Nintendo =D

Nintendo turned 25 years old yesterday! OMG! How I was in love with this game console! Let's look back at it's history in the making:

1977: Nintendo, a nearly 100-year-old Japanese playing card manufacturer,
releases its first gaming console in Japan, the Color TV Game
6. The system plays what are essentially six different versions of Pong.
Nintendo will go on to release five version of the console.
July 1981:
Nintendo releases Donkey Kong, marking the debut of a little antagonistic
Italian plumber named "Jumpman."
July 15, 1983: The Famicom is released in
Japan, along with three titles, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and
Popeye.
January 5, 1985: The Famicom--renamed the Nintendo Entertainment
System for an American audience--makes its stateside debut at CES in Las
Vegas.
September 13, 1985: Super Mario Bros. debuts. A sequel of sorts to
1983's vastly different Mario Bros., it becomes the best-selling game of
all-time--a title it will hold onto for more than two decades.

October 18, 1985: The NES debuts to a limited release in New York City. There
are 17 games available at launch--some of which are Famicon titles with an
included adapter. The system runs $129 at launch.
February 1986: The NES gets
wide-scale release in the US. The console ships in two versions--a $129 bundle
featuring Super Mario Bros., and a $249.99 deluxe package featuring an R.O.B.
peripheral, a Zapper, and two games. Nintendo sells one million consoles by the
end of 1986.
July 1, 1987: The Legend of Zelda debuts in the US. The title
offers a save feature built into the cartridge itself.

July/August 1988: Nintendo Power magazine debuts, featuring a preview of
Super Mario Bros. 2 on the cover.
September 4, 1988: Riding high on a
marketing blitz, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show debuts in syndication. The
show is part live-action, part-animation, and all awful.
July 31, 1989:
Nintendo debuts its portable system, the Game Boy. The console ships with Tetris
and sells 40,000 units. It will go on to sell almost 119 million units in its
lifetime.
August 23, 1991: The Super Famicom is rebranded as the Super
Nintendo Entertainment System for its US release. The market is far more crowded
this time around--a number of 16-bit challengers, including the TurboGrafx-16,
and Sega Genesis, have already hit the market. The Super Nintedo runs $199 and
ships with Super Mario World. The console will go on to sell 49 million units in
its lifetime.
September 1, 1992: Super Mario Kart debuts.

August 14, 1995: The Virtual Boy debuts. The 3D handheld is widely considered
the company's first major flop. Only 800,000 units are shipped worldwide. The
product is discontinued the following year.
September 29, 1996: The Nintendo
64 is released in the US. The 64-bit system faces even stiffer competition from
its competitors, including Sony's PlayStation, the Sega Saturn, the Atari
Jaguar, and the 3DO, among others. While Nintendo's market dominance slips
during the fifth generation console wars, the N64 still goes on to sell 32.9
million units before being discontinued in 2002.
November 18,
1998: Having failed to catch fire with iterations like the smaller Game Boy
Pocket and Game Boy Light, Nintendo ups the ante on its portable gaming
offerings with the Gameboy Color. The Game Boy Color features a new line of
titles, while remaining backward compatible with its predecessor.

November 18, 2001: The GameCube debuts in the US. The console is the first
Nintendo system to utilize optical discs for gaming. With competition from the
PlayStation 2, and Microsoft's first-generation console, the Xbox, the GameCube
only goes on to sell 21.7 million units worldwide.
June 11, 2001: The 32-bit
portable Game Boy Advance is released. Much of the system's success comes from
its ability to play popular Super Nintendo ports like Super Mario World. The
console will sell 81.5 million units worldwide, spawning two major iterations:
the Game Boy Advance SP, and Game Boy Micro.
November 21, 2004: After a
decade and a half, Nintendo finally abandons the Game Boy line with the debut of
the DS. The portable console features two LCD screens -- the bottom of which is
touchscreen. Like the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance, the system is
backward compatible. The system, including a slew of different versions like the
DSi, and DS XL, has sold about 132 million to date.

November 19, 2006: Nintendo debuts the Wii. The system features motion
controllers and a slew of innovative games that take advantage of the novel
technology. The console captures the imagination of the game-buying public,
putting Nintendo back on top in its on-going battle against Microsoft and Sony.
As of this summer, Nintendo has sold more than 74 million units
worldwide.
June 15, 2010: Nintendo announces its latest portable gaming
console, the 3DS, touting the device's ability to display 3D images without the
need for special glasses. The device will debut in March of 2011.

That Wii had me feeling like a tennis and boxing champion!