beforemario
Blog showcasing and celebrating Nintendo vintage toys and retro games from the period 1965-1983, including Love Tester, Ultra Hand, Ultra Machine, Ultra Scope, Light Gun series, Color TV Games, CTG-HC10 and Nintendo Block
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Latest posts
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Nintendo Promotional Toys: Kanebo's Dash Rider (ダッシュライダー) from the 1970s
In the previous blog post we looked at Nintendo's business line of promotional playing cards , and zoomed in on a particular set from the 1960s as an example, for Japanese company Kanebo. And although playing cards were the main promotional item Nintendo produced, they created…
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Nintendo produced 1960s promotional card set
Playing cards make ideal promotional items. They are small, relatively inexpensive, and, when made with high-quality materials, can still project a sense of quality and sophistication. Nintendo company brochure - mid 1950s One side of each card can be used for almost any message…
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Nintendo Home Race (ホームレース, ca 1966)
A Long-Wanted Rarity, Finally Found Some of Nintendo’s past toys and games are much rarer than others. There are the big hits from the 1960s ( Ultra Hand , Ultra Machine ) that were produced in the millions, plenty of which survive to this day. Then there are the solid sellers,…
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Nintendo Playing Cards catalogue from 2001
I regularly encounter people who are surprised to hear that Nintendo is still in the playing cards business today, although mainly in its home market of Japan. They know that the company started by making cards long ago, but assume this stopped after Nintendo joined the video…
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A Nintendo Pilgrimage [part 7 of 7]: My Unforgettable Week in Kyoto
A Short Stop in Osaka Before Heading Home After the incredible days in Kyoto in the first week of October 2024—including two visits to the Nintendo Museum and many other memorable moments —we had one more day left before our flight home. As the airport is a little way south of…
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A Nintendo Pilgrimage [part 6 of 7]: My Unforgettable Week in Kyoto
Meeting and Honoring Two Cornerstones from Nintendo’s Past Although our main objective in Kyoto was to attend the opening of the Nintendo Museum on Wednesday October 2nd, the entire week turned out to be filled with bonus moments. On Tuesday, we had already enjoyed time at…
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A Nintendo Pilgrimage [part 5 of 7]: My Unforgettable Week in Kyoto
The Nintendo Museum - Final Hour of Our Visit After immersing ourselves in the main exhibits of the Nintendo Museum (see previous parts of this trip report here and here ), closing time approached—and one very important task remained: choosing what to buy at the museum store. As…
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A Nintendo Pilgrimage [part 4 of 7]: My Unforgettable Week in Kyoto
Touring the Nintendo Museum collection - Let’s Get (Inter)active After finishing our exploration of first part of the Nintendo Museum , we headed downstairs to the lower level. This section of the museum is dedicated to interactive exhibits—eight in total: Shigureden SP Ultra…
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A Nintendo Pilgrimage [part 3 of 7]: My Unforgettable Week in Kyoto
Opening day at the Nintendo Museum It is Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024. After months of waiting , and some very special moments the day before , we finally arrived at our main destination: the Nintendo Museum. The museum is just a short walk from Ogura Station in the southern…
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A Nintendo Pilgrimage [part 2 of 7]: My Unforgettable Week in Kyoto
Touchdown in Kyoto After months of anticipation , my Japan trip began on October 1st, 2024. And the very first day already brought a number of highlights. The direct flight from Amsterdam took thirteen hours to reach Kansai Airport in Osaka Bay. From there, a short train ride…
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Nintendo playing cards featuring Marilyn Monroe
Vintage company documents are a great resource for historians and collectors. Like this Nintendo Playing Cards report from the 1950s, which was covered in full in a previous post . It shows the range of playing card designs offered by Nintendo at the time. At the center of the…
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A Nintendo Pilgrimage [part 1 of 7]: My Unforgettable Week in Kyoto
In October 2024, I embarked on what can only be described as the most unforgettable Nintendo week of my life. It all unfolded in Kyoto, the birthplace of Nintendo and still the beating heart of all things Nintendo. Over the course of just seven days, I visited the Nintendo store…
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From Cards to Condiments: Nintendo’s Ads in a Disney Booklet from the 1960s
Disney's first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (originally released in 1937), premiered in Japan in 1950. This release came shortly after the end of World War II, during a period when Japan was still under American occupation, and the Japanese public was…
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Ten years of Before Mario book memories
Last October (2024), I posted this image on social media, announcing that the Before Mario book was officially sold out. All stock had been depleted, and there are no plans for another print run. Originally published a little over a decade ago, I thought this would be a good…
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Meet the Collectors - #13 - Elijah Luttmann
Today I am happy to welcome another collector in our intermittent series of Meet the Collectors ! Let's hand over the mic to Elijah! "Hello I’m Elijah Luttmann and I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA. I’m 19 years old and I am currently at college to learn the Chinese…
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Nintendo ad in 1960s Playboy magazine
When MB's Twister was first released in the 1960s, Nintendo acquired the rights to localize the game for the Japanese market. Various box versions of Nintendo Twister Nintendo targeted the game at families as well as groups of young adults. As we showed in a previous post on…
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The Nintendo Museum: my first impressions
On October 2nd 2024 the Nintendo Museum opened in Kyoto, Japan. I was lucky to visit that first day. Here's what I posted on Twitter that night: It is after midnight here in Kyoto, and I finally found some time to process the (opening) day at the Nintendo Museum. It is too early…
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A Treasure in Kyoto: Rediscovering Nintendo’s First Ad from 1894
Discovering a Rare Find—Twice! A few weeks ago, on October 2nd, I was in Kyoto, Japan, to visit the newly opened Nintendo Museum . The day before my museum visit, I was lucky to view a historic document recently uncovered by a fellow researcher: Nintendo’s earliest known…
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Nintendo Museum's 2024 Ultra Hand Remake: honors and improves the original
The Nintendo Museum has brought back the iconic Ultra Hand from 1966! But how does this new version stack up against the original classic? Let’s dive in and find out! The Ultra Hand within the Nintendo Museum collection The Nintendo Ultra Hand is an important product in the…
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Nintendo Poitan Game, a water toy lost in time (ポイタン ゲーム, 1966)
Most of the posts on this blog feature vintage Nintendo toys and games from my personal collection . When I acquire items, I photograph them and document them here. Today, we are going to take a closer look at an item that I do not own. In fact, I do not know anyone who has one,…