# Nintendo Nintendo is a Japanese video game company founded in 1889 as a hanafuda playing card manufacturer that later built the industry-defining consoles and characters powering decades of gaming memes. From Mario and Zelda in-jokes to the running Switch reveal spectacle in 2016, the company became one of the most memed brands on the internet. ## Origin Nintendo was founded in late 1889 by Japanese entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi as a hanafuda playing card company in Kyoto[1]. In 1956, Yamauchi's grandson Hiroshi obtained licenses to print Disney characters on Nintendo playing cards, an early hint that licensed IP would define the company later[1]. Through the 1960s Nintendo tried taxi services, love hotels, a TV network, and instant rice before dropping most of it in 1973 to focus on its Laser Clay Shooting System entertainment devices[1]. The pivot to video games came in 1974 when Nintendo picked up the rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan, followed in 1977 by its own Color TV-Game consoles[1]. The Famicom launched in Japan in 1983 and arrived in North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, kicking off the Mario-and-Zelda dynasty that later drove most of Nintendo's meme presence online[1]. - **Platform:** Kyoto, Japan (company founding) / YouTube and forums (viral spread) - **Creator:** Fusajiro Yamauchi - **Date:** 1889 ## Overview Nintendo is the Japanese video game maker whose consoles, characters, and marketing choices supply an endless pool of meme material, from Mario reaction images to the recurring 'Nintendo is doomed' joke that resurfaces every time a console underperforms[6]. The company started life in 1889 selling hanafuda cards in Kyoto and only pivoted into electronic toys and video games decades later, which makes the modern gaming brand a curious descendant of a Meiji-era paper goods shop[1]. As a meme subject, Nintendo works on two levels. There is the earnest fan level, where Mario, Kirby, and Link are used as shorthand for 'wholesome' gaming in arguments with Xbox and PlayStation fans[5]. Then there is the ironic level, where every unusual company decision, like skipping a full E3 press conference in 2013 or unveiling a hybrid console with detachable controllers in 2016, gets picked apart, remixed, and turned into reaction fodder within hours[2][4]. ## How It Spread Nintendo's meme footprint grew alongside its hardware. The Game Boy in 1988, the Super Nintendo in North America in 1991, the Nintendo 64 in 1996, and the Wii in 2006 each seeded their own fandom in-jokes and reaction images that later flooded early meme sites[1]. By the Wii U era, though, jokes stopped being celebratory and started leaning cynical, with the console's weak sales fueling a running gag that Nintendo was permanently 'doomed'[5]. A specific pivot moment came in April 2013, when The Verge reported that Nintendo would skip its traditional pre-E3 press conference entirely and instead run smaller private events plus its own Nintendo Direct broadcasts[2]. Polygon covered the follow-up in June 2013, when Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime confirmed the company would rely on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter to distribute E3 announcements[3]. Fans reacted with a wave of Nintendo Direct parody content, and by 2015 Kotaku was covering fan-run fake E3 leak generators like the Nintendo Digital Event page at tane.us that spat out joke titles such as 'Star Fox Colon' and 'TLOZ: Mountain of Poultry'[4]. The biggest single meme moment for Nintendo as a brand came on October 20, 2016, when the company revealed the Nintendo Switch, previously known internally as the NX, in a three-minute trailer[7]. Coverage in The Verge described the hybrid tablet-and-dock design plus the detachable Joy-Con controllers, and the reveal video, hosted on YouTube, became the launchpad for months of remixes, parodies, and screenshot reaction jokes[7]. ## How to Use Nintendo as a meme reference typically shows up in a few common formats. One is the console war reaction image, where a Mario, Link, or Kirby screenshot is used as a smug or defensive reply to Xbox or PlayStation fans[5]. Another is the 'Nintendo is doomed' joke, often deployed sarcastically when the company posts strong financial results despite years of predictions that it was finished[6]. A third is Nintendo Direct parody content, where users mock the highly produced format of the company's own broadcasts by faking absurd game announcements, a pattern popularized by generators like the Nintendo Digital Event site[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Nintendo? Nintendo is a Japanese video game company founded in 1889 as a hanafuda playing card maker that later pivoted to consoles like the NES, Wii U, and Switch, and to franchises like Super Mario[1]. ### Where did Nintendo come from? The company was founded in Kyoto, Japan in late 1889 by entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi as a playing card manufacturer[1]. ### What does Nintendo mean as a meme? Online, Nintendo works as shorthand for 'wholesome' gaming when fans push back against Xbox and PlayStation, and as ironic material for jokes about the company being 'doomed' despite consistent profits[5][6]. ### How do you use Nintendo in a meme? Common uses include Mario or Zelda reaction images in console war arguments, sarcastic 'Nintendo is doomed' replies to good financial news, and fake Nintendo Direct announcements made with joke generators[4][6]. ### Is Nintendo still popular as a meme reference? Yes. Coverage from major outlets like The Verge and Polygon around events like the 2013 E3 skip and the 2016 Switch reveal kept Nintendo a steady meme source across gaming communities[2][3][7]. ### When did Nintendo start making video games? Nintendo entered the video game market in 1974 by distributing the Magnavox Odyssey in Japan and released its own Color TV-Game consoles in 1977[1]. ### Why do people say 'Nintendo is doomed'? The joke plays off a long-running pattern of critics predicting Nintendo's collapse even as it makes hundreds of millions of dollars, a gag documented in fan definitions of the company[6]. ### What was the Nintendo Switch reveal? On October 20, 2016, Nintendo revealed the Switch, previously known as the NX, in a three-minute trailer showing a hybrid tablet-and-dock console with detachable Joy-Con controllers powered by a custom Nvidia Tegra processor[7]. ### Why did Nintendo skip E3 press conferences? In April 2013, The Verge reported Nintendo would replace its big E3 press conference with smaller private events and Nintendo Direct broadcasts, a move Polygon covered again in June 2013[2][3]. ### What are fake Nintendo Direct leaks? Fans built generators like the Nintendo Digital Event page at tane.us that produce absurd fake game titles such as 'Star Fox Colon' and 'TLOZ: Mountain of Poultry', a trend Kotaku wrote up in 2015[4]. ## References 1. [https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/20/13345120/nintendo-switch-nx-console-everything-we-know]() 2. [https://www.theverge.com/2013/4/24/4263810/no-nintendo-e3-press-conference]() 3. [https://www.polygon.com/2013/6/7/4405404/nintendo-turns-to-facebook-youtube-and-twitter-as-alternative-to-e3]() 4. [https://kotaku.com/fake-nintendo-e3-leak-generator-reveals-zelda-mountain-1709635804]() 5. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Nintendo]() 6. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Nintendo]() 7. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwwjcfgTksU]() 8. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sites/nintendo]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/nintendo Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library