Hiroshi Yamauchi built Nintendo from a playing-card company into a video-gaming empire . He oversaw such successes as the Game Boy , `` Donkey Kong '' and iconic characters such as Mario . Yamauchi took over the company from his ailing grandfather as a university student in 1949 and ran it until 2002 -- a remarkable span of 53 years . But he was also responsible for some of Nintendo’s biggest flops : The Virtual Boy, Wii, DS, 3DS, WiiU, 3DSXL, NX, WII U, Wii U GamePad
Hiroshi Yamauchi built Nintendo from a playing-card company into a video-gaming empire . He oversaw such successes as the Game Boy , `` Donkey Kong '' and iconic characters such as Mario . But he was also responsible for some of Nintendo’s biggest flops : The Virtual Boy, Wii, DS, 3DS, WiiU, 3DSXL, NX, WII U, Wii U GamePad