The history of Nintendo dates back to the late 1800s when the company made playing cards, not video games. Today, Nintendo is a global leader in not only video game consoles, but video games themselves.
Following a major video game market crash in the 1980s, Nintendo released the original Nintendo console in 1985. By 1988, Nintendo made 15 times the industry revenue (in total) of three years prior.
Nintendo continued to lead the way with 75% of the mobile gaming market due to consoles like GameBoy and Nintendo DS. Its exclusive games also sky-rocketed in popularity, with the Mario series selling five times that of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog games. They've also sold more than Call of Duty, Pokemon and Grand Theft Auto combined.
This all led to massive brand awareness for Nintendo, which by the 90s was more recognizable than Mickey Mouse to children in America.
