Former Nintendo HQ opens as Marufukuro hotel (and beforemario is present, in book form)

A few months ago, on April 1st 2022 to be exact, the former headquarters of Nintendo at Shomen-Dori in Kyoto opened as the Marufukuro Hotel, after extensive restoration and remodelling.

Recently, there was a nice surprise for me personally, which I will keep for the end of this post.

This building has played an important part in Nintendo's history. Although it wasn't the first building occupied by Nintendo, it is located on the spot where the company started, and served as headquarters for around a quarter of a century; from the moment it was erected in 1933 to the late 1950s. It also was the home for the Yamauchi family during this period.

The building was modern for its time, well designed and crafty built, with many nice details; signalling a company on the rise. It was commissioned by Sekiryo Yamauchi, Nintendo's second president. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Sekiryo's very successful successor and third president, also conduced his business from here during the first ten years of his reign.

The Marufukuro Hotel in 2022

After Nintendo's center of power moved to newer offices in other areas of Kyoto, and the building was no longer used in any form in the company's daily operation, it was kept more or less in the state from its period of prominence.

During the last twenty years or so, it become a spot to visit, a place of pilgrimage of sorts, for Nintendo enthusiasts from across the world.

Back in 2015 I took a picture there with my just released Before Mario book, in front of the door that remained largely closed for decades. [More on that visit here.]

At the former Nintendo HQ in 2015

When comparing the current 2022 version of the building with its former state, a few things stand out.

Two large circular 'Marufuku' logos have been placed on the top of the front and side facade. Although they look like they have been there from the start, they are new additions. A clock was added above the front door, and sun screens above the windows.

At the former Nintendo HQ in 2015

The middle section has been build more high up. Originally this only contained some smaller, single-story rooms and a court yard.

At the former Nintendo HQ in 2015

Most prominently, a whole section was added to the left of the building. Originally housing a wooden structure from the early days of the company, this had remained a vacant lot since that structure was torn down around 2004.

At the former Nintendo HQ in 2015, the missing original building

Fast forward to 2022, where we find the building looking splendid. The old exterior has been cleaned and the building is extended with tastefully designed additions.

The biggest change, of course, is that the front door is now open. At least, open to all who book a room for the night.

beforemario at Gamescom 2015 - part 2

In the first part of my Gamescom 2015 report I covered the preparations leading up to the event.

In today's post I will take you on a tour of the beforemario exhibition that was part of this huge five-day video gaming show that took place in August of this year.

I was assigned a nice area with ten glass cabinets, in the middle of the retro game section just behind the stage.

The area was open on both sides, allowing visitors to flow through.

Even though this was considerable space, it would be impossible to display my entire collection here, so I had to make a selection.

Gunpei Yokoi's final two games

Gunpei Yokoi (横井軍平), Nintendo's legendary inventor and yearslong head of its R&D department, suffered a tragic death in a roadside accident on the 4th of October 1997, aged only 56.

One month earlier, his just established company Koto Laboratory released two products, that would turn out to be Yokoi's final two games.

Keychain games designed by Yokoi's Koto Laboratory

Yokoi worked at Nintendo for over thirty years, and played a pivotal role in the company's evolution from a relatively small manufacturer of playing cards to a global player in the world of electronic entertainment. The list of inventions that bear his name is beyond impressive and includes the Ultra Hand, Ultra Machine, Love Tester, Kousenjuu SP light gun series, Ultra Scope, Light Telephone, Eleconga, Ten Billion, Game & Watch, Game Boy, Virtual Boy and more.

As a result of Nintendo's prosperity, to which Yokoi himself had greatly contributed, the company's staff size had grown considerably and Yokoi's role had gradually become more managerial. He increasingly longed for the early days when most of his time was spent working hands-on on new ideas and inventions, and started dreaming about forming his own small ideas company that would allow him to do just that.

In August of 1996 Yokoi retired from Nintendo, after completing the design of the GameBoy Pocket, and founded Koto Laboratory in September of the same year. Like Nintendo, it was based in Yokoi's hometown Kyoto.

Inside Koto Laboratory in 1999
(Photos taken from The WonderSwan magazine vol 1, copyright Soft Bank)

The small team that Yokoi assembled at Koto started working on a number of projects, including an assignment from toy giant Bandai. Bandai had asked Koto to develop a competitor to the Game Boy, one of Yokoi's most successful creations during his time at Nintendo.

The Koto team also returned to another area were Yokoi had put a big stamp on in the past: LCD games. The heydays of the Game & Watch games were long over in 1996, but there still was a market for affordable, portable electronic games.

Koto's first products, a couple of keychain LCD games, were released in Japan by Hiro Company in September of 1997, one year after Koto had started.

Nintendo Companion (トランシーバー コンパニオン, ca 1965)

The early days of Nintendo's toys and games are gradually being documented, thanks to the efforts of a handful of researchers, writers and collectors. But there is still plenty of ground to cover, stories to be told and inventions to be shared.

