What if Nintendo Stays in the Arcades (Reboot)

[MemphisC]

this timeline is a reboot of my first ever timeline called What if Nintendo Stayed in the Arcades (V1) and a return to form for my projects. which i kept making and trying to get bigger and bigger until i went into a project so large that i quit and reflected on what project i should do; and after reading my oldest TL a little bit. I wanted to remake this TL with all the advancement i made though in the past 6 months on this website.

So here we go, Nintendo is and has been a household name in the gaming industry and now in entertainment industry as an whole but they started out as an card maker in 1889 making hanafuda cards to get past Japanese gambling laws and were a toy maker for the vast majority of its life and in the late 1970's they dipped their toes as arcade developers but abandoned in-house arcade development all together after the NES/Famicom was such an successful machine that they started to focusing exclusively on home consoles (and later handhelds). But what if, Nintendo stayed in the arcades and developed advanced arcade hardware to compete with Sega and all other Arcade game developers and stayed in the arcades until the modern day where the arcades are still popular in western markets. What changes to the gaming industry would happen from an more arcade-centric Nintendo and a more arcade-centric gaming industry, what acquisitions would happen, and what new franchises would Nintendo and have due to the arcades.

there will also be a lot of other companies that go much differently ITTL like Atari, Sega, Sony, RCA, and Apple but the main focus is on Nintendo and what they do.

But now, we have to go way back to the 50's to see where it all began.

Welcome to "What if Nintendo Stays in the arcades (Reboot)"

​

main links i use : https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...ft1inHRKF1cFTtQDA_97BHQIj6EwLivtO93c&usqp=CAU, https://www.copetti.org, fantendo.fandom.com/wiki/Fantendo:Main_Menu, https://videogames-fanon.fandom.com/wiki/Video_Games_Fanon_Wiki, and https://www.wikipedia.org.

Edit: added some text about Nintendo's beginning with hanafuda cards.
Another edit: added new sentences about other companies that changed ITTL.
Third edit: updated the name to the new name.

 

[Mr Red Stone]

Here's to a new timeline and Here's To Going back To When it all started.

 

[MemphisC]

Here's to a new timeline and Here's To Going back To When it all started.

i really like the concept of my first TL but cancelled it in for the arcadia TL which was way too ambitious for one single person to do. now that TL is dead i can do this one again.

 

[Nivek]

i really like the concept of my first TL but cancelled it in for the arcadia TL which was way too ambitious for one single person to do. now that TL is dead i can do this one again.

Nice to see It back

 

[MemphisC]

Nice to see It back

thank you.

 

[Jaiken]

Looking forward to this timeline. Just make sure not to overwhelm yourself.

 

[Ninja2006]

Cool!

 

[MemphisC]

we would start in the 1950's; where a little company named Nintendo who was most well known for their Hanafuda cards saw a successful industry that started to build up in Japan and America. This industry that Nintendo was interested in was the coin-up industry; also called the arcades. The coin-up industry in the 50's were dominated by two companies at this time and were both American; one was Gottlieb and the other was Seymour Corporation (a Texas game company started in the 1910's). Gottlieb was the king of pinball and basically started the pinball industry and Seymour Corporation dominated almost everything else as they held a stranglehold on the worldwide arcade scene with any electromechanical games or all the other staple games (pinball was the one exception). Nintendo was interested in joining the arcade market as well as toys due to declining interest in hanafuda cards. Nintendo's first attempt of a pinball machine was in 1952 based on Japanese folklore and sold fairly well recieved in Japan. the next couple of pinball machines and EM's were made from 1952-1955 as well but never did all to well. in 1955 Nintendo was starting to give up on the arcade endeavor and focus all on toys and in this time Nintendo had three big smash hit machines released that year that would change nintendo's trajectory forever. these three machine were Astroboy's Fantastic Pinball, Saberman's Stampede, and Looney Tunes Pinball party (released by the Newly opened Nintendo of America and the original NoJ). These three pinball machines made Nintendo 25 million dollars in the first year of debut and broke the American stranglehold in the arcades and became third on the most successful arcade companies in the mid to late 50's.

