Nintendo board games - part 1 (任天堂のボードゲーム, 1966)

When Nintendo started expanding their product catalogue from cards to other games in the first half of the 1960s, they initially focussed primarily on traditional parlor games (like go, shogi, chess and checkers) and other board games.

Although Nintendo soon also started releasing all sorts of toys (including the Coaster Games, the Ultra Hand and the Ultra Machine), board games remained an important part of Nintendo's product offering until around the mid 1970s.

Nintendo UltraQ game (ca 1966)

In this period of about ten years, spanning from 1965 to 1975, Nintendo produced at least fifty different board games. Many of these featured licensed characters, in particular from the Disney Studios and the Japanese figures popular at the time.

Today we will start an exploration of all Nintendo's board games with five games based on Japanese manga/anime/tv series that were popular around 1966.

Nintendo Sheriff (シェリフ, 1979)

Nintendo Sheriff is a western themed arcade game from 1979, which owes more to Space Invaders than you might think after a casual glance.

Nintendo Sheriff (1979)

The Wild West is a longtime arcade favorite, starting with Taito's famous 1975 Gun Fight (called Western Gun in Japan) - the first video game to feature cowboys.