Super Mario And Friends It’s me, Mario! No, it’s me, Luigi! No, Princess Peach it is! Harhar, Bowser will defeat you all! If these names mean nothing to you, you are probably new to the franchise of Super Mario. In that case, I recommend you to continue reading because it’s time to meet a few…
Forging the Knives that Stab You At the 1991 consumer electronics show, Sony representatives awaited Nintendo’s long rumored partnership to make a CD based add-on to the Super Nintendo. Sony and Nintendo had been working together since 1988 to make it a reality, now it was going to be announced. But, when Nintendo finally announced…
In the last article, we introduced Nintendo and talked about their stranglehold on the gaming market, and how Nintendo’s iron-fisted policies rubbed many developers and distributors the wrong way. We will see how these policies, originally meant to protect Nintendo and the home gaming industry, would go on to nearly topple it. Please note: The…
Passing of a Legend I am still in the middle of writing my series on the history of Japanese games, but today (7/13) the gaming world was sad to hear the passing of a legend. Satoru Iwata (岩田聡) passed away on the 11th of July due to a tumor. Satoru Iwata was the president of…
Last time we left off talking about how Atari ended up destroying the market for games in America, due to a lack of oversight in game quality and publishing too many games. I’m sorry! but our princess is in another castle… After the video game crash of 1983, the home console market in America seemed…
In a series of articles, I would like to dive into one of Japan’s greatest exports; video games. Games have a surprisingly deep history filled with creativity, lies, bravery, back-stabbing, and murder (virtually, at least). Like I said, I want to focus on Japanese game companies leading up to the actual game situation. As such,…
No matter if you are a serious game nerd or have just played Nintendo once or twice: Mario is almost as well known as Disney’s Mickey Mouse. He is the most popular video game character of all times. He is an Italian plumber and therefore he loves pizza. But there are a lot of secret…
Mascots in Japan In Japan, mascots are crucial when it comes to comany’s success. A mascot is like a slogan, it will be remembered and is a representative of the whole company. Where the naked baby doll called ‘kewpie’ is used for Kewpie Corporation, which is a Japanese food manufacturer, especially famous for its mayonnaise,…
When Nintendo released the Game Boy in 1989, no one would have ever believed the impact it would have on the worldwide market. It didn’t only make it practically into every kids playroom, it also became a cultural phenomenon. Some of you might remember it from your own childhood, from older siblings or you might…
