Nintendo was founded in 1889 as a handmade playing card business.

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Decades before creating iconic video games like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo was established on 23 September 1889 in Kyoto, Japan, by artisan Fusajiro Yamauchi as Nintendo Koppai. The business initially hand-crafted and sold *Hanafuda* (flower cards)—traditional Japanese playing cards crafted from mulberry tree bark. The cards became exceptionally popular across Japan, particularly in entertainment parlors, establishing the company’s financial empire.

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