Nintendo of America: Historical Highlights

1980s

• 1980: Establishment of Nintendo of America Inc. in New York.
• 1981: Launch of Donkey Kong as a coin-operated video game, quickly becoming a bestseller.
• 1982: Headquarters moved to Redmond, Washington.
• 1984: Introduction of the interactive coin-operated video game VS. System.
• 1985: Launch of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America, featuring Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros.
• 1986: Introduction of Game Play Counselors service.
• 1987: NES becomes the #1 selling toy in North America; The Legend of Zelda sells over 1 million units.
• 1988: First issue of Nintendo Power magazine published; launch of Hands-Free Controller for people with physical limitations.
• 1989: Introduction of Game Boy and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for NES.

1990s

• 1991: Launch of Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES) with Super Mario World.
• 1992: Release of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Nintendo Fun Centers introduced.
• 1993: Introduction of Super FX chip with Star Fox for Super NES.
• 1994: Donkey Kong Country for Super NES released with ACM graphics.
• 1995: Launch of Donkey Kong Land on Game Boy and introduction of Virtual Boy.
• 1996: Introduction of Game Boy Pocket; launch of Nintendo 64 with Super Mario 64.
• 1998: Introduction of Game Boy Color; launch of Pokémon Red and Blue.
• 1999: Expansion of Pokémon franchise; announcement of a new game system with IBM and Matsushita.

2000s

• 2000: Game Boy reaches 110 million units sold worldwide.
• 2001: Launch of Game Boy Advance and Nintendo GameCube in the U.S.
• 2002: Release of several GameCube titles including Super Mario Sunshine.
• 2003: Launch of Game Boy Advance SP; The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker released.
• 2004: Introduction of Nintendo DS with dual-screen and touch controls.
• 2005: Launch of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection for DS.
• 2006: Launch of Nintendo DS Lite and Wii with motion-sensitive controls.

2010s

• 2010: Launch of Nintendo DSi XL.
• 2011: Introduction of Nintendo 3DS with 3D content viewing.
• 2013: Introduction of Nintendo 2DS.
• 2014: Launch of amiibo interactive figures.
• 2015: Launch of New Nintendo 3DS XL with enhanced features.
• 2016: Introduction of NES Classic Edition.
• 2017: Launch of Nintendo Switch and Super NES Classic Edition.
• 2018: Introduction of Nintendo Labo and Nintendo Switch Online service.
• 2019: Launch of Nintendo Switch Lite.

2020s

• 2020: Release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Nintendo Switch.
• 2021: Launch of Nintendo Switch OLED Model and Metroid Dread; introduction of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.