From
some playing cards to millions of videogames
Yamauchi took charge of a small playing cards company, founded by his great-grandfather, in 1949 and managed to
transform the company into one of the big
three gaming companies in the world, alongside Microsoft and Sony. It stood at the forefront of gaming with the release of the portable console Game & Watch in
1980, introducing the now world famous Italian plumber Mario.
Also
in the eighties, he expanded the company internationally by founding Nintendo
of America and Nintendo of Europe, with a focus on each separate region. The launch of the legendary Game Boy increased the international expansion.
Nintendo’s next revolution turned out to be the Wii-console with motion
control, published under the guidance of his successor, Satoru Iwata, whom he
had given control as president in 2002.
Hiroshi Yamauchi passed away in a Kyoto hospital
at the age of 85, succumbing to the effects of pneumonia.