the 60's was the same story, plus the break up Seymour Corporation into two new companies (Seymour Tabletop games and Seymour Arcade Corp.). Nintendo was releasing successful EM games and Pinball machines like machines based of all of Osamu Tezuka's manga series, the Looney tunes, and games based off Disney films at this time. Nintendo also made four new IPs during the 60's; Dillon's Rolling Western, Pinbot, Duck Hunt, and Mach Rider. they also made successful toys like the ultra hand created by Gunpei Yokoi that was massive commercial successes. Nintendo however started to have new competition aside from Seymour and Gottlieb (plus a few other pinball companies) as well. Rally was a French Nuclear turned Pinball company making very advanced and successful machines. Sega was another competitor that started to truly compete and even beat out Nintendo at times like with the game called Periscope in 1966. Nintendo had a true competitor in Japan and this would start a massive rivalry for the next 40 years. the 60's was a good decades but the early 70's was a slap in nintendo's face as Nintendo was unprepared for a brand new company called Syzygy (founded by Nolan Bushnell) that created a game called computer space in 1971. while the game was only a mild success; Nintendo knew that if these games took off, they would completely cannibalize the pinball industry and kill the EM games. Nintendo's fears became reality the next year when Syzygy (Renamed to Atari) released Pong and it was a massive success and the Magnavox Odyssey being released the same year. these two developments shook up the entire arcade industry and made Nintendo realize that they needed to develop hardware to take advantage of the massive pong craze created by Atari. by 1973, Nintendo with help with some Japanese manufacturers created Nintendo's first video game.

edit: edited text to make more sense.

 

[MrCarioca]

I wonder how will this affect the console industry

 

[MemphisC]

I wonder how will this affect the console industry

it will effect it in many different ways. but that is the topic for a new chapter later on.

 

[Mr Red Stone]

we would start in the 1950's; where a little company named Nintendo who was most well known for their Hanafuda cards saw a successful industry that started to build up in Japan and America. This industry that Nintendo was interested in was the coin-up industry; also called the arcades. The coin-up industry in the 50's were dominated by two companies at this time and were both American; one was Gottlieb and the other was Seymour Corporation (a Texas game company started in the 1910's). Gottlieb was the king of pinball and basically started the pinball industry and Seymour Corporation dominated almost everything else as they held a stranglehold on the worldwide arcade scene with any electromechanical games or all the other staple games (pinball was the one exception). Nintendo was interested in joining the arcade market as well as toys due to declining interest in hanafuda cards. Nintendo's first attempt of a pinball machine was in 1952 based on Japanese folklore and sold fairly well recieved in Japan. the next couple of pinball machines and EM's were made from 1952-1955 as well but never did all to well. in 1955 Nintendo was starting to give up on the arcade endeavor and focus all on toys and in this time Nintendo had three big smash hit machines released that year that would change nintendo's trajectory forever. these three machine were Astroboy's Fantastic Pinball, Saberman's Stampede, and Looney Tunes Pinball party (released by the Newly opened Nintendo of America and the original NoJ). These three pinball machines made Nintendo 25 million dollars in the first year of debut and broke the American stranglehold in the arcades and became third on the most successful arcade companies in the mid to late 50's.

the 60's were the same stories plus the break up Seymour Corporation into two new companies (Seymour Tabletop games and Seymour Arcade Corp.). Nintendo was releasing successful EM games and Pinball machines like machines based of all of Osamu Tezuka's manga series, the Looney tunes, and games based off Disney films at this time. Nintendo also made four new IPs during the 60's; Dillon's Rolling Western, Pinbot, Duck Hunt, and Mach Rider. they also made successful toys like the ultra hand created by Gunpei Yokoi that was massive commercial successes. Nintendo however started to have new competition aside from Seymour and Gottlieb (plus a few other pinball companies) as well. Rally was a French Nuclear turned Pinball company making very advanced and successful machines. Sega was another competitor that started to truly compete and even beat out Nintendo at times like with the game called Periscope in 1966. Nintendo had a true competitor in Japan and this would start a massive rivalry for the next 40 years. the 60's was a good decades but the early 70's was a slap in nintendo's face as Nintendo was unprepared for a brand new company called Syzygy (founded by Nolan Bushnell) that created a game called computer space in 1971. while the game was only a mild success; Nintendo knew that if these games took off, they would completely cannibalize the pinball industry and kill the EM games. Nintendo's fears became reality the next year when Syzygy (Renamed to Atari) released Pong and it was a massive success and the Magnavox Odyssey Released the same year. this shook up the entire arcade industry and made Nintendo realize that they needed to develop hardware to take advantage of the massive pong craze created. by 1973, Nintendo with help with some Japanese manufacturers created Nintendo's first video game.

