummies with a nail gun 531 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: while trying to get through a giant TV studio. Is 532 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,760 Speaker 1: this real or something we made up? I mean, if 533 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:50,560 Speaker 1: Tim Allen's name was attached to I imagine it. Yeah, totally, 534 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: It's true. It's a real game. Is this really? And 535 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 1: the confusing game came with no instructions because real men 536 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:02,119 Speaker 1: don't need instructions? Are you serious? This is a super 537 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 1: Was it based off the TV show? All right? So 538 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: Ramsey went what five for five? Right? So what does 539 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: that entitle him to? So Ramsey is going to get 540 00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: a part time genius official certificate of Genius and we'll 541 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:22,040 Speaker 1: be delivering it along with a hearty congratulations. Congratulations, thanks 542 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 1: so much for joining us. Appreciate it. Okay, Well, so 543 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:39,440 Speaker 1: clue me in. Why should we think of Nintendo as 544 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,000 Speaker 1: a toy company instead of a video game company. And 545 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:44,840 Speaker 1: if we do, why is that a good thing? Well, 546 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 1: the second part depends on who you ask. So the 547 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: gaming industry has gone through major changes since Nintendo's heyday 548 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,680 Speaker 1: and the eighties and the early nineties, and adult gamers 549 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:56,840 Speaker 1: make up a much larger portion of the market than 550 00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 1: they once did, and both the types of games being 551 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: made in the gaming culture as a whole have changed 552 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 1: really to reflect that new demographic. So, for example, a 553 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 1: game in their early twenties who mostly plays these realistic 554 00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:11,720 Speaker 1: and third person shooter games like Call of Duty, they 555 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: might not think that Nintendo being a toy company is 556 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:17,200 Speaker 1: such a positive thing. Yeah, that's one thing I noticed 557 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: a lot while researching. Like the other big names and 558 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 1: video games I'm talking about, like Microsoft and Sony, they're 559 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,440 Speaker 1: largely known for their computing power, and that makes them 560 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: really intense, immersive gaming experiences. But Nintendo has seen is 561 00:29:30,800 --> 00:29:35,720 Speaker 1: almost like this quirkier, more playful, almost this underpowered option. Yeah, 562 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 1: and the interesting thing to me is that the difference 563 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 1: you're noting is completely intentional. Thanks to the video game 564 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: bust in the mid eighties, Nintendo had a clear playing 565 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: field when they arrived on the scene. But when Sega 566 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,440 Speaker 1: began releasing their own rival consoles, soon to be followed 567 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:54,840 Speaker 1: by Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo quickly found itself locked into 568 00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: a graphical arms race. Really sure, so this is when 569 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,600 Speaker 1: the so called console wars ranging, and each company tried 570 00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:04,600 Speaker 1: to outdo the other with a faster, more powerful hardware 571 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: that promised to like redefine gaming, and after the Game Boy, 572 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,040 Speaker 1: something like the Super Nintendo, the N sixty four, more 573 00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,160 Speaker 1: buttons on the controllers, more immersive graphics. I mean, it 574 00:30:14,280 --> 00:30:16,800 Speaker 1: seems like Nintendo kept pace for a while, but in 575 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:19,600 Speaker 1: the end it was just like a battle they couldn't win. Well, 576 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,520 Speaker 1: I mean that's kind of the thing. I don't think 577 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: Nintendo lost so much as it just bowed out. I mean, 578 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: it's almost like the company woke up one day and 579 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: remembered that it would just much rather be playing games 580 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 1: than fighting wars. So what prompted that epiphany, Well, the 581 00:30:33,520 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: company was forced to face some harsh truths back in 582 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 1: the early two thousands. Its latest console was the GameCube, 583 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:41,960 Speaker 1: if you remember, and I had forgotten about the Cube. 584 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 1: I mean, why were cubes so probably like Apple came 585 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:46,840 Speaker 1: out with the Cube computer too, right, just the shape 586 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,720 Speaker 1: I