Every now and then a 'new' old toy pops up that is relatively unknown. The subject of this blog post is one the most obscure toys from this era. Beside being very rare, it is also an important piece in the history for the company, as it marks a number of firsts: Nintendo's first electronic toy and their first cooperation with Sharp.

The item we are talking about is the Nintendo Companion (コンパニオン). It is a toy walkie-talkie set, dating from around the end of 1965, possibly early 1966.

Was the Nintendo Light Telephone inspired by the Astro-Phone?

The Nintendo Light Telephone is one of the vintage toys that, to me, embodies the spirit of Nintendo in the 1970s: a great mix of engineering, creativity and drive to stand out from the competition through novel ideas.

Nintendo Light Telephone (1971)

Now, it has recently been brought to my attention that ten years before Nintendo released the Light Telephone in the Japanese market, a similar toy already existed in the United States.

It is called the Astro-Phone and was released by American company Infrared Industries, Inc in 1961.

Nintendo Copilas - part 2 (コピラス, 1971)

The Nintendo Copilas (コピラス) was a revolutionary budget-price photocopy machine, released by Nintendo in 1971. After the introduction in a previous post, it is now time to take a look at how this wonderful machine actually works.

Nintendo Copilas (1971)

The Copilas runs on mains power, which is 100 volts in Japan.

top view

But before we watch it in action, let's first take a closer look.

Nintendo Copilas (コピラス, 1971)

Regular readers of this blog will be familiar with Nintendo's explosion of ideas in the early 1970s. Besides an array of toys and games (like the Light Telephone and Ultra Scope), there were attempt to make it in the world of kitchen appliances (Candy Machine candy floss maker), baby products (Mamaberica stroller and Twins seesaw) and musical instruments (Ele-conga electronic bongo).

Yet another product category which Nintendo entered during this period (and soon would leave again) was that of office machines.

Like many of Nintendo's other endeavours from around this time, it only led to a single product. In this case it was a photo copier (複写機), called the Nintendo Copilas (コピラス), which was released in 1971.

Still, it seems that Nintendo had great plans for this market, or at least wanted to give the impression that they meant serious business, as the product was provided by the Nintendo Office Equipement Division (任天堂 事務機事業部).

Meet the collectors - #1 - Simon Sharratt

Today we are starting a new series of posts here on beforemario. There is a growing number of fellow collectors of Nintendo toys and games out there, and I thought it would be cool to get to know some of them, and to take a look at their collections.

Part of Simon's Nintendo collection

We kick-off by travelling down-under, where we meet Australian collector Simon Sharratt. He will introduce himself, and guide us through his quite impressive collection.

A moment of reflection, while we hit 50k views

When I started this blog, I did not image it would attract a lot of visitors. I hoped it would reach fellow enthusiasts, but did not expect there would be many out there.

Although Nintendo is a popular brand, there are zillions of sites and blogs already dedicated to it. I believed the particular angle I choose (toys and games from 1965-1983) would be of limited interest in this videogame day and age.

We passed the 50,000 blog view mark today!

However, 7 months and 43 posts later, the page counter passed the 50,000 views mark. Surpassing my expectations by far!

beforemario on Kotaku

From the start there has been a steady increase in the number of readers. After beforemario was featured on Kotaku some time ago, this increased even more.

The post on the Nintendo Light Telephone also proved very popular. It was reposted on many sites, including retrothing.com and sites from Germany (here and here), Spain (here) and Russia (here).

beforemario on computerra.ru

The blog draws a diverse readership from all corners of the world. To all of you I would like to say: thanks for reading!

I would also love to hear your feedback about the blog so far. What do you like, what can be improved. What's your favorite bit and what are you missing? Do you read it occasionally, or religiously?

So, what do you think? Please post your comments below. Thanks!

Nintendo Light Telephone (オプトエレクトロニクス 光線電話LT, 1971)

The Light Telephone must be one of the most unorthodox of Gunpei Yokoi’s ideas to make it into production (the Chiritori toy vacuum cleaner being another candidate for that title). Like the Kousenjuu light gun series, it demonstrates very creative use of light sensors.

Nintendo Light Telephone (1971)

The Light Telephone's full name is Opto-electronics Light Beam Telephone LT (オプトエレクトロニクス 光線電話LT). The "LT" (obviously) being shorthand for "Light Telephone". The kanji "光線電話" reads as "kōsen denwa".

So, if you are in a vintage toy store in Japan, ask for "oputoerekutoronikusu kōsen denwa eru ti". Chances that they will have one will be slim though, as it is pretty rare these days.

Using visible light to transport sound is immediately intriguing. However, the principal used is not novel. In fact, around ninety years earlier, Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter first invented it, and called it the Photophone. With his invention, Bell created the first wireless communication.

Ten years before the release of Nintendo's Light Telephone, an American company called Infrared Industries, Inc already produced a toy based on this technology. It was called the Astro-Phone.

