Nintendo Co., Ltd. (任天堂株式会社 Nintendō Kabushiki-gaisha) is a video game console manufacturer and software company. Sega's association with Nintendo goes back to 1976, when Sega introduced Nintendo's Wild Gunman and Shooting Trainer arcade games to North American players.[1] In addition to this, Sega was one of Nintendo's competitors in the home game console market before the discontinuation of the Dreamcast.
History
Founding and early game history
Nintendo was founded as a playing card company by Fusajiro Yamauchi (山内 房治郎 Yamauchi Fusajirō, born November 22, 1859 in Kyoto, Japan, died January 1, 1940) on September 23, 1889. Based in Kyoto, the business produced and marketed Hanafuda cards. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass-produce cards to satisfy demand. Fusajiro departed from the company in 1929, leaving Sekiryo Kaneda (金田 積良 Kaneda Sekiryō, born 1883, died 1949) in charge. Sekiryo was married to Fusajiro's daughter, Tei Yamauchi, and the two had a daughter named Kimi Yamauchi (山内 君 Yamauchi Kimi, died January 20, 1978).[2]
In 1949, the company adopted the name Nintendo Karuta Co., Ltd. (任天堂骨牌株式会社 Nintendō Karuta Kabushiki-gaisha). The company did business as The Nintendo Playing Card Co. outside Japan. Hiroshi Yamauchi (山内 溥 Yamauchi Hiroshi, born November 7, 1927 in Kyoto, Empire of Japan, died September 19, 2013 in Sakyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan) took over the company after his father, Shikanojo Inaba (稲葉 鹿之丞 Inaba Shikanojō), left him and his mother Kimi.
In 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Karuta Co., Ltd. to Nintendo Co., Ltd. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using newly injected capital during the period of time between 1963 and 1966. Nintendo eventually found success in the toy industry starting with the Ultra Hand, which was created by Gunpei Yokoi.
Nintendo's first venture into the video gaming industry was securing rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey video game console in Japan in 1974. Nintendo began to produce its own hardware in 1977, with the Color TV-Game home video game consoles. Four versions of these consoles were produced, each including variations of a single game.
Association with Sega
Arcade titles
In 1975, Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry with EVR Race, designed by Genyo Takeda. Several more games followed, including an official clone of Sega's Head On (1979) arcade game titled Head On N (1979). Several of Sega's arcade games would be ported to Nintendo's consoles by various companies, and Sega would go on to create arcade games with Nintendo's IP.
The Famicom/NES vs. the SG-1000, the Sega Mark III/Master System, and the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis
On July 15, 1983, Nintendo launched the Family Computer (Famicom) game console in Japan, alongside ports of Donkey Kong, Popeye, and Donkey Kong Jr. In 1985, a cosmetically reworked version of the system known outside Japan as the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES, launched in North America. Sega launched three systems to compete with the Famicom/NES - the 8-bit SG-1000 (the same day as the Famicom launch) and Sega Mark III/Master System (on October 20, 1985), and the 16-bit Mega Drive/Sega Genesis (On October 29, 1988). The first two systems were not able to reach the sales the Famicom/NES had, and launch sales of the Mega Drive in Japan were slowed by the release of Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. 3 six days prior.
However, due to Nintendo's slow uptake in the European, Australian and South American markets due to seeing them as low priority regions, Sega managed to gain a foothold in these regions that Nintendo had historically ignored, with the Master System outperforming the NES in these regions and especially in the UK, Spain, Belgium and Australia. The Master System remains the longest running console in the Brazil region, still being sold as of 2024.[3]
The Game Boy vs. the Game Gear
In 1988, Gunpei Yokoi and his team at Nintendo R&D1 conceived the new Game Boy handheld system, with the purpose of merging their Game & Watch system's portability along with the NES's cartridge interchangeability. Nintendo released the Game Boy in Japan on April 21, 1989, and in North America on July 31, 1989. Sega would later release their handheld system, the Game Gear, on October 6, 1990 in Japan and in April 1991 in other countries. While the Game Boy could only display black-and-white images, the Game Gear could display full color images. The Game Gear could not outsell the Game Boy despite this.
The Super Famicom/SNES vs. the Mega Drive/Sega Genesis
In 1989, Nintendo announced plans to release the successor to the Famicom, the Super Famicom. Based on a 16-bit processor, Nintendo boasted significantly superior hardware specifications of graphics, sound, and game speed over the original 8-bit Famicom. The Super Famicom was finally released relatively late to the market in Japan on November 21, 1990, and released as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in North America on August 23, 1991 and in Europe in 1992. Sonic the Hedgehog for the Mega Drive was released in North America two months before the SNES' launch in the country.