Okay The Fact that In this TL Dillon's Rolling Western Is older than Mario himself is so Weird to think about. Apart from that Great first chapter

 

[Ninja2006]

Cool!

 

[Nivek]

Okay The Fact that In this TL Dillon's Rolling Western Is older than Mario himself is so Weird to think about. Apart from that Great first chapter

Also sabreman too, ultimate/rare might need a new idea name in the future

 

[MemphisC]

Also sabreman too, ultimate/rare might need a new idea name in the future

absolutely true.

 

[MemphisC]

Okay The Fact that In this TL Dillon's Rolling Western Is older than Mario himself is so Weird to think about. Apart from that Great first chapter

yeah ITTL Nintendo has a bunch more IPs before Mario shows up in the 80's.

 

[MemphisC]

Nintendo in 1972 started development on what would be their first video game and the first to use discrete logic as CPUs were barely a thing at this point and they were morbidly expensive at the time. this era of Nintendo from 1973 - 1979 would see the evolution of many of their franchises from EM's and Pinball to Discrete logic and in 1977 the shift towards boards with micro processors best shown with the Astro and JackBot boards (will be discussed later) with Intel. we saw many of Nintendo's franchises get a major boost or even starting at this time like Mario, Sky Hawk, and Sheriff. Nintendo had a advantage against everybody else aside from Atari as they were the first to jump into video games and it will take a couple years for companies like Midway, Bally, Williams, Seymour Arcades, Rally, and Sega to catch up but when they finally catches up in 1975 - 1977 with many new companies (all the Same as OTL) it became a massive battleground in this booming industry. this will soon go over to the home console industry and the development of the first generation arcade hardware.

this table; includes most of the major video games that released during 1973 to 1979. many more was released but these were the games that had the most importance in this era of nintendo.

the next two chapters for this TL will be about nintendo's arcade hardware and the second generation of consoles.

edit: added a link for some of Nintendo games i based it off: https://www.niwanetwork.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_arcade_games

Game Title	Date of Release	Arcade Cabinets Sold	Info
Space Launcher	Fall 1973	1,500 - 2,500	one of the first successful space combat games ever released
Pong Tron	Fall 1973	2,000 - 4,000	early clone of Pong.
Jackbot (Pinbot spinoff)	Summer 1974	around 1,000	one of the first video pinball machines
Astroboy (the first video game)	1974	5,000 - 7,500	First video game to use IP from existing franchise.
EVR Race	1974	around 1,250	one of the first racing games ever. also was the first major use of the EVR home format.
Duck Hunt	1974	1,000 - 3,000	the first successful light gun game. introduced the duck hunt dog.
Battle Shark	1975	2,500 - 3,000	a remake of the EM game from 1965.
Dillion's Rolling Western (the video game)	1975	500 - 1,500	used a Intel 4004 CPU for the game. had failed to take off because of cost. would be important for later.
Mach Rider (The video Game)	1976	around 5,000	similar to Fonz arcade game. did very well in america and japan.
Sky Hawk	1976	around 10,000	a early version of what afterburner was. successful game for Nintendo and would create a franchise.
Nintendo Pro Rally	1976	8,000 - 12,500	successful Racing game. created a new franchise
Saberman Stampede: Montezuma's Revenge	1977	around 40,000	first game to use the Astro Platform. one of the earliest platformers ever made and the first to have a true plot.
Looney tunes birthday blowout	1977	2,500 - 3,250	an decent tie-in game.
Wild Gunmen	1978	5,000 - 6,000	Same as OTL. a fairly successful shooter game series for Nintendo.
Computer Othello	1978	around 2,000	the first game created by Shigeru Miyamoto.
Block Fever	1978	less than 2,500	Last game to use Discrete logic and the only one since 1976. a rip off of Breakout.
Sheriff	1979	around 10,000	successful multiplayer and Ikari warriors style game.
Space Fever	1979	less than 2,500	Space Invaders Rip-off.
Mario Bros.	1979	25,000 - 40,000	Same as OTL, a truly successful game that would get even bigger in 1980 with a certain ape and plumber to boot.

