Ask any kid who grew up in the 1980s to name one of their favorite childhood memories, chances are the word Nintendo will eventually enter into the conversation. Today, Nintendo is a pop culture icon and one of the greatest success stories of the 20th century. Ironically, prior to 1985 very few people outside of Japan even knew of the company and its products. Nintendo started out as a Japanese playing card company in 1889 and had moderate success manufacturing Japanese Hanafuda cards. By the 1960s the company decided to enter the amusement arcade business and started to create simple electronic games designed to capture a player's pocket change. This would come full circle when U.S. video game manufacturer Atari struck gold with the Atari 2600 Video Computer System after its successful launch in 1977. By 1981, Nintendo would create it first highly successful arcade game called Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong would be published by Coleco Industries and be the pack-in game for its own video game console called the ColecoVision. By 1982, the game would appear on almost all the major home video game consoles of the era and go on to be a financial success for Nintendo.
Unfortunately, by late 1982 the U.S. home video game market was in constant flux. Due to a glut of poorly produced games and virtually no quality standards, consumers tired of home video games and the market nearly crashed. The only bright spot was that U.S. arcades continued to gain ground and the release of home computers allowed games to be played on new hardware with updated graphics and sound. By 1983, the U.S. home video game industry would be in shambles, as retailers were stuck with a glut of inventory that didn't sell. This prompted most companies to exit the home video game industry. Retailers took notice and quickly reduced prices. Games that were once selling for $39.95 to $49.95 could be found for $9.95 or less. As losses mounted, Atari regrouped and found itself reborn as a home computer company and arcade game manufacturer. Ironically, these developments didn't discourage Nintendo from taking a calculated risk.
By 1983, Nintendo would release the Famicom (short for Family Computer) home video game system in Japan. This home video game console was nothing like anything ever seen before. With state of the art eight-bit graphics and unique square shaped controllers the system started to sell very well in Japan. This prompted plans to bring the system to North America, where it would be rebranded as the Nintendo Entertainment System. Nintendo approached Atari to see if they wanted the exclusive rights to distribute the system in North America. Atari, still dealing with mounting losses from the implosion of its domestic video game market, said no, a move the company would learn to regret. With no formal distribution system in place, the company decided to release the system in North America in 1985.
Nintendo struggled tirelessly to get its system onto store shelves. Careful not to alienate retailers, the company tried to distinguish itself from video game consoles that came before. The system was called an entertainment system, and games were no longer called cartridges, they were called game paks. Nintendo even introduced its very own Seal of Quality to ensure that retailers knew that it cared about the quality of its games. After tirelessly test marketing the system in New York and Los Angeles, the system finally faced a nationwide rollout. Sales were slow at first, but when most people got to see the pack-in game called Super Mario Brothers, word of mouth spread like wildfire. By the end of 1989 well over 30 million households in the United States would report owning a Nintendo Entertainment System. By 1990, Nintendo would become a pop culture icon, and to this day collectors of Nintendo related merchandise and games continue to increase.
The most popular Nintendo systems to collect are the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Both systems sold extremely well in the United States and most games can be found used for just a few dollars all the way up to several hundred dollars for the most rare and sought after titles. A simple eBay search can yield an average selling price for any game. Both condition and whether the game has its original box and instruction manual need to be taken into account when assessing value. Games with soiled or torn game labels are not as sought after as mint examples, and a lot of games are worth very little due to how many were made.
Collecting Nintendo games and related merchandise has been a popular hobby for well over a decade, with new collectors entering the market in droves. Video games have become one of the most popular up-and-coming fields of collectibles, and Nintendo has been leading the way for some time. Make no mistake that now is the perfect time to start an incredible collection of classic video games that you grew up with!