Today marks a milestone that has little to do with video games and everything to do with history: Nintendo is officially 137 years old. The Japanese company, which has since become one of the most valuable entertainment conglomerates on the planet, traces its origins back to 1889, when it began as a small producer of hanafuda playing cards. While the modern Nintendo is synonymous with consoles like the Wii and Switch, the anniversary offers a chance to look back at a company that has quietly outlasted some of the most famous inventions and landmarks in human history.
That framing is where things get genuinely interesting. Nintendo’s founding predates the commercial debut of sliced bread by nearly four decades. As pointed out online, the company is literally older than sliced bread. Pre-sliced bread made its first commercial appearance on July 7, 1928, when the Missouri-based Chillicothe Baking Company began using Otto Frederick Rohwedder’s bread-slicing machine to hand customers ready-made portions of the household staple. Technically, that would make sliced bread the newest of the two, but for the sake of technicality, the comparison refers to commercial pre-sliced bread rather than the later, more familiar sliced loaf.
A Company Older Than the Bread Itself
The list of things Nintendo has beaten to market is surprisingly long. It predates the public opening of the Eiffel Tower, which took place in June 1893, and the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight in 1903. Nintendo also outlasted the Ottoman Empire entirely, and it holds a comfortable lead over a host of other 20th-century innovations, including the discovery of penicillin in 1928, the invention of chocolate chip cookies in 1938, and bubble wrap in 1957. Perhaps the most poetic comparison, though, is that Nintendo was founded the very same year that Vincent van Gogh painted his iconic Starry Night.
As the milestone passes, the comparison becomes impossible to ignore: a company that started with a deck of hanafuda cards is now older than sliced bread, the Eiffel Tower, and an entire empire.
Reporting on Nintendo’s 137th anniversary
From Cards to Consoles to Cinema
What began as a card game has evolved into a global entertainment powerhouse. Today, Nintendo is worth many billions of dollars, a valuation built on the commercial success of consoles such as the Wii and the Switch, alongside a deliberate push into new territories beyond gaming. The company has launched theme parks and has steadily expanded its film ambitions, adapting its original intellectual property into feature films.
The results have been remarkable. The two Super Mario Bros. movies developed by Illumination have each grossed north of $1 billion at the box office, and the studio’s next project is a live-action Legend of Zelda movie.
Looking Ahead
As Nintendo celebrates its 137th birthday, the company shows no signs of slowing down. With a live-action Legend of Zelda film on the horizon and a portfolio of beloved franchises spanning decades, the brand continues to reinvent itself while leaning on the heritage that started with a simple deck of cards. For a company that has outlasted sliced bread, the Eiffel Tower, and an entire empire, the next chapter is only just beginning.
No comments