Jeff Ryan

This is the story of how a small Japanese company selling trading cards became one of the largest video game companies in the world; and it's quite a bumpy ride. It starts in the early 80s when Mino Arakawa realises he's standing there with two thousand arcade games he doesn't seem to be able to sell. Luckily, he's saved when one of the company's artists, Shigeru Miyamoto, comes up with a game including an angry gorilla and a small jumping plumber. It is a game that makes more than 180 show more million dollars in its first year, but most importantly, is the first step into making Nintendo a household name that soon becomes a big part of modern culture.

Despite coming from a household where Sony and its Playstation is favoured over all over gaming consoles, Nintendo has always been with me in one way or another. Mostly in the shape of Pokémon but also Super Mario; it's one of those games I can remember playing as a young child on my beloved Gameboy Advance (though, I'll admit that Donkey Kong came first for me). This definitely lead to the book being a portkey to nostalgia but most importantly, I learned a lot of not only Nintendo but also gaming history in general.

The arcade days, and well, pretty much anything before the Playstation were before my time. Even so, I don't really remember playing on the Playstation much as I had my Gameboy and Playstation 2 came around by the time I was advancing into games made for big kids. That being said, I'm not completely oblivious to gaming history; my father has been a fan since the arcade games were popular, and he's definitely made sure I know the roots of video games. Not just by telling me about it but also by letting me play older games. But especially as he was quite young at the time and also a kid in Sweden, not the US or Japan, a lot of the early history of gaming was way beyond me for a long time. I mean, I understood it. But there was a lot I didn't know.

This book, though, is basically the best history book I've read. Which is quite amusing considering it's ”only” about Nintendo and the gaming culture. But it's descriptive in such a way that I finally understand some of the technology and designs that I was only vaguely understanding of before. It does a great job of painting a really lovely picture for as simple as explaining how Mario came to be designed. The language isn't very formal or insensitive; the author truly makes a story out of it all. It's a little bit like listening to your grandfather telling a story about his childhood rather than reading a textbook; which in my opinion is how reading history books should be more often. show less

This is a fascinating and comprehensive history of the Nintendo Corporation. Although it's impact on pop culture is hard to deny, it's definitely easy to overlook how pervasive it is. This book tracks the growth of recreational gaming and seeks to analyze the particular aspects of Nintendo's vision that has made the company such an enduring success. Alongside Nintendo, the reader will see the growth of Nintendo's competitors and will get a better sense for the state of video games show more today.

Reading this book 11 years after its publication was also very telling. I wonder what the author would have to say about the rise of retro gaming and the way game designing has seemed to regress in some areas as players seek to recapture the nostalgic feelings of their youth.

For me, this book was a pleasant trip down memory lane as well as an informative look into an industry whose products I've consumed but whose history I know very little about. show less

I got this book from a giveaway contest at Goodreads. When I signed up for the contest- I honestly got it for my husband. He is the one who is the "gamer". He owns almost every gaming system, competed in the Video Game Championships as a kid, and can become a human encyclopedia for video game facts on a whim. I liked Mario as a kid. We had an NES and a handful of games. I was admittedly never a great video game player. I would lose 100 of Mario's lives to every time I got to the last level show more of Super Mario Brothers, but I kept on playing- mainly because Nintendo games are so addictive.I really enjoyed this book. The author has a fun, friendly, and light way of sharing facts that could be boring. He writes the narrative in a way that makes me care for the employees of Nintendo and makes me want to cheer them on. He is candid, though, about the weaknesses that he sees in the early Nintendo years. He doesn't shy away from the negative aspects of the Nintendo corporation, yet handles it in a professional way.I love the way the author has written this book.... it is so readable! I felt as though I was sitting down with a friend and he was telling me all sorts of random facts about Nintendo's history. My case- in - point? Did you know there was a Super Mario on Ice show? Did you know Mr. Belvedere played King Koopa?No? Don't believe me?Go to my blog http://oneminutebooks.blogspot.com/2011/07/super-mario-bro.html to see the Youtube video and read the rest of my review! show less

It is very hard to write a book about Nintendo for various reasons. Firstly, the company is still powerful today; continuing to crank out fantastic games and be on the cutting edge of gaming. Secondly, it was a trailblazer in the early 1980s and people of that generation (like myself) think of it fondly. In fact, we may even think of Mario as one of our childhood friends. Lastly, it is a company that was built on fun and entertainment with little to no scandals. It is because of this that a show more book written about Nintendo and Super Mario must tread lightly in order to not offend the company in its current state, not offend the children (now adults) who grew up loving Mario and hating Bowser, and to make the story compelling enough to be readable. Jeff Ryan makes a concerted effort it fill all of these requirements though at times he falls short.

First and foremost, I have to out myself as an adult who adored all things Mario when I was a child. Because of this, I may be bias when it comes to literature on the topic. For the first two parts of the book, I thought that Ryan did an excellent job. He told the reader about the founding of Nintendo in the 1800s as a card company and the struggles that they faced to the point that they almost began marketing Popeye ramen noodles. Fortunately, the president of the company hired his son-in-law to help Nintendo get off its feet and hopefully thrive…one day. I believe we all know the rest of the story from here: first an arcade game was created followed by a console that could be played at home. The consoles sold like hot cakes and decades later we now have the Wii, of course with many other products in between.

Ryan makes the company’s history enthralling to the point that I was unable to put the book down. However, as he began to write about Nintendo’s more recent projects the story became boring and dull. Towards the last two parts, it seemed as if the author was just giving a plot summary of each game produced by Nintendo. Of course he mentioned the other gaming systems at the time and the competition between those and Nintendo, but even that didn’t spice up the book. Being that many of Nintendo’s games are updated versions of past games, the book becomes a bit repetitive (to no fault of the author).

Additionally, Ryan's writing style did get on my nerves from time to time. His excessive use of clichés, metaphors, and similes made me feel at times like I was reading an SAT prep book. Some of his statements were humorous while others attempted to draw connections between things that held no common significance. Also, he seems to be in awe of Nintendo and therefore believes that Nintendo (and Mario) will always win out over other gaming systems.
Overall, this is a good book for Mario lovers but doesn’t have much depth. It lacks interviews with employees or even users. There is some critical thinking on the author’s part which makes me feel as if I am reading a dissertation instead of a published piece of nonfiction. If it does nothing else, it will make you want to brush the dust off of your old console and make that little plumber save the princess.

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