Another beautiful Nintendo company guide

Last month I showed some pictures of the 2014 edition of the Nintendo company guide. This guide is provided to new and prospective employees. It shows the company's history and basic corporate information, and also gives a flavor of what it is like to work for Nintendo.

Nintendo company guides from 2013 and 2014

Each year, the guide is not only brought up to date, but also completely redesigned, usually around a theme. Over the years, the design has become more and more elaborate. These guides are little pieces of art, that contain behind the scenes material you do not see very often.

Recently, the edition of last year fell into my lap. This 2013 version is once again so nicely made, that I will show quite a bit of it in this post. I am sure you will enjoy this little peak behind the curtain of the wizards from Kyoto.

The somewhat surprising theme of the 2013 guide is vegetables. The front of the booklet is designed to look like the side of a cardboard box that can hold various sorts of produce. There is even a cutout in the shape of a handle.

The four kanji on the front (京都特産) stand for 'Kyoto speciality', referring to Nintendo's output as a regionally grown delicacy. Quite fitting, actually.

The booklet is 64 pages long. It starts with some pictures of vegetables and agricultural landscapes mixed with Nintendo characters and products.

"O brother, where art thou?"

The next section of the booklet shows Nintendo design and programming teams working on various recent games, like Animal Crossing New Leaf (called Tobidase Doubutsu no mori in Japan), New Super Mario Bros. 2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii U and Nintendoland.

These pages contain all sorts of sketches and art work in various stages of the design process.

Another section shows the hardware teams working on the Nintendo 3DS LL (in the West known as the 3DS XL) and the Wii U.

The second part of the booklet contains company background information.

Although less color-full than the first part of the booklet, it is interesting nonetheless, with details regarding the company's locations, organization, finances and history.

The years 2008-2010 were killer years, thanks to the Wii and DS

The company section of the guide also includes profiles of the typical job vacancies in the various departments. Remember that the target audience of the guide is people looking to be hired by Nintendo.

But the best part of the booklet is saved for last.

This image may look familiar. At least, if you are a Nintendo fan, it should be familiar.

The final section of the booklet has gatefold pages, the outside of which are made to look like Nintendo's HQ in Kyoto. [For an image of this office, see eight pictures up.]

The insides of these pages provide a glimpse of what lies behind these well guarded windows. A unique view that is normally off limits, unless you have a company badge.

When we peek over these paper walls, we witness a visual explosion of Nintendo staff and stuff.

Spread over four pages, a mosaic is presented that is made up of 252 pictures, all taken around the Nintendo offices.

I expect you will want to gaze at all of them. I sure did.

These really feel like a secret private tour of the building.

There is a lot to discover. New things as well as things from the past.

What's are favorite things you have spotted in these pictures? Please let me know in the comments below.

After straining our eyes with all those great but tiny pictures, the booklet closes with Luigi on the back. One wonders if he never gets tired of playing second fiddle. Even in the 2013 edition - "The Year of Luigi" no less, commemorating his thirtieth anniversary - he still has to yield to Mario for the front cover.

Anyway, hope you liked the tour through this guide as much as I did.

Check out these posts for an extensive tour around the 2011, 2012 and 2014 editions.