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.
History of the Nintendo Entertainment System
Nintendo initiated a limited test launch process prior to nationwide release. The first test launch saw the NES and its initial library of eighteen games released in New York City on October 18, 1985, with an initial shipment of 100,000 systems. Each set included a console, two gamepads, a R.O.B., a Zapper, and the Game Paks "Gyromite" and "Duck Hunt". The library of eighteen launch titles are "10-Yard Fight", "Baseball", "Clu Clu Land", "Duck Hunt", "Excitebike", "Golf", "Gyromite", "Hogan's Alley", "Ice Climber", "Kung Fu", "Pinball", "Stack-Up", "Tennis", "Wild Gunman", and "Wrecking Crew". Lucas M. Thomas wrote for IGN that he considered the "Baseball" title to be a prominent key of success at the test launch event.