How Nintendo Conquered America in the 1980s with the Nintendo Entertainment System

In 1983 the US home game console market collapsed, contracting around 93 percent and putting dozens of major companies out of business. The conventional wisdom was that the home game console market was finished, and would never rise again.

But a century old Japanese company that was originally founded to manufacture and sell playing cards thought otherwise. Their name was Nintendo and their successful reinvigorating of the US game console market with the 1985 American release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is a fascinating tale of shrewd business practices, a willingness to defy expectations, and a company that wasn't afraid to try new things.

We had some mic trouble with this that we didn't catch initially, but we hope this doesn't detract from your enjoyment of this video, it's a fascinating topic and one that we have been looking forward to bringing to you.