guess nobody'd ever recognize before. I really have no idea, 587 00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:55,000 Speaker 1: but the Nintendo's GameCube definitely underperformed. I mean, it had 588 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: to compete with Sony's PlayStation two and Microsoft's Xbox. And 589 00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,560 Speaker 1: it was during this time that new leadership came to 590 00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,720 Speaker 1: Nintendo in the form of Saturo Iwata, and it was 591 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 1: the first Nintendo president who actually wasn't a member of 592 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: the founding Yamachi family. So a lot of shook things 593 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 1: up by placing the focus on software rather than hardware, 594 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: instead of building the most powerful console they could and 595 00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: then working backwards to figure out what kind of games 596 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: would take advantage of that power. I want to encourage 597 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,360 Speaker 1: designers to think up fun and unique game concepts first 598 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:27,800 Speaker 1: and then create the console to run them, which is 599 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:30,600 Speaker 1: just a very different way of thinking about it. So 600 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,440 Speaker 1: that shift in perspective lad to brand new toys and 601 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: to the way video games were played. You think about 602 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:39,400 Speaker 1: things like the Nintendo DS, which really was built off 603 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: the game Boy but had this dual touch screen system, 604 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:46,120 Speaker 1: or maybe the motion controlled home console, the Nintendo WE 605 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 1: and then you have the wee fits of several new 606 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 1: ideas well. I mean, we all know how that worked 607 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 1: out for them, right like that, We was such a 608 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 1: smash hit with just about everybody. And I remember seeing 609 00:31:56,080 --> 00:32:01,080 Speaker 1: all these Wimbledon tournaments and retirement homes and enfolding tournaments too. 610 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:03,400 Speaker 1: It was it was really built for everybody. Yeah, that 611 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:06,560 Speaker 1: we made video games accessible to this wider audience, and 612 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:09,160 Speaker 1: much wider than it had ever been before, and it 613 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: did so by returning the focus to these simple joys 614 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 1: of play. So suddenly you've got families gathering in their 615 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:18,400 Speaker 1: living rooms to play video games together, and not just kids, 616 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: but parents and grandparents. Like you mentioned, this is what 617 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: a Wada described as a blue ocean, which was this 618 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: new market free of rivals. The idea was that if 619 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:30,600 Speaker 1: the offerings were innovative enough, it could spark the interest 620 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 1: and enthusiasm of anyone looking to have fun. Yeah. I 621 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: actually loved that me too, And apparently there were a 622 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:38,640 Speaker 1: lot of people looking to have fun, because the We 623 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: became Nintendo's best selling home console to date actually sold 624 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:47,520 Speaker 1: over a hundred million units in its lifespan. That's pretty incredible. Okay, 625 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 1: so clearly Nintendo went its own way in terms of 626 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,000 Speaker 1: creative and business models. But how does that make them 627 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 1: more of a toy company than a video company. And 628 00:32:55,480 --> 00:32:57,800 Speaker 1: how do you see the difference. Well, I really think 629 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 1: it comes down to the intention behind the product. I mean, 630 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 1: when Nintendo changed direction and became a toy company in 631 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,440 Speaker 1: the sixties and seventies, there was this sense of freedom 632 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:10,240 Speaker 1: and discovery to their products, and I think it's because 633 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 1: they were experimenting. You know, they were dreaming up weird 634 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: ideas and turning them into silly gadgets that were appealing 635 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: not just because they were using the latest and greatest technology, 636 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: but because they were just fun to play with a 637 00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 1: lot of help the return the company to that mindset 638 00:33:24,640 --> 00:33:26,560 Speaker 1: and the one they had when they were just a 639 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: toy company. Yeah, that's interesting, and it makes sense that 640 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 1: the company with that kind of history would have a 641 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,880 Speaker 1: completely different culture and ethos than other video game giants. 