What happened next

Strictly speaking, the images in this post are completely out of place on a blog about Nintendo's history up to the launch of the Family Computer.

Nintendo's toy and game era - roughly from 1965 to 1983 - is a fascinating topic in its own right, with many stories to be told. About inventions, creative design and bold innovation. About original as well as copied ideas. About entrepreneurship, risk taking and trying the market to see what works. It is really Nintendo's coming-of-age period.

It cannot be denied, however, that the interest in Nintendo's past is created to a large extend by the events that followed since. If Nintendo had somehow retired or gone out of business in the early 1980s, or ventured in a completely different and less successful direction than it did, this blog would most likely not have happened.

And venture in the right direction they did. The picture below is testament to that. Just seeing all these gaming devices together makes my heart sing.

Nintendo 1983-2011

All platforms are present here. The home consoles: Family Computer, Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, Game Cube and Wii. And the handhelds: Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, DS and 3DS.

Nintendo Power Lift (パワーリフト, 1973)

In the early 1970s, Nintendo released a number of battery powered toys. Most of them where racing themed like Lefty RX and Mach Rider, both from 1972.

These toys answered the market demand for more sophisticated, and increasingly expensive, high quality gifts.

Nintendo Power Lift - a remote controlled forklift - is another example of this.

Nintendo Monster Copy (怪獣コピー, 1971)

Ever since Ultraman first aired on Japanese television in 1966, he has been a popular license figure, appearing on a multitude of products.

Nintendo also released a fair amount of Ultraman based toys, including multiple boardgames, playing cards and even a clock.

The set shown here is called Monster Copy (怪獣コピー).

Nintendo N&B Block promotion (1970)

At the start of the 1970s, Nintendo ran a campaign in order to push sales of the N&B Block series. This campaign must have started sometime in 1970, judging by the end date (January 31st 1971) listed on the promotional poster. The poster also mentions television adverts supporting the campaign.

Nintendo N&B Block promotion poster (1970)

With each N& B Block set purchased (N&Bブロックで) a free pack of cards was gifted (任天堂絵本トランプをプレゼント).

At this point in time, Nintendo's N&B Block construction sets had been out in the Japanese market for two years and had been quite successful. This give-away must have been devised to bolster sales even further.

As one of the largest cards manufacturers in the country, using cards as gift item was an obvious choice for Nintendo. In fact, even today cards are offerred as one of the gifts to choose from in exchange for Club Nintendo points collected by buying Wii and DS games.