Due to this, Sega managed to briefly break the stranglehold Nintendo had on the North American market. Whilst the Genesis could not quite overtake sales of the SNES, it was neck and neck with Sega reporting to have sold just 1 million less units than Nintendo in the region.
Sega managed to remain dominant in the UK thanks to their earlier start with the Master System. The Mega Drive selling 4,000,000 units, whilst the SNES had sold 1,700,000 units by 1994. Both Belgium and Spain where the Master System had sold better than the NES continued to have Sega be the dominant console provider in their regions, but Sega also managed to get a stronger foothold in some other western countries where the Master System had sold less than the NES, namely France, Italy and the Netherlands.[4] Germany was the one European region where the SNES outsold the Mega Drive, although curiously the Sega CD had better sales in the region than anywhere else.
Sega also remained dominant in the Brazilian region, capitalising off the success of the Master System in the region, capturing 75% of the market.
The founding of the ESRB
In September 1994, Nintendo, Sega, Electronic Arts, Atari, Acclaim, Philips, and 3DO approached the United States Senate and demanded a ratings system for video games to be enforced, which prompted the decision to create the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).
Nintendo and Sega at this time had differing views on censorship, with Mortal Kombat being used as a prime example. Whilst the SNES version had been heavily censored, the Mega Drive equivalent had retained much of the violence and censored very little, which in turn improved sales of their version.
In May 1993, British censors banned Night Trap from being sold to children under 15 years old in the United Kingdom. With this being a key region for Sega, it helped influence their decision to create the age system.
The Nintendo 64 vs. the Sega Saturn
In 1996, Nintendo released the Ultra 64 as the Nintendo 64 in Japan and North America. The console was later released in Europe and Australia in 1997. With its market shares slipping to the Sega Saturn and partner-turned-rival Sony's PlayStation, Nintendo revitalized its brand by launching a $185 million marketing campaign centered around the "Play it Loud" slogan. Unfortunately for Sega, their stranglehold in Europe had began to slip away, with the PlayStation soon becoming the dominant console in the regions, something that they would not recover from in the Sixth Generation, as Sony launched the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft entered the console wars with the Xbox.
Nintendo would likewise lose much of their stranglehold with the Nintendo Gamecube's sales dwarved by the mighty PlayStation 2 and even coming third place to Microsoft's Xbox.
Sega games on Nintendo systems
The successor to the Game Boy, the Game Boy Color, was released in 1998. Sega released one title for the system in December 2001; Sakura Taisen GB2: Thunderbolt Sakusen.
On March 21, 2001, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance. Sega's ChuChu Rocket! would be one of the system's launch titles. Other titles would include Game Boy Advance ports and remakes of Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Shining Force, Comix Zone and Virtua Tennis. Alongside these ports and remakes brand new exclusive Sonic the Hedgehog titles were created including Sonic Advance, Sonic Advance 2, Sonic Advance 3, Sonic Battle and Sonic Pinball Party and new entries in Gunstar Heroes and Columns.
The GameCube was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, and Sega's Super Monkey Ball would be one of the system's three launch titles. A port of Crazy Taxi added to the North American GameCube release on November 18, 2001, and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle would be added to the European GameCube release alongside as part of it's launch line up on May 3, 2002. 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker was added as a launch title to the Australian Gamecube launch on May 17, 2002.
Sega continued to support Nintendo during the GameCube era with several exclusives including Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg and Skies of Arcadia Legends. They also provided western gamers with the only online GameCube titles in Phantasy Star Online: Episodes I & II, Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus and Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution. Sega also were heavily involved in the creation of the last entry in Nintendo's F-Zero series, F-Zero GX which would be a collaborative effort between the two companies in 2003.
When Yamauchi retired on May 24, 2002, Satoru Iwata became first Nintendo president who was unrelated to the Yamauchi family through blood or marriage.
In 2003, Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance SP, a redesign of the Game Boy Advance that featured a clamshell design that would later be used in Nintendo's DS and 3DS handheld video game systems. During the DS period Sega continued to support Nintendo creating brand new franchises such as 7th Dragon and Rub Rabbits, home console ports of arcade titles such as Love and Berry and Dinosaur King as well as new entries in Sonic the Hedgehog with Sonic Rush, Sonic Rush Adventure and Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.
On November 19th, 2006 Nintendo launched the Nintendo Wii in Japan. Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz was amongst the launch titles in every region.