Astro-Phone by Infrared Industries, Inc (1961) [image by Eric Wrobbel]

The full name of this futuristic item from 1961 - labelled as "From the frontiers of science" and "Like Magic" - was Infrared Astro-Phone. It uses a regular flash-light bulb, together with a filter to block all but infrared light. This way, communication happened through intra-red light, invisible for the human eye.

The Astro-Phone had a great design [image by Eric Wrobbel]

But back to the Nintendo Light Telephone.

The sound picked up by the microphone of the Light Telephone is coded into the transmitted light, decoded again by the receiving party’s Light Telephone using a light-dependent resistor (LRD), and played over the headphone. This creates, in effect, a two-way walkie talkie without the use of radio waves.

Looking at the box art, it was pitched more as a novelty item for adults than a children's toy.

Released in 1971 with a price tag of ¥9,800, it was quite expensive and beyond the pocket money league.

The Light Telephone box is big: 55 by 38 centimeters and 13 centimeters high. All items are packed in a two-piece polystyrene foam shell with a cardboard top cover.

The set contains two 'Light Telephones', consisting of a headphone and a hand-piece with a light source, light detector and a microphone. The hand-piece design is a cross between a torch light and an 8mm film camera.

Light Telephone manual front page

Additional accessories included are two plastic "filter-caps" (フイルターキャップ) that limit side-light, and two plastic "attachment hoods" (アタッチメントフード) that further block (sun)light intervening with the reception.

Light Telephone with filter-cap attached

The instruction are fairly simple: both users plug their respective headphones in the hand-piece and aim at each other to make contact. You can speak simultaneously.

The manual explains how the Light Telephone can be used through windows and via mirrors. It can also double as a regular torch (not sure if the rabbit caught in action in the instruction below appreciates this, though).

On the right-side of the Light Telephone's hand-piece a telescope is mounted, which allows the users to take precise aim at each-other, which is necessary for the best reception (well, necessary for any reception for that matter).

A hand-strap is also available, which gives extra grip when handing the heavy (1.3 kilogram!) hand-piece.

Overall, the Light Telephone is very sturdy build, from high quality, durable plastic. A great looking metal embossed name plate is attached to its body.

The "LT" logo and Nintendo branding are added to the filter-cap.

When we take the filter-cap off, we see the plastic lens which is placed in front of the light sensor to focus the incoming light.

A detailed instruction manual is included with the Light Telephone.

Light Telephone manual

On the left-side of the Light Telephone, we see the on/off switch, the battery door and two sockets for the headphone (left) and one for an external microphone (right).

An external microphone is not really needed, as a microphone is integrated in the back of the hand-piece.

The bottom black circle is the exterior of the integrated microphone

A copyright notice (1971) is embossed on the body of the Light Telephone.

The weight of the Light Telephone is for a great part caused by the batteries. This power hungry beast requires no less than 6 batteries per hand-piece: 4 D cells for the light, and 2 AA cells for the electronics.

Now that's a battery compartment! You could park a bus in there.

The total required 12 batteries were included with each set. Nintendo clearly wasn't into this "batteries not included" stuff.

In the bottom of the hand-grip, a metal inner threaded tube is placed.

This can be used to attach it to a standard camera tripod, which allows a much steadier communication between the Light Telephones as well as use over greater distance.

When switched on, the Light Telephone projects a bright beam ahead. This is the light beam that is used to transport the sound from one Light Telephone to the other.

Under the right conditions (not too much sunlight, two sets perfectly aligned) it works surprisingly well for distances of between 10 and 30 meters.

In case of sunlight, the attachment hood can help counter some of the sound quality deterioration which occurs when there is too much environment light.

The head-phone is a basic affair, with a single speaker. The head-band is adjustable to fit various head sizes.

The black foam on the inside of the speaker cup is the only part of the Light Telephone which usually did not stand the test of time very well: after forty years this has often hardened to the point of crumbling.

The Light Telephone contained, for its time, quite elaborate electronics and expensive parts, which explains the high retail price.

The light sensor can be seen at the top of the Light Telephone (the silver component that sits above the light reflector).

It's always cool to see what's inside - have a look under the bonnet, so to speak

The light source is standard light-bulb, which can be replaced easily.

The Light Telephone is one of my favorite Nintendo items. On the one hand it is totally impractical; where walkie-talkies based on radio waves (like Nintendo's own Companion set) can be used day and night, around corners and through walls, the Light Telephone required much more optimal circumstances, in particular that the two people communicating had to be directly facing each other.

However, when you see it working you can only be amazed by the fact that it does work. And it is a lot of fun to use.

That it was released shows that Nintendo was willing to try almost anything at this point in time. And of course, great success seldom comes without any risk taking and trying something new and left-field.

It is not known exactly how well this one fared, but it certainly did not sell in significant numbers, resulting in its current rarity. It was probably a little too odd (and expensive) to garner mass appeal.

A complete Nintendo Light Telephone set

Although the Light Telephone was only sold in Japan, it did attract some attention in the foreign press, as is evident from below article taken from US publication Popular Science (issue December 1971).