Nintendo
In 1975, Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry with "EVR Race", designed by their first game designer, Genyo Takeda, and several more games followed. Nintendo had some small success with this venture, but the release of "Donkey Kong" in 1981, designed by Miyamoto, changed Nintendo's fortunes dramatically. The success of the game and many licensing opportunities (such as ports on the Atari 2600, Intellivision and ColecoVision) gave Nintendo a huge boost in profit and in addition, the game also introduced an early iteration of Mario, then known in Japan as Jumpman, the eventual company mascot.
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power was founded by Nintendo of America marketing manager Gail Tilden in 1988. Predating "Nintendo Power" is the several-page long "Nintendo Fun Club News", which was sent to club members for free. However, in mid-1988 "Nintendo Fun Club News" was discontinued after seven issues in favor of "Nintendo Power". The first issue, dated July/August 1988, spotlighted the NES game "Super Mario Bros. 2". Of this issue, 3.6 million copies were published, with every member of the Nintendo Fun Club receiving a free one.