GamePro: Timeline of Japanese contributions to video games
As the Tokyo Game Show comes to a close, we pay homage to the major gaming contributions wrought in Japan with a nifty time line spanning more than a century.
1889 – Nintendo is formed in late September by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards which are used for several popular Japanese games. Over the years the company will transform into one of the most powerful and influential video game companies in the world.
1941 – Gunpei Yokoi is born. His ingenuity in creating a mechanical arm for his own enjoyment while on the job would later inspire Nintendo authoritarian president Hiroshi Yamauchi to extend Nintendo’s business beyond that of playing cards. Yokoi would go one to design Metroid and the Game Boy before dying in a car crash in 1997.