Shigeru Miyamoto's R&D Division

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Yamauchi creates a fourth R&D division within Nintendo, puts Miyamoto in charge. "The value of what they make is worth many, many multiples of what every other game designer out there makes," says Yamauchi. The sole purpose of this new R&D 4 unit would later become the legendary entertainment analysis and development group within Nintendo.

You may think you know the Nintendo story: a plumber named Mario, a princess named Zelda… and didn’t they buy the Seattle Mariners at some point? We thought we knew it too. And then we started researching and were blown away.

The lovable Disney-like Nintendo that we know today is a 130 year-old a playing card company (i.e. gambling), forged in the shadowy world of the Yakuza and shaped by a four-generation cycle of bitter family betrayal. And its unlikely transformation into a global multi-billion dollar media monopoly was led by an iron-fisted patriarch who — amazingly — never played a video game in his life! Get ready for one of our favorite stories Acquired has ever told — we couldn’t make this one up if we tried!

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