Why did "Nintendo" become synonymous with video games in English? [A comparison of Japanese and American culture]

I remember being completely hooked on the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System) when I was a kid. I played Super Mario over and over again, and I lost track of time creating courses in Excitebike.

Back then, saying "I'm playing games" was practically synonymous with "I'm playing Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System)."

This wasn't just a problem in Japan.

When someone from another country answers "I was playing games," this is the kind of thing that naturally comes out of an American's mouth.

This isn't a slip of the tongue.

In English-speaking countries, "Nintendo" is still used as a general term for video games.

This phenomenon, similar to "Google it" or "Uber a ride," involves a proper noun becoming synonymous with the action itself. Only a handful of brands worldwide have achieved this.

Why has Nintendo been able to wield such a significant cultural influence? This time, I'd like to delve into the reasons, incorporating English phrases and comparisons between Japan and the United States.

There was a time when the gaming industry was "dead."

I think everyone has experienced being forbidden from playing video games by their parents at least once. But in North America in the 1980s, there was a time when not only parents but the entire industry thought "video games are dead."

In 1983, a massive stock market crash known as the "Atari Shock" hit North America.

A flood of substandard games flooded the market, leading to widespread distrust and the feeling that "you'll get a dud no matter what you buy," causing electronics retailers to remove their game sections. The industry as a whole saw its sales plummet from approximately $32 billion to $100 million in just two years, a drop of nearly 97%.

Nintendo was the one to venture into this "ruin . "

When the Famicom was released in North America in 1985 as the "Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)," the word "game" was deliberately avoided. By using the name "Entertainment System" and including a robot-shaped toy called ROB, they succeeded in placing it on toy store shelves as a "toy."

As a result, the NES sold approximately 6190 million units worldwide (approximately 3400 million units in North America alone), literally reviving the industry.

At this point, the equation "Nintendo = Games" was etched into the memory of North America. So why has that trust continued for 40 years?

A company that designs "trust"

You wouldn't buy a product on Amazon if it only had one-star reviews, right? But in the 1980s, that kind of filter didn't exist in the game market.

Learning from the lessons of the Atari Shock, Nintendo created the industry's first "third-party quality management system," which is called "Nintendo Seal of Quality."

It may seem commonplace now, but at the time, it was a revolutionary idea. While other game companies were competing on quantity, Nintendo chose a brand strategy of "quality assurance."

The concept is exactly the same as how Apple today protects the quality of its ecosystem through the App Store review process. It's interesting that Nintendo was doing the same thing 40 years ago.

Design that speaks for itself — Why Mario is loved all over the world

I also played Super Mario so much that I sacrificed sleep. I hardly ever read the instruction manual, but before I knew it, I had cleared all the stages. It turns out that it was actually a very well-designed game.

Super Mario Bros. was released in 1985 and was designed to be playable without reading the instruction manual.

Think back to the first 10 seconds of "World 1-1". If you walk to the right, there's a pipe; if you jump, coins will appear; there are mushrooms in the question marks... It's all a system designed to let you learn through experience, without any text.

Design Elements	How it is received in Japan	How to receive it overseas
Mario's hat and mustache	Humorous character	He was known as "an ordinary guy you could find anywhere."
Coin Mushroom	In-game Items	The universal metaphor of "achievement" and "growth"
Visual tutorial	A meticulous design, which was rare at the time.	Highly acclaimed worldwide as a language-free learning experience.

Mario transcended language barriers, allowing Nintendo to become a truly global brand for the first time. And now, the very difficulty of achieving that transcendence has become a part of the culture.

A country where "extremely difficult" is a compliment.

I used to get so engrossed in creating courses for Excitebike that I'd lose track of time. But the courses I created tended to be unfairly difficult, and I remember crashing countless times. Games from the Famicom era were generally difficult, weren't they? Actually, that "difficulty" has become part of the culture in English-speaking countries.

In English, there's an adjective called "Nintendo Hard ." It's slang for a game that's "unreasonably difficult," and it's still commonly used.

What's interesting is that this isn't a negative expression. Rather, it carries a nuance of respect, implying that "the sense of accomplishment upon clearing it is incredible."

In the Famicom era, there was no save function, so the standard practice was to increase the difficulty level to ensure playtime. I'm proud that this design philosophy is still talked about in English-speaking countries as a "culture of challenge and achievement."

A revolution in your pocket — what the Game Boy changed

"Games are something you play at home"...that's what I always thought. But thinking about it, that idea stopped being the norm after the Game Boy.

The release of the Game Boy in 1989 was an event that liberated games from the constraints of "location."

Back then, it was powered by four AAA batteries, and I remember it suddenly shutting down.

Until then, games could only be played in front of a television or at an arcade. The Game Boy was the first to bring games "into a person's pocket."

Nintendo's early investment in portable games can be said to have created the blueprint for the entire mobile game industry today.

Then, in the 2000s, Nintendo ventured into yet another "market nobody had anticipated."

The Wii got people who don't play games to participate.

You might have the experience of your parents playing video games. If so, it was probably thanks to the Wii.

I think the release of the Wii in 2006 is one of the most audacious examples of "market expansion" in gaming history.

While its competitors, Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360, were pursuing a high-performance, high-price strategy, Nintendo posed a completely different question.

The answer was Wii Sports. This game, which allows people to enjoy tennis, bowling, and golf while being physically active, brought Nintendo into nursing homes and family living rooms.

English-language media repeatedly used the headline "Granny plays Wii," which became a meme symbolizing the cross-generational spread of video games.

Even more interesting is Wii Fit. At the time, there was a growing health consciousness, similar to what we now call " looksmaxxing " (a culture of self-investment focused on thoroughly refining one's appearance and physique), and the value proposition of "exercising while playing games" fit perfectly into that trend. It's fair to say that the foundation of the fitness game market started here.

The Wii transformed gaming from something "for gamers" to "family entertainment." I believe this shift in thinking is Nintendo's greatest asset.

Use it right now! A collection of English phrases created by Nintendo

Nintendo's cultural influence is deeply ingrained in everyday English expressions. Here's a collection of phrases that will instantly liven up your conversations.

Phrases	meaning	A brief explanation
“Nintendo Hardware”	Unreasonably difficult	It has a nuance of "respect," not negativity.
“Playing Nintendo”	Playing games	This phrase is still in use, especially in the American Midwest.
"Nintendo Logic"	Game-like unrealistic rules	"That's not reality," said sarcastically.
“Nintendo thumb”	My thumb hurts from playing games.	It has also been used as a medical term.
“Blow on the cartridge”	Try out an old method	A metaphor born from the act of blowing into a cassette tape.

Three conditions for a brand to become synonymous with something.

Have you noticed anything after reading this far?
I feel like Nintendo's history is actually somewhat similar to the story of learning English.

When we analyze the reasons why Nintendo has become synonymous with video games, three key points emerge.

1. Building trust — We built the image of "Nintendo = peace of mind" through quality assurance.
2. Redefining the market — We consistently targeted "people who haven't played the game yet," rather than existing users.
3. Design that transcends language — An intuitive UX that needs no explanation enabled cultural export.

I think learning English is the same. Instead of perfecting grammar before you start speaking, you build confidence by gradually accumulating experiences where you can be understood.

That feeling of continuing to play despite saying "It's a Nintendo console, I can't do it anymore" during the Famicom era—that feeling surprisingly overlaps with learning English.

If you ever have the chance to talk to a foreign friend, try casually using phrases like "Nintendo Hard" or "blow on the cartridge." I'm sure their face will light up. That's the fun of language that transcends cultures.

“Play is the highest form of research.”— Albert Einstein