IT PRINTS MONEY!!! — Comic parody with Reggie Fils-Aimé, Miyamoto and Iwata using Nintendo DS to print money

IT PRINTS MONEY!!!

2005catchphraseclassic

Published September 2, 2026

The Nintendo DS catchphrase started as a punchline in a mid-2000s Flash cartoon that piled on absurd features the handheld supposedly had, ending with the line 'IT EVEN PRINTS MONEY.' It stuck as a shorthand for hype so overblown it loops back around into sincere admiration for a product raking in cash.

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Overview

The catchphrase 'IT PRINTS MONEY!!!' attached itself to the Nintendo DS through image macros and GIFs, often paired with photos of Nintendo executives grinning at press events1. The format works because the DS actually did dominate handheld sales after its 2004 launch, so the joke sits in the sweet spot between mockery and sincere awe at how much cash the console was pulling in3.

Later posts stretched the line beyond gaming and applied it to anything absurdly profitable3. The core template stayed the same: an over-the-top list of a product's features, capped by the all-caps punchline that treats money-printing as just another spec on the sheet4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Newgrounds (Flash cartoon) / YouTube (viral spread)
Creator
Super Flash Bros
Date
2005

The phrase started in the Flash cartoon 'The Decline of Gaming 2' by the Super Flash Bros, hosted on Newgrounds2. In one segment mocking the DS reveal, the animation piled on ridiculous features the handheld supposedly had, two screens, a backlight, a mirror, a camera, a tanning booth, and finally, 'IT EVEN PRINTS MONEY'4. The bit targeted the dual-screen gimmick that ran through Nintendo's early DS marketing2.

How It Spread

The line drifted around gaming forums for years before reaching a wider audience. On April 12, 2009, the Machinima show 'Inside Gaming' featured the clip during its 'flame wars' segment, giving it a fresh push on YouTube1. From there the phrase moved into image macros paired with photos of Satoru Iwata and other Nintendo executives4.

Gaming blogs like Joystiq riffed on the concept in posts about the DS's runaway commercial success3. Over time the catchphrase detached from the Super Flash Bros clip entirely and showed up in reaction images any time a company was seen as printing cash without effort4.

How to Use This Meme

The catchphrase is typically deployed in all caps, often with multiple exclamation points, over an image of a smug executive or a wildly successful product. A common convention pairs it with Nintendo brass, but posters also swap in any company or item that appears to be a cash machine.

Frequently Asked Questions