Nintendo's Origins

2023-03-16 · 199 min · episode 3 · 8 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal person

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→ discusses Technology concept

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evidence rules-v4
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→ discusses Business concept

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→ discusses Investing concept

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Entities found in this episode

concepts 6

mentioned Technology concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Technology
mentioned Business concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
mentioned Investing concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Investing
discusses Technology concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Technology
discusses Business concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
discusses Investing concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Investing

persons 2

mentioned Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Episode description as stored

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! Links: Our Atari episode with Nolan Bushnell Video of id Software’s legendary PC “port” of Super Mario Brothers 3 Episode sources Carve Outs: Everything Everywhere All At Once Michael Lewis on Tim Ferriss and on CSPAN Sponsors: Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26 Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegora Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26 More Acquired! Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes Join the Slack Subscribe to ACQ2 Merch Store ! © Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC