Hiroshi Yamauchi built Nintendo from a playing - card company into a video - gaming empire . He created such successes as the Game Boy , ` ` Donkey Kong '' and iconic characters such as Mario . Hiroshi Yamauchi , who built Nintendo from a small playing-card company into a global video-gaming empire before buying the Seattle Mariners , died Thursday in Japan . Yamauchi died Thursday in 2015 at age 84 .
Hiroshi Yamauchi built Nintendo from a playing - card company into a video - gaming empire . He created such successes as the Game Boy , ` ` Donkey Kong '' and iconic characters such as Mario . Yamauchi died Thursday in 2015 at age 84 .