Long before Nintendo was an internationally known video game developer and publisher, it was a small company that specialized in playing cards. Founded in 1889, Nintendo focused on making Hanafuda card games — a specific Japanese style of card smaller than those found in the western world — until the company began to struggle in the early 1960s. In an effort to keep Nintendo afloat, it diversified its plaything options, branching out into a variety of physical toys and games, most of which were designed by a former factory lineman and maintenance tech, Gunpei Yokoi.
From the 1960s until just before his untimely death in the late 1990s, Gunpei designed and patented dozens of novel toys and games, which ultimately helped save Nintendo from financial collapse. He would eventually make his own video game, Mr. Game and Watch, mastermind the Gameboy, and produce beloved game series like Metroid and Kid Icarus. Over the years, Nintendo has paid homage to the electrical engineer many times. While fans may frequently spot tributes paid to Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s golden child, and his litany of creations, fewer recognize Gunpei and the many other brilliant minds behind Nintendo. This list contains just a few honorable mentions that may have slipped past even the most dedicated gamer.
Hanafuda Card Games (1889 — present)
Nintendo started out as a manufacturer of a specific style of Japanese cards known as Hanafuda. Translated to “flower cards,” the controversial playing cards were a known favorite for gamblers and other miscreants, which led to them being banned for roughly 100 years. They were decriminalized by the Meiji government in 1885, just four years before Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo as a specialty Hanafuda producer. The cards — which were sold in wooden boxes — came with various chips for gambling, were of high quality, and are still absolutely stunning to see.
Nintendo is always careful to honor the contributions that made the company’s success possible, and its Hanafuda roots are no exception. Nintendo’s 2016 limited edition Famicon Mini eluded to its rich history with a message for modders that read, “This is the Hanafuda captain speaking: Launching emulation in 3…2…1. Many efforts, tears, and countless hours have been put into this jewel. So, please keep this place tidied up and don’t break anything.” Even in the present day, the company still manufactures Hanafuda cards, although these are of the company’s most popular characters rather than ornate flowers.
Ultra Hand Toy (1966)
The Ultra Hand toy is the legendary first invention of Gunpei. The odd little contraption is meant to act as an extension of the arm to make the user’s reach longer. Comprised of zigzagging pieces of plastic, the extension comes from squeezing the handles together to force the plastic to straighten. It was sold with a selection of small balls for the player to grasp. The invention marked the beginning of the “Ultra” toys that helped save Nintendo from financial collapse. The now iconic grabber has appeared in several Wario titles, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and can even be seen behind the counter of the bomb shop in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, and most recently, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The Ultra Machine (1967)
The Nintendo Ultra Machine was also a piece of the Ultra toy line. A little more complicated than its predecessor, the Ultra Machine was a simple pitching machine that came with several soft foam balls and a plastic bat. The mini-batting machine has appeared in plenty of games over the years including several of the Wario games, Mario Party 5, Splatoon 2, and Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball.
Love Tester (1969)
One of Gunpei’s later inventions, the Love Tester was designed to test the bond between lovers. Each party would hold a singular metal ball in their hand and the machine would spit out a number between 0 and 100 to score the affection between the pair. The toy was so popular, it made its way outside of Japan and appeared in western countries as a “love/lie detector.” The novelty toy would make its appearance in several Nintendo titles over the years, including WarioWare, Pikmin 2, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and even appears as an Easter egg in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
The Destiny Board Game (1969)
The Destiny Board Game was a game of chance where players used a spinner to try and advance their piece. The spinner had to land on a specific number in order to move, so there may have been some pitfalls included, but the game never left Japanese shores. The game came with a board, some paper money, and pieces. In all honesty, it looks a bit like Hasbro’s The Game of Life. The basis for the board game would return for WarioWare: Get It Together, forcing players to spin the correct number of spaces or risk losing a point.