642 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:40,040 Speaker 1: I mean, Sony is really a consumer electronics company first, 643 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:42,840 Speaker 1: then it's not video games as a new revenue stream. 644 00:33:43,240 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: And Microsoft is this like you know, digital PC and 645 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,800 Speaker 1: electronics company. First, then they figured we already make computers. 646 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: What's a game console if not a specialized computer. But 647 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,200 Speaker 1: what's cool is that it sounds like Nintendo is leaning 648 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 1: into those differences now, Oh, definitely. So I found this 649 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 1: speech that Miamoto and to say we should devote an 650 00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,240 Speaker 1: episode to just Miamoto because he's such a genius and 651 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:07,240 Speaker 1: how he came up with Mario and Zelda and so 652 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,000 Speaker 1: many other games over Nintendo's lifespan is definitely worth exploring. 653 00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:13,120 Speaker 1: But back to the talk. He was giving a talk 654 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:15,400 Speaker 1: to a group of investors a few years back, and 655 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:18,200 Speaker 1: there's one that really shows how the company is playing 656 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: to its strength. So he said, Nintendo is known as 657 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 1: a video game company, but in fact it's also a 658 00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:28,280 Speaker 1: toy company. Toys make consumers feel a sense of wonder. 659 00:34:28,680 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 1: When it comes to video game hardware, companies tend to 660 00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: take the similar and rather unified course of aiming to 661 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:38,440 Speaker 1: beef up the machines functionalities in our efforts to differentiate 662 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,280 Speaker 1: our hardware from others. I believe it's important that users 663 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:45,600 Speaker 1: experience that feeling that they have played with a new toy. Well, 664 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:47,920 Speaker 1: speaking of that sense of wonder that comes from a 665 00:34:48,000 --> 00:34:50,279 Speaker 1: new toy, have you heard about the secret tribute to 666 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,480 Speaker 1: Iwada that Nintendo hid in its new console in the 667 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,640 Speaker 1: switch or what is it? Yeah? So, unfortunately the man 668 00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,080 Speaker 1: who helped Nintendo return to its roots, passed away in 669 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:02,800 Speaker 1: two thousand fift he had complications from a tumor. But 670 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,240 Speaker 1: uh it was especially tough because it Wata helped shepherd 671 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,880 Speaker 1: the new Switch console through its development, and suddenly the 672 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,600 Speaker 1: company was faced with this grim prospect of launching it 673 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: without him. But earlier this year, it was discovered that 674 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:16,960 Speaker 1: the Nintendo team had actually done something a little sneaky. 675 00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:20,920 Speaker 1: They secretly embedded this digital copy of an old NYS 676 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:24,320 Speaker 1: Golf game within the firmware of every Switch console, and 677 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:26,239 Speaker 1: the only way to access the game is by holding 678 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,399 Speaker 1: a controller in each hand and replicating a signature hand 679 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:31,719 Speaker 1: gesture that it Wada used to use in his promotional 680 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:34,959 Speaker 1: videos for the company. That's pretty sweet and a little 681 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,359 Speaker 1: bit odd. I guess why did they choose a golf game? Well, 682 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:40,600 Speaker 1: the ANYS Golf was one of the first games of 683 00:35:40,640 --> 00:35:43,120 Speaker 1: water program for Nintendo, so it kind of held a 684 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,719 Speaker 1: special significance. And more broadly, it's possible the game was 685 00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:50,640 Speaker 1: meant as this uh omamori, which is uh it's kind 686 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: of like the special charm that's traditionally left that Japanese 687 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,920 Speaker 1: shrines to offer protection to departed spirits. So, as one 688 00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:00,239 Speaker 1: gamer put it, Nintendo embedded it, WADA's game did to 689 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 1: watch over every unit. Are you trying to make me 690 00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 1: tear up over a video game? Now? But it really 691 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:08,799 Speaker 1: does go back to what we've been saying about Nintendo, right. 692 00:36:09,080 --> 00:36:12,120 Speaker 1: It's not your typical company. It's got this long and 693 00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 1: weird and complicated history, and the childlike approach to game 694 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,840 Speaker 1: design that it's adopted has made sure of that. And 695 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:21,279 Speaker 1: the result of it is that you end up. Whether 696 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,120 Speaker 1: you call them toys or video games, Nintendo products have 697 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,600 Speaker 1: a level of sincerity and heart that separates them from 698 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 1: everything else. Well. I don't know about you, but all 699 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,960 Speaker 1: this talk of gaming has made me feel kind of competitive, honestly. 