Having just opened up its American branch, Japanese video game manufacturer Nintendo introduces its first arcade game, the virtually-unknown space shooter Radar Scope. The game fails to make a splash, and many of the Radar Scope cabinets in Nintendo’s warehouse are later converted into their next (and far more profitable) game, which involves a plumber saving a woman from a gorilla. 
With one unprofitable flop behind it, the American branch of Nintendo has a lot riding on its second arcade game. Fortunately, it strikes gold with Donkey Kong, the coin-op which launches the careers of both Shigeru Miyamoto and a plumber named Mario (also referred to as “Jumpman”). Nintendo is now in America to stay.
Nintendo follows up on the hugely successful Donkey Kong arcade game with its first sequel, Donkey Kong Junior. Not only does the new game prove that the original’s success wasn’t a fluke, but it gives Mario his name for the first time (well, his first name) and throws in some role reversal, putting the player in the position of having to save Donkey Kong, who was the first game’s nemesis.
In Japan, Nintendo launches the Famicom (Family Computer) home video game system, with a few games available at the product’s launch, all of which are ports of popular Nintendo arcade games. Within months, major technical problems are reported and faulty consoles are returned, and Nintendo discovers that a design flaw is responsible. All Famicom units are recalled and refurbished at the company’s expense. In two years, the console will be launched in North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System, almost single-handedly reviving the video game industry around the world.
Nintendo releases Wrecking Crew for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Possibly the most obscure NES game to feature Mario, this is one of very few Mario games to continue the idea – established in Donkey Kong – that Mario is a construction worker rather than a plumber with super powers.
Nintendo releases the Donkey Kong 3 cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System, based on the company’s own 1983 arcade game.
Nintendo launches a portable video game system with interchangeably cartrdiges, the Game Boy, in North America. Though many industry insiders predict a short life for the handheld game thanks to its ability to quickly drain its batteries and its black & white LCD display, the game included with each Game Boy – the incredibly popular puzzle game Tetris – becomes a selling point in itself. With a price tag of around $100, the entire million-unit allotment of Game Boys shipped to American stores sells out in under two months.
Nintendo releases the Dr. Mario cartridge for the Nintendo Entertainment System, giving everyone’s favorite Mushroom Kingdom plumper a medical degree and pitting him against viruses and germs, Tetris-style.
Nintendo releases the city-building game SimCity for the Super NES, a game developed with MAxis.
Nintendo releases the role-playing game Super Mario RPG for the Super NES, a game developed with Square. With a bare minimum of references to the rest of the Super Mario franchise, this is the first attempt to move Mario into RPG territory.
Nintendo releases Mario Kart: Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance in North America (the game had already been released in Japan a month earlier. The game is essentially a Game Boy Advance port of the smash hit SNES game Super Mario Kart.
More about Mario Kart: Super Circuit in Phosphor Dot Fossils
The video game-inspired album The Mario & Zelda Big Band Live CD is released in Japan, featuring live big band renditions of many of the themes from the Super Mario Bros. and Legend Of Zelda game series.
The president of Nintendo through the latter half of the 20th century, Hiroshi Yamauchi, dies at the age of 85. Having dropped out of college to assume control of Nintendo from his ailiing grandfather in 1949, Yamauchi transformed the company from a maker of playing cards into a power player in the electronic game market, even though Nintendo’s first video game product was a licensed version of the American-made Magnavox Odyssey. Twice, Yamauchi boldly decided to break into the American video game market with no guarantee of success: once with the arcade game Donkey Kong, and again with the launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System, even after a Stateside licensing deal with Atari fell through at the last minute, depriving the NES of Atari’s existing marketing and distribution channels.
Nintendo of Japan CEO Satoru Iwata dies as a result of complications from gall bladder surgery. As the head of game developer HAL Laboratories, Iwata oversaw games in the Kirby, Super Smash Bros. and Pokemon series, until he replaced outgoing Nintendo CEO Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002. His tenure saw the introduction of the Nintendo DS handheld, the Wii console, and the wildly popular Amiibo figurines, as well as unprecedented interaction with fans and customers on the internet.