The Nintendo Light-beam Games (1970-1976)
While light guns are now synonymous with retro gaming, that wasn’t always the case. If it hadn’t been for Nintendo, the now-iconic old-school gaming equipment may never have come to be. Just before Nintendo’s foray into the world of video games, the company was working toward successfully realizing Gunpei’s vision of “Lateral Thinking with Withered Technology,” essentially finding new and invigorating ways to use dated technology. One of these ventures utilized a light gun, similar to that used for Duck Hunt, to shoot light-triggered objects. The dartboards and other targets were certainly not the first of their kind, and while Nintendo didn’t pioneer the technology in video games, the NES Zapper is one of the most recognizable pieces of video game history. It has been featured in several titles over the years, inspiring weapon designs for Splatoon, as well as sharing its base design with the Nintendo Wii, which improved on the basic idea.
Game and Watch LED Handhelds (1980-1991)
Mr. Game and Watch made his debut in the 1980s and marked Nintendo’s first exploration into the world of mobile video games. Game & Watch was developed by Gunpei after the 1973 oil crisis when plastic costs skyrocketed and was originally created for the standalone game, called Ball (1980).
The idea was allegedly sparked when Gunpei watched a bored morning commuter amusing himself by mashing the buttons on his calculator. The simple handheld came preloaded with several games centered around everyday tasks and was also equipped with a watch, hence the name “game and watch.”
The game proved to be incredibly popular, and Nintendo would go on to make a dozen different versions of the LED handhelds. Each handheld was equipped with different games, and eventually, Nintendo expanded the endeavor to include both a Mario and a Donkey Kong version. The LED was the spiritual predecessor of the Gameboy, which would drop nearly a decade after the little handhelds saturated the market. Mr. Game and Watch has appeared in many, many titles over the years, usually tucked in the background. With his appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series, he is much more recognizable now than he was in the late ’90s, even landing a cameo in the trailers for The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).
Ten Billion Barrel or The Nintendo Tumbler (1980)
Another one of Gunpei’s brainchildren, though this one wouldn’t release until the 1980s, one year after the company branched into the video game market. This handheld toy is like a vertically sliced Rubik’s Cube. The Nintendo Tumbler is a barrel-shaped container consisting of several layers. Each level has small gaps dotted around the cylinder and several different colored balls. The objective is to sort each color into a layer until each level has only one color. The gadget has appeared in several titles over the years, including Metroid Prime, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.
R.O.B. (1985-1986)
Just like Mr. Game and Watch, many Nintendo fans have probably heard of the next contender. The Robotic Operational Buddy, aka R.O.B., was released just after the video game crash in 1985. Companies were leery of stocking the merchandise from the “unreliable fad.” Consoles of the time were unpredictable, built poorly, and fading out of favor for personal computers, and Nintendo wanted to show retailers — as well as customers — that the company meant business. To encourage retailers to carry their products, Nintendo created R.O.B. as a sort of console companion. The robot required no small amount of assembling, but when it was constructed, it could read commands from the television screen and came with several gimmicky games that revolved around using the console to command the robot.
The consensus was that building R.O.B. himself was fun, but the games he came with, not so much. In the end, he did exactly what he was meant to and helped convince retailers that Nintendo was a console they could count on to sell. Over the years, R.O.B. has been paid homage by a plethora of games ranging from the Super Smash Bros. series to Mario Kart. The little robot is even the mascot for the TASBot, a program crafted for video game speedrunners.
The Virtual Boy (1995)
Nothing says controversy like the Virtual Boy. The final piece of Gunpei’s legacy at Nintendo and his only commercial failure, the Virtual Boy was Nintendo’s first foray into the world of VR — and the first console with VR-like technology released to the public. Unsurprisingly, 32-bit VR was a major headache for most players, and Nintendo rushed the console’s release to allocate resources for the Nintendo 64, the only console Nintendo poster child Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, and Legend of Zelda, wanted to produce for. Though it was ahead of its time, the Virtual Boy sold less than 1 million units, and it was rumored that its abysmal sales led to Nintendo severing ties with Gunpei. Despite the bad blood surrounding the product, Nintendo has paid homage to the Virtual Boy several times over the years. Its likeness can be found in Luigi’s Mansion 3, Tomodachi Life, Super Paper Mario, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and of course, WarioWare, Inc.