We sometimes take for granted just how different Nintendo is now when compared to the ’90s and ’00s. In the year 2000, for example, Pokémon was arguably at its height, the Game Boy Color was flourishing, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask was delighting and baffling fans in equal measure.
To really get a feel for how the company presented itself back in 2000, ‘Nintendeal guy’ Andrew Wolf has scanned and uploaded a rare Nintendo company guide online. Clocking in at 44 pages, it’s relatively light on text (which, understandably, is in Japanese), but there’s a load of images an iconography to pore over.
We’re particularly interested in the pages depicting individuals holding the Nintendo logo like a pair of binoculars – what’s that all about?
Otherwise, there’s a really cool early look at the Game Boy Advance which, as shown on page 8, is depicted with a very rudimentary image. The accompanying text highlights it as “Nintendo’s futuristic Game Boy, a complete model change for the 21st century”.
We also get a brief introduction from the late Hiroshi Yamauchi, a segment dedicated to Rare, images of the consoles and games that were very much in vogue at the time, and more.
A solid preservation effort from Mr. Wolf, then!