700 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,040 Speaker 1: So what do you say we go head to head 701 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:47,680 Speaker 1: and a little two player backed up? I'm in h Okay. Well, 702 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,080 Speaker 1: for all the talk of Nintendo sweetness and sincerity, they 703 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:54,840 Speaker 1: didn't always abandoned their gambling or your couza rude, So 704 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 1: did you know that in they tried to bring online 705 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,160 Speaker 1: gambling into homes. According to Kataku, they teamed up with 706 00:37:02,239 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: the state of Minnesota to create this gaming system and 707 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,680 Speaker 1: a cartridge that you could spend ten dollars a month 708 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:11,960 Speaker 1: for this subscription gambling service. They sort of gamify the 709 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,399 Speaker 1: lottery with the system. But Nintendo quickly realized that maybe 710 00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,640 Speaker 1: creating this gambling game that kids might access it wasn't 711 00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 1: a great idea for their brand, and they decided to 712 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:24,279 Speaker 1: kill the project before political and religious groups could could 713 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 1: voice their opinions about it. That's pretty wild. Did you 714 00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 1: know that Shigeru Miyamoto is considered so valuable to the 715 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 1: company that it's in his contract that he's not allowed 716 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: to bike to work. I mean, the sixties something designer 717 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:39,160 Speaker 1: used to love Viking, but as Business Insider put it, 718 00:37:39,480 --> 00:37:41,239 Speaker 1: the company is too afraid he might go the way 719 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,600 Speaker 1: of Frogger. I did not know that. Well. Do you 720 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:49,120 Speaker 1: know that Nintendo used to own the Seattle Mariners. Apparently 721 00:37:49,239 --> 00:37:53,000 Speaker 1: Nintendo's Japanese CEO didn't really care about baseball, but when 722 00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:55,600 Speaker 1: the team was going to move to St. Petersburg, Florida, 723 00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:58,920 Speaker 1: Yumochi decided to buy the team. Is a goodwill gesture 724 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: to the city of Sea at all. Nintendo's American operation 725 00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:05,520 Speaker 1: is located not far from there, in the city of Redmond. Yeah. 726 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:07,600 Speaker 1: I mean, that's kind of amazing, and it was apparently 727 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:10,160 Speaker 1: super controversial at the time. Because people were worried about 728 00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:13,960 Speaker 1: a foreign entity owning an American baseball team, which is crazy. Yeah, 729 00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,440 Speaker 1: it is. Did you know the original Super Mario Brothers 730 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,040 Speaker 1: was all drawn on graph paper and it was all 731 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:21,480 Speaker 1: colored in and when the designers were happy with a 732 00:38:21,560 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: certain level, that's when they had send it off to code. Eventually, 733 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:27,800 Speaker 1: the team started using this internal software to design the games, 734 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:30,719 Speaker 1: but their tool became so fun to play with that 735 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:32,919 Speaker 1: that's actually what they released to the public as Super 736 00:38:32,960 --> 00:38:35,799 Speaker 1: Mario Maker. Well, speaking of Mario, r pal Nick Green 737 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:38,080 Speaker 1: figured this out, and I love this so much, so 738 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,000 Speaker 1: he wanted to figure out how much Mario runs and 739 00:38:41,200 --> 00:38:43,879 Speaker 1: swims in Super Mario Brothers. If you take out all 740 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:47,360 Speaker 1: the bonuses and shortcuts, and if you run from the 741 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:49,799 Speaker 1: start all the way to the castle, he only does 742 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:53,240 Speaker 1: about three point four miles. And as for the swimming, 743 00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,359 Speaker 1: if you isolate that, he only actually does about seven 744 00:38:56,400 --> 00:39:00,120 Speaker 1: and a half laps in an Olympic sized pool. I mean, 745 00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:02,520 Speaker 1: Nikorean is a genius, but I do think he's discounting 746 00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:05,040 Speaker 1: how many turtles he's jumping over and how much Parker 747 00:39:05,160 --> 00:39:06,960 Speaker 1: he basically has to do along the way. It's always 748 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:11,120 Speaker 1: got that six pack, so Tristan held up the Konami 749 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,120 Speaker 1: code in the beginning of the show, and I've been 750 00:39:13,239 --> 00:39:16,240 Speaker 1: waiting to talk about this. It's obviously used in pop culture. 