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.
Hotel Mario
In 1989, Nintendo and Sony agreed to develop a CD-ROM-based add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), known as the SNES-CD or Nintendo Play-Station, that would allow for full motion video (FMV) and larger games. However, Nintendo instead signed with Philips to make the add-on, and Sony redesigned their console as the PlayStation. By 1993, Nintendo had abandoned plans for the add-on. As part of dissolving the agreement, Nintendo licensed Philips to use some Nintendo characters for their CD-i console, resulting in three "Legend of Zelda" games as well as "Hotel Mario". Another "Mario" game, "Super Mario's Wacky Worlds", was canceled at the prototype stage. Nintendo had no part in the games' development; they were instead created by inexperienced developers.