Super Nintendo
The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
An exuberant, behind-the-scenes look at the designers and the company that brought us Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, and so much more, illuminating Nintendo's singular ethos, its massive cultural impact, and the innovative solutions behind its creative triumphs
“Comprehensive but never too dense, informative but approachable, and packed with an unwavering passion for Nintendo that I'd wager even the company's biggest detractors would find infectious. In short, if you want to learn about Nintendo, this is the book to do it.” —Jim Norman, Nintendo Life
What magical mushroom could have turned an unassuming playing card company into one of the dominant cultural forces of the twenty-first century?
In Super Nintendo, lifelong gamer and a renowned video games journalist Keza MacDonald traces Nintendo back to its quirky beginnings in 1889. Leaping from game to game, she tells the remarkable story of the people who brought us Super Mario Bros., Zelda, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and more—not to mention the SNES, N64, Game Boy, Wii, Switch, and a host of other wacky gizmos—and charts the delights they’ve offered over the decades.
MacDonald draws on private interviews with icons like Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, who continues to leave his stamp on the company, and takes readers on a trip to the secretive Nintendo HQ—making her one of the few Western journalists to have set foot inside the building. Along the way, she provides a close-up look at the company's willingness to take risks and place long-term success over short-term profits.
A carousel of wonders, Super Nintendo whisks you back to the couch in the den, a controller in your hands for the very first time, staring up at a screen of infinite possibilities.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The story of Nintendo... is the story of video games as a whole," asserts journalist MacDonald (You Died) in this entertaining history of the Japanese gaming company. Founder Fusajiro Yamauchi started Nintendo in the 1890s to sell illustrated handmade playing cards known as hanafuda. Decades later, the company brought on engineer Gunpei Yokoi, who created one of Nintendo's first successful toys, an extendable plastic gripper known as the Ultra Hand. Nintendo's first gaming console, the Color TV-Game 6, entered the market in 1977 and hit games, like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon, launched the company into global prominence. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata saw games not just as a form of entertainment, MacDonald explains, but as a way of improving quality of life. She chronicles how the company helped popularize handheld gaming with the creation of the Game Boy in 1989 and innovated touch-screen controls, as seen on the Nintendo DS, before smartphones were commonplace. MacDonald writes with a gamer's keen eye for the intricacies of play and a thoughtful appreciation for Nintendo's commitment to innovate and have fun. This is a must-read for gamers.
