Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America - The Rise of Video Game Culture | Perfect for Gamers, Collectors & Pop Culture Enthusiasts
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Product Description
The definitive story of the rise of Nintendo.In 1981, Nintendo of America was a one-year-old business already on the brink of failure. Its president, Mino Arakawa, was stuck with two thousand unsold arcade cabinets for a dud of a game (Radar Scope). So he hatched a plan.Back in Japan, a boyish, shaggy-haired staff artist named Shigeru Miyamoto designed a new game for the unsold cabinets featuring an angry gorilla and a small jumping man. Donkey Kong brought in $180 million in its first year alone and launched the career of a short, chubby plumber named Mario.Since then, Mario has starred in over two hundred games, generating profits in the billions. He is more recognizable than Mickey Mouse, yet he’s little more than a mustache in bib overalls. How did a mere smear of pixels gain such huge popularity?Super Mario tells the story behind the Nintendo games millions of us grew up with, explaining how a Japanese trading card company rose to dominate the fiercely competitive video-game industry.
Customer Reviews
As a child of the 1980's, some of my earliest memories are video game related. Christmas of 1987 will always be remembered as the year I was given my version of a Red Rider BB Gun...a Nintendo system, complete with Super Mario Bros. So in reality (and this sounds a little sad), I've known Mario as long as, or longer than, some of my closest friends.They say never judge a book by its cover, but as soon as I saw the cover art for "Super Mario", I knew I was going to love it. Maybe I was just getting a little wistful for the days of 8-bit graphics, but I had high hopes for this book before I opened the cover. And it roundly exceeded my expectations. I thought I knew about Nintendo's history, but from the very beginning, it was clear there was a great deal I didn't know. The author does an outstanding job of chronicling Nintendo (and Mario's) rise to power over the years.For all its success, Nintendo has its share of failures, and I was happy to see the author give them their share of attention. I never like when a book like this reads like a commercial or propaganda, and this most certainly didn't. Mr. Ryan is obviously a fan of Nintendo (he admits this early on...and I don't think you could write a book like this if you weren't a fan), but I never felt like he was gushing.Lastly, I really enjoyed the author's writing style. The pacing was good, and he mixed in a lot of humor, so in addition to being informative, I found it fun and entertaining.So whether or not you're a fan of video games, I really think you're going to enjoy this book. I know my interest in video games isn't what it once was, but "Super Mario" had me captivated from start to finish. All told, I would highly recommend this book to anyone.
