literature

Hiroshi Yamauchi RIP

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Literature Text

Hiroshi Yamauchi RIP

He was born as a Yamauchi, grandson of the second president of Nintendo.
Who's company was known across Japan as a card gaming business.
His father walked out on him and so did his mother due to the shame of the marridge.
So young Hiroshi was forced to live a strict life under the rule of his grandparents.

World War 2 came to Japan
Young Hiroshi was just a teenager at the time and wanted to enlist.
But the Yamauchi grandparents were smart not to allow him.
Considering the way it ended, it was perhaps for the best.

Hiroshi then focused on his schooling at university
To study law in an ever changing Japan under US occupation
But his career as a lawyer was cut short due to his Grandfather taking ill
So young Hiroshi Yamauchi became the 3rd President and CEO of Nintendo.

He became a businessman early in his 20s
And he asserted his authority at Nintendo
He fired anyone who was a threat to his family
The pent up anger from his childhood now had power in his early adulthood.

The US style laws became a threat to Nintendo's card game business
That was one battle Hiroshi Yamauchi knew not to fight against
So instead he became a entrepreneur
And tried to find new ways of keeping Nintendo in business

From instant noodles to a taxi service
To hot steamy Love Hotels that catered to loving couples
Hiroshi put Nintendo's name onto almost anything
anything to preserve Nintendo's long history during tough and difficult times.

Then came a day, when he peeked into an office to inspect his employees
One of them called Gunpei Yokoi was playing around with a pet project
Yamauchi saw how his employee played with the thing with a steern look on his face
And he said with a clear voice. "Make that into a game and sell it."

That pet project that Yokoi was playing with became the Ultra Hand.
And then Nintendo started to make Toys for the kids of Japan
By the time of the 1970s and a new age of electronics was just being born
Hiroshi sold most of Nintendo's assets and invested into Electronic Toy Development.

In a time of PONG arcades and electronic calculators
Yamauchi saw a market to be dominated
However he had no idea how to get in
until one day his employee Gunpei Yokoi took an eventful train ride

Yokoi saw a Japanese Business man
who was looking bored while sitting next to him
then suddenly the man took out his electronic calculator
he seemed to enjoy it, perhaps he was typing 5318008

Yokoi saw how much fun this japanese businessman was having
just playing around with a simple electronic calculator
Yokoi told Yamauchi what he saw on that train ride
And Yamauchi told him to make a electronic game that was a size of a calculator.

And so the Game and Watch was born
And in 1980s it became the first big hit for Nintendo
The Game and Watch would become big in the decade and then follow on
To produce the Gameboy that would go on to dominate the next decade in the 90s

However there was another thing that happened during that time in the 70s
A friend of Yamauchi had a son who had just finished his arts degree at university
So on a dinner out with his friend, Yamauchi was introduced to a young man called Shigeru Miyamoto.
the friend begged Yamauchi-san to give his son a job at Nintendo.

So then Hiroshi Yamauchi told young Miyamoto to paint the arcade cabinets
everything from Sheriff to Radarscope
And when it was time for Yamauchi to expand Nintendo into the United States
He placed his bets in the arcade ring of North America.

The arcades failed in the American market
Even Radarscope that was a success in Japan
Nintendo of America division was loosing money
And a man called Mario demanded the rent

Yamauchi then told young Miyamoto to come up with a different game to sell
One that would attract the north american arcade gamers
So with the help of Gunpei Yokoi who handled the arcade technology
Miyamoto thought of a story from one of his manga ideas.

It was a simple story,
of a gorilla being mistreated by a man
so the gorilla stole the man's girlfriend
and the game took place as the man tried to save his girlfriend from the gorilla

It was called Donkey Kong released in 1981
And they called the man Mario in the game
It was the first arcade game to have a story
unexpectedly, Nintendo hit another success.

But with success came attention from bigger companies
One such company was Universal Studios
The movie company claimed copyright violation against Donkey Kong
All because the name sounded like King Kong

But just when most smaller companies would have bowed to big american businesses
Hiroshi Yamauchi stood firm
He hired lawyers like Howard Lincon
Who claimed that Universal did not really own King Kong because of default

Nintendo Won and they were allowed to keep their money
It was the first ever Videogame lawsuit win against another medium
Nintendo was building up a warchest of cash
for Yamauchi-san's next big idea.