On March 28th 2007, Nintendo and Sega held a joint press conference to announce the meeting of their mascots in the first crossover video game; Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. This was at the time thought of as an elaborate early April Fools joke due to the previous hostility between the two companies towards one another's mascots, but private discussions between Shigeru Miyamoto and Yuji Naka had been going on during 2005 as a result of the collaborative work between the two companies on F-Zero GX. Later that year, on October 10, 2007 Sonic the Hedgehog was announced to be coming to Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Sonic has been a staple in the Super Smash Bros. series ever since, and the Mario & Sonic series lasted until 2023 when the Olympic commitee decided to let the contract with Sega and Nintendo lapse in order to pursuit eSports games and NFTs.
The Wii Balance Board launched alongside Wii Fit on December 1st, 2007, acting as a peripheral to help people exercise and stay fit. Sega released three titles that were compatible with it; Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll and Daisy Fuentes Pilates.
On November 18th, 2012 Nintendo launched the Wii U in North America, and later Europe on November 30th 2012 and in Japan on December 8th 2012. The North American and European launch included Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, but Japan would not recieve the title until May 15th, 2014.
The good relationship between Nintendo and Sega continued to grow as Sega granted Nintendo exclusive Sonic the Hedgehog titles, including Sonic Colors, Sonic Lost World(which included special DLC with Nintendo stars Yoshi and Link) and the Sonic Boom spinoff franchise through the Wii and Wii U periods. The low power of the Wii U caused many developmental issues for the team behind Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric who were told very late into development that their game would be a Wii U exclusive, leading to them having to scrap many of the original ideas due to the underpowered engine of the Wii U.
On September 13, 2012, Bayonetta 2 was announced for Wii U as a console exclusive. Whilst this garned backlash from fans on different consoles, it was later revealed that without Nintendo funding the sequel, a second game would not be made. Sega still own the Bayonetta IP, but the series is now published by Nintendo as another joint venture between the two former rival companies. Bayonetta would later be added into Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U as the second Sega character in the series.
Nintendo games on Sega hardware
Nintendo despite it's reputation of having their IPs exclusively on Nintendo consoles, have had some of their products produced on Sega hardware.
In 1999, Print Club Pokémon B was launched. It was a Sega Titan Video arcade booth that was developed by Atlus and manufactured by Sega. The cabinet was a photo booth with a variety of Pokémon themed frames based on the anime, including Ash Ketchum, Tracey Sketchit, Team Rocket and the anime version of Misty.
In 2002, Pokémon: Catch the Numbers! launched on the Sega Pico. This was followed up in 2003 with Pokémon Advanced Generation: I've Begun Hiragana and Katakana! and 2004 with Pokémon Advanced Generation: Pico for Everyone Pokémon Loud Battle!
A 2004 special edition Sega Pico shaped like Pikachu's head known as Pico Pocket Monsters was created to drive up sales.
The Advanced Pico Beena recieved additional Pokémon titles with 2005's Pokémon Advanced Generation: Pokémon Number Battle!, 2006's Intellectual Training Drill Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Letter and Number Intelligence Game, 2009's Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Search for Pokémon! Adventure in the Maze! and 2010's Pokémon Best Wishes: Intelligence Training Pokémon Big Sports Meet!
In 2015, Luigi's Mansion Arcade was launched. Developed by Capcom, the Nintendo Ip cabinet was created using Sega's Sega Nu Board. Sega published the title outside of Japan in the North America and European regions.
In 2022, Sega released Pokémon Corogarena, a medal game that involved moving Pikachu around an island's map like a board game and launching balls in order to catch and fight Pokémon such as Blastoise and Mewtwo.
List of relevant games
- Wild Gunman (1976)
- Shooting Trainer (1976)
- Head On N (1979)
- Print Club Pokémon B (1999)
- Pokémon: Catch the Numbers! (2002)
- F-Zero GX (2003)
- Rhythm Tengoku (2007)
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007)
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (2009)
- Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games (2011)
- Bayonetta 2 (2012)
- Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (2013)
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014)
- Luigi's Mansion Arcade (2015)
- Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (2016)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018)
- Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 (2019)
- Pokémon Corogarena (2022)
References
- ↑ "SEGA Introduces Two New Games" - Cash Box Magazine (4/24/1976)
- ↑ "灰孝本店と任天堂の基礎を築いた山内房治郎（山内一正さん）"
- ↑ Third Generation of Video Games Sales in Western Europe
- ↑ Fourth Generation of Video Game Sales in Western Europe