Things You Didn’t Know About Nintendo

There are lots of things about the largest video game console maker that most people aren’t aware of.  If you’re a Nintendo fan, then you’ll love these little interesting tidbits about the company and its games.

“Nin Ten Do” translated from Japanese into English means “We do all that we can, the best that we can, and then await the results”.  Roughly translated means “Excellence”.  Some have said that it means “leave luck to heaven”, but that is false.  This is the official answer and comes directly from Nintendo.

Nintendo of America’s main campus is only a few blocks away from Microsoft.  Microsoft buildings are all over Redmond, WA, and a few of the buildings are only a few blocks away.  The main Microsoft campus is about a mile away.

The day after Christmas is Nintendo of America’s biggest call center day.  Nintendo hires hundreds of temporary workers, spends weeks of training, and spends tens of thousands of dollars training people just to support customers for that single day.

There’s lots more Nintendo trivia on the next page…

Mario games outsell all franchises by Sonic, Halo, Mortal Kombat combined.  The same is true for for Pokémon and Zelda.

If Mario were a real person and if everything were scaled to the real world, then Mario’s jump would clear 27 feet.

Nintendo originally started as a card playing company.

Mario has appeared in 236 different video games and has 31 different power ups

Still more amazing trivia.  Did we mention PORN?

The Nintendo Wii is the best selling console of all time.  That’s a really weird fact since Nintendo started developing its next-generation console (the Wii-U) ahead of its competitors.  Console manufacturers only start a new product cycle when sales start to fall.

Nintendo officially does not do public tours of their campus.  If you do get a private invite, then you can purchase some sweet things at their corporate store in the main building.

There are porn games for Nintendo systems.

Nintendo makes 1.2 million dollars per employee.

Donkey Kong was originally called “Monkey Kong” but was mistranslated.

Nintendo does not publicly trade on the New York Stock Exchange.  If you want a share of Nintendo stock, then you must buy a sponsored share in Japan, which is worth 1/8th the cost of a normal share.

Adjusted for inflation, the original NES would cost $420 today.  The SNES would be a steal in comparison, costing just over $300.

Ever wonder where Mario came from?  We tell you on the next page…

Mario was originally created because his Italian features (big nose and cartoonish mustache) would show up using the small number of large pixels in Donkey Kong.

There are two public walk-in repair facilities in the Untied States.  If you live near Cupertino, CA or Syracuse, NY then you’re in luck and can get it repaired the next day.  Everyone else has to mail their systems in, and it will take 2-3 weeks.  The turnaround time in Canada can take 4-6 weeks or longer.

  

Games and apps downloaded from Nintendo’s online store are tied to that console’s serial number.  If you  buy a replacement or sell your old one, then you lose all the downloaded games with it.  Nintendo is changing this policy beginning with the 3DS and Wii, as you will be able to transfer your Wii content to the Wii-U and you can transfer DSi content to the 3DS.

Most of your money goes to Japan.  Nearly all research and development takes place in Kyoto, Japan.  Nintendo of America mostly does marketing, testing, and distribution.

The lunchroom in the Nintendo corporate building is called Café Mario.

Instead of classic Men and Women symbols for bathrooms, Nintendo of America’s bathrooms feature the profiles of Luigi and Princess Peach.

Nintendo’s corporate office has D-pad shaped couches. 

The roof of the main corporate building is transformed into a Japanese garden, and even has wooden decks leading out to them.  The rest of the penthouse area houses very lavish and open conference rooms.

Worldwide, Mario is more recognizable to the average person than Mickey Mouse.