History of Nintendo
Their first video arcade game was 1975's "EVR Race"; a handful of others followed in the next several years, "Radar Scope" and "Donkey Kong" being among the most famous of these. The early 1980s saw Nintendo's video game division (led by Yokoi) creating some of its most famous arcade titles. The massively popular "Donkey Kong" was created in 1981, with Shigeru Miyamoto as its mastermind, and released in the arcades and on the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and ColecoVision video game systems (although Nintendo themselves generally had no involvement with these early console ports). This release method would be used on several later Nintendo arcade games of this same period, including the original "Mario Bros." (not to be confused with the later "Super Mario Bros.") In addition to this arcade and dedicated console game activity, Nintendo was testing the consumer handheld video game waters with the Game & Watch.
GameCube
Nintendo is traditionally recognized for releasing innovative, first-party games, most notably from the "Super Mario" and "The Legend of Zelda" series. These first-party series continued on the GameCube and bolstered the console's popularity. As a publisher, Nintendo also focused on creating new franchises, such as "Pikmin" and "Animal Crossing", and renewing some that skipped the Nintendo 64 platform, most notably the "Metroid" series with the release of "Metroid Prime". The console also saw success with the critically acclaimed "" and "Super Mario Sunshine", and its best-selling game, "Super Smash Bros. Melee", which sold 7 million copies worldwide. Though committed to its software library, however, Nintendo was still criticized by some for not featuring enough games during the console's launch window.