Nintendo Ultra Machine - instructions

The 1967 Nintendo baseball pitching toy Ultra Machine came with a large instruction sheet. This sheet was a fraction smaller than the box, and placed on top of the plastic tray that holds the various parts of the Ultra Machine.

There are (at least) two different versions of this sheet. The oldest one has a nice full-color picture of the Ultra Machine on the front.

Nintendo Ultra Machine instruction sheet - first release (front)

The Japanese katakana name for Ultra Machine is ウルトラ マシン. On the packaging this is writing in a stylized way: somewhat slanted to give the impression of speed and the three short strokes in last two characters (シン) are made to look like flying balls.

The Ultra Machine runs on a single D (UM-1) cell, and the instructions claims that one battery is good for 3200 pitches (「乾電池１本で３２００投球」).

Nintendo Slugger Mate (1967?)

In 1967 Nintendo released the Ultra Machine, one of their successful entries in the toy market in Japan.

At the time Nintendo was still focusing for the most part on their home turf. However, they were trying to get a foot in the door in foreign markets as well. Nintendo first started exporting playing cards, and soon also experimented with the export of some of their toys (see for example the Australian version of the Ultra Hand).

The Ultra Machine was a logical candidate for export, given the huge sales success in Japan and its internationally appealing game theme. The "Ultra" moniker was big in Japan, but not much so outside of it, so a different name was given for the foreign release: Slugger Mate.

The Nintendo Slugger Mate (re-branded Ultra Machine)

For most people outside of japan who came across this toy, it would have been their introduction to the Nintendo name.

1967 - first small steps by Nintendo in becoming a global household name

The box lists "copyright 1967 by Nintendo". This reflects the year of introduction of the Ultra Machine in Japan, however it is unclear if the Slugger Mate was released in the same year or some time thereafter.

Not much is known at this time regarding the geographical spread of this release. They have popped up in Australia and in the US as well, so it is currently believed those were the main areas of sales. The instructions provided with the Slugger Mate are also English only.

The packaging is identical to the home release, except for the name change.

A "made in japan" message was added to the box, possibly to set it apart from (cheaper quality) toys from Hong Kong. At the time, Hong Kong had become of one Japans biggest export rivals for toys and electronics.

The toy itself is identical to the home release, except for the sticker on the front.

Nintendo Slugger Mate (re-branded Ultra Machine)

Judging by the small numbers of Slugger Mate's that have surfaced in collectors' circles, we can safely assume that this international release only generated modest success, at best. It would be until 1980, and a little game called Game & Watch, that the foreign adventures of Nintendo would finally pay off in a big way.