In 1983, Japan was introduced to the Nintendo Famicom
A Console Game system that was like a computer for families
But when the release for the North American market was on the cards
The industry in America was in the middle of a massive market crash.

Nintendo first thought of trying to market their console with Atari
It was going to be a win for both companies
However Atari saw a game of Donkey Kong being played on the Coleco Vision
And therefore Atari refused to sign with Nintendo

So Nintendo went at the market alone
But the crash was still in full force
They showcased the Famicom at technology events
But nobody there ever saw any interest in the console at all

So with the help of Gunpei Yokoi, Yamauchi-san told him to design a toy
To be sold along with the console
The name of that toy was ROB the Robot
Stands for Robotic Operation Buddy

That ROB was what gave the toy retailers the confidence
to take in Nintendo's new console
Plus with the redesign for the North American market
Came the NES, Nintendo Entertainment System.

The NES sold well within its first year in 1986
But more was to come for Nintendo
With some games from Miyamoto's creative mind
came Super Mario Bros the platform game that changed it all

The NES Mario game sold massive copies in christmas 1986
And again with more games in 1987 with Legend of Zelda
Years and years with more games and more magic
The money came in to revive the North American Videogame Market

But with success came competition in the 90s
With SEGA having a blue Hedgehog against Nintendo's plumber
And SONY with their CD technology
And Microsoft with their online gaming ambitions

Hiroshi Yamauchi was getting too old to keep up
He had to chose a successor but this time not from his own family
So he decided to trust his company to a person who had CEO experience from a company that Nintendo had helped to survive in the 90s
The CEO of HAL Laboratories called Satoru Iwata

Satoru Iwata was joined by Shigeru Miyamoto
To become the team that would take Nintendo into a new centuary
They came up with the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii
Using ideas and philosophies that were originally formed by Hiroshi Yamauchi and Gunpei Yokoi

Nintendo had their success in Videogames all over again
But like before the market was changing with Apple's iPhone in the mix
Plus with Google's Android technology for games to be played on phones
Nintendo are facing a new battle on both console and handheld fronts by SONY and Microsoft

Hiroshi Yamauchi is a legend in his own right
The success of Nintendo and their continued survival is thanks to him
And no matter how hard the market is for Nintendo
Ignore them at your own peril for they have survived tougher markets in the past.

Tribute to Hiroshi Yamauchi who survived to live 85 years

Rest in Peace
The life of Hiroshi Yamauchi

A special tribute to an awesome man from Japan

au.ign.com/articles/2012/05/25…

Video on youtube by the NintendoVeteran85 a.k.a kingbowser26 :iconkingbowser26:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAeUac…
© 2013 - 2024 TBoneTony
Comments19
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TBoneTony's avatar
I should also mention about Minoru Arakawa who is Yamauchi's son in law.

He was the one who headded Nintendo of America and Yamauchi told him to make Nintendo sell arcades in USA.

Arakawa is also the one who hired Howard Lincon as well as John Kirby to help with the Donkey Kong case against Universal when they faced a law suit.

However when writing the poem, I thought I was going into too much detail and kinda left that part out of the poem and just put in that Yamauchi hired Lincon that was not really the case, but considering that Arakawa was his son in law, and that Yamauchi was not too impressed with Universal trying to sue them at the time, I guess that is where their fighting spirit came from to never give up when facing a tough battle that they believed that they had a right to stand and fight for their ownership of the Donkey Kong name.



So yes, while writing this, I did take a few bits of info out of it but I tried my best to include all the information about Yamauchi in it.

also forgotten to include that when the card game business was facing troubled waters, Nintendo made a deal with Disney to include Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck on their card game covers in Japan and market it for younger audiences. That was back in the 60s and that is another market that allowed Nintendo to survive during that tough decade for them.


Also the love hotels I mentioned in a few lines are true, they were not made up.


also for the guy who was playing with his calculator on the train, the number 5318008 when turned upside-down on the calculator it spells boobies.

Just thought I could include a humours moment for those who were taking notice.

If I was making this poem again, I would have included all this information but still, there is allot to talk about when it comes to Hiroshi Yamauchi, so it was a big effort for me to write this when I was tired at the time.