Super Nintendo: How One Japanese Company Helped the World Have Fun

A joyous exploration of the cultural phenomenon that created Mario, Zelda and Pokémon, and an ode to our love of gaming, by one of the most trusted voices in video games writing.

‘This is a great book.’
CHARLIE BROOKER

‘Among the best things ever written about Nintendo.’
TOM BISSELL, author of Extra Lives

‘Delightful . . . a vivid picture of the most important company in video games.”‘
JASON SCHREIER, author of Blood, Sweat, and Pixels

From the instant classics to the hidden gems, Nintendo’s video games occupy a special place in the hearts of hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Every player has forged a unique connection with a beloved game, feeling that rush of awe and wonder as they immersed themselves in a virtual world in pursuit of that most human of impulses: the desire to have fun.

Super Nintendo finds lifelong gamer Keza MacDonald exploring Nintendo’s legendary roster of games – as well as consoles such as the SNES, Gameboy, Wii and Switch, and a host of other quirky inventions from the Power Glove to Nintendo Labo – drawing from decades’ worth of exclusive interviews with their creators and the people whose lives have been changed by them. Along the way, she tells the story of how this unassuming playing card company, founded in Kyoto in 1889, became one of the dominant cultural forces of the twenty-first century.

Offering unparalleled access to the company and its fun-filled world, and written with warmth and wit, Super Nintendo captures the love that so many of us feel for video games – and reveals just what that love tells us about being human.

FEATURING CHAPTERS ON
Ultrahand, Donkey Kong, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Pokémon, Kirby’s Adventures, Wii Sports, Animal Crossing, Nintendo Labo, Super Smash Bros, Splatoon

‘This is cultural history at its most generous: Nintendo not as corporate monolith, but as dream factory, mythmaker, and companion to childhood.’
SIMON PARKIN, contributing writer for The New Yorker

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