751 00:39:16,280 --> 00:39:18,480 Speaker 1: I mean you find it on Archer The Family Guy 752 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,000 Speaker 1: as an inside joke, but from time to time you 753 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:23,360 Speaker 1: find it as an easter egg on various sites. So 754 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:25,000 Speaker 1: a while back, when you fired up the code into 755 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:28,160 Speaker 1: Google Reader, a bunch of cartoon ninjas would pop out 756 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:29,840 Speaker 1: onto your screen. I don't know if you remember this. 757 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 1: It was really fun to watch. And when the code 758 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:34,719 Speaker 1: was used on ESPN dot com, it would bring up 759 00:39:34,719 --> 00:39:38,680 Speaker 1: all these sparkly unicorns. Basically it was a unicorn infestation, 760 00:39:38,880 --> 00:39:41,799 Speaker 1: and whenever you clicked a new sparkle pony would pop up. 761 00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:44,719 Speaker 1: But the craziest to me was when Newsweek got in 762 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:46,600 Speaker 1: on the action, because if you typed in the code, 763 00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:49,520 Speaker 1: the lead article was about zombies attacking parts of the 764 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:51,719 Speaker 1: East Coast, but it also had these tips for the 765 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: zombie apocalypse, like aim for their heads. And Newsweek only 766 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:59,680 Speaker 1: partially owned the correction. Like a spokesperson said, now we've 767 00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:03,800 Speaker 1: all to laugh. We will be removing it to that 768 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:07,160 Speaker 1: one alright, Well, I feel like we can't finish an 769 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:10,720 Speaker 1: episode without talking about Nintendo Power. You know, the magazine 770 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 1: and all the tips about games and hyped up the 771 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:15,799 Speaker 1: new games. And I know we were both subscribers at 772 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 1: one point, but they also published high scores and apparently 773 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:21,760 Speaker 1: Steve wosni Act, you know, the co founder of Apple, 774 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,840 Speaker 1: was a huge fan. He used to keep submitting his 775 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:29,080 Speaker 1: scores for Tetris month after month, and eventually the magazine 776 00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:31,520 Speaker 1: had to ask him to stop submitting because they couldn't 777 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:35,200 Speaker 1: keep printing his name. So he finally agreed to it, 778 00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:39,479 Speaker 1: but not before sending in one last entry vets Kane 779 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:43,319 Speaker 1: z o w or his name backwards. That's pretty great. 780 00:40:43,920 --> 00:40:47,400 Speaker 1: I mean that the was was like and subscriber to 781 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:51,200 Speaker 1: Nintendo Power is just so insane. Yeah, you've got to 782 00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:52,880 Speaker 1: take the crown for that. All right, Well, thank you 783 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: so much and thank you guys for listening. That's it 784 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 1: for today's episode. If we forgot any of your favorite 785 00:40:58,200 --> 00:41:01,719 Speaker 1: facts about Nintendo or anything related to video games, feel 786 00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:03,480 Speaker 1: free to send those to us. We'd love to hear 787 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,880 Speaker 1: those facts. You can always email us part time genius 788 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:09,040 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com or call our seven 789 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:12,480 Speaker 1: Fact hotline. That's one eight four four pt Genius. It 790 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,359 Speaker 1: is still seven mangoes that right, Yes, Okay, that's excellent news. 791 00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:18,920 Speaker 1: You can also hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. 792 00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:34,239 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening. Thanks again for listening. Part 793 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:36,279 Speaker 1: Time Genius is a production of how stuff works, and 794 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,920 Speaker 1: wouldn't be possible without several brilliant people who do the 795 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:42,280 Speaker 1: important things we couldn't even begin to understand. Tristan McNeil 796 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:44,719 Speaker 1: does the editing thing. Noel Brown made the theme song 797 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,640 Speaker 1: and does the MIXI mixy sound thing. Jerry Rowland does 798 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:50,800 Speaker 1: the exact producer thing. Gave Bluesier is our lead researcher, 799 00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:53,800 Speaker 1: with support from the Research Army, including Austin Thompson, Nolan 800 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:56,040 Speaker 1: Brown and Lucas Adams and Eve Jeff Cook gets the 801 00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:58,279 Speaker 1: show to your ears. Good job, Eves. If you like 802 00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 1: what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe. If you really 803 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:02,320 Speaker 1: really like what you've heard, maybe you could leave a 804 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:05,280 Speaker 1: good review for us. We did. We forget Jason Jason, 805 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:05,480 Speaker 1: who