 

[Nivek]

this table

Nice list of games

 

[Ninja2006]

Nintendo in 1972 started development on what would be their first video game and the first to use discrete logic as CPUs were barely a thing at this point and they were morbidly expensive at the time. this era of Nintendo from 1973 - 1979 would see the evolution of many of their franchises from EM's and Pinball to Discrete logic and in 1977 the shift towards boards with micro processors best shown with the Astro and JackBot boards (will be discussed later) with Intel. we saw many of Nintendo's franchises get a major boost or even starting at this time like Mario, Sky Hawk, and Sheriff. Nintendo had a advantage against everybody else aside from Atari as they were the first to jump into video games and it will take a couple years for companies like Midway, Bally, Williams, Seymour Arcades, Rally, and Sega to catch up but when they finally catches up in 1975 - 1977 with many new companies (all the Same as OTL) it became a massive battleground in this booming industry. this will soon go over to the home console industry and the development of the first generation arcade hardware.

this table; includes most of the major video games that released during 1973 to 1979. many more was released but these were the games that had the most importance in this era of nintendo.

the next two chapters for this TL will be about nintendo's arcade hardware and the second generation of consoles.

Game Title	Date of Release	Arcade Cabinets Sold	Info
Space Launcher	Fall 1973	1,500 - 2,500	one of the first successful space combat games ever released
Pong Tron	Fall 1973	2,000 - 4,000	early clone of Pong.
Jackbot (Pinbot spinoff)	Summer 1974	around 1,000	one of the first video pinball machines
Astroboy (the first video game)	1974	5,000 - 7,500	First video game to use IP from existing franchise.
EVR Race	1974	around 1,250	one of the first racing games ever. also was the first major use of the EVR home format.
Duck Hunt	1974	1,000 - 3,000	the first successful light gun game. introduced the duck hunt dog.
Battle Shark	1975	2,500 - 3,000	a remake of the EM game from 1965.
Dillion's Rolling Western (the video game)	1975	500 - 1,500	used a Intel 4004 CPU for the game. had failed to take off because of cost. would be important for later.
Mach Rider (The video Game)	1976	around 5,000	similar to Fonz arcade game. did very well in america and japan.
Sky Hawk	1976	around 10,000	a early version of what afterburner was. successful game for Nintendo and would create a franchise.
Nintendo Pro Rally	1976	8,000 - 12,500	successful Racing game. created a new franchise
Saberman Stampede: Montezuma's Revenge	1977	around 40,000	first game to use the Astro Platform. one of the earliest platformers ever made and the first to have a true plot.
Looney tunes birthday blowout	1977	2,500 - 3,250	an decent tie-in game.
Wild Gunmen	1978	5,000 - 6,000	Same as OTL. a fairly successful shooter game series for Nintendo.
Computer Othello	1978	around 2,000	the first game created by Shigeru Miyamoto.
Block Fever	1978	less than 2,500	Last game to use Discrete logic and the only one since 1976. a rip off of Breakout.
Sheriff	1979	around 10,000	successful multiplayer and Ikari warriors style game.
Space Fever	1979	less than 2,500	Space Invaders Rip-off.
Mario Bros.	1979	25,000 - 40,000	Same as OTL, a truly successful game that would get even bigger in 1980 with a certain ape and plumber to boot.

Cool!

 

[MemphisC]

Nintendo started using CPU's as early as 1974 with the first arcade game of Dillion's Rolling Western, the game didn't do to well because of it's cost and the fact that nobody at Nintendo knew how to use the CPU for games so the game didn't take full advantage of the 4004 CPU. by 1975 however, Nintendo starts development on a project with the American chip manufacturer Intel to develop two pieces of hardware to compete with Atari. both pieces of hardware would use a 8085 processor but have completely different custom chipsets that distinguishes them apart. these arcade boards are the Astro Board and the Jackbot Board. part one will be about the Astro board.

The Astro board: the Astro Board was the more advanced of the two boards and one if not the first example of arcade hardware that can be easily swapped out to play new arcade games (like the Neo Geo MVS), it also allowed the use of Cassette Tapes and Floppy Disks as well. the unique chips that the Astro board use would be the the Mach 186 chip (that does all the advanced graphics of the Astro board) and the Monte chip that does all the sound of the system. this chipset made the system one of the most powerful machines of it's time and allowed for games that have around Colecovision level graphics in 1977. Franchises like Mario and Radar Scope were started here plus the acquisition of Osamu Tezuka's IPs in 1978 gave Nintendo a ton of Manga tie-ins and a potential for a new venture to release in the 80's. And the final important thing this system did was help create the pretty popular Famicom/NES in 1978/1979 that started Nintendo home console legacy (the TV-game 6 and 15 never exist ITTL) due to being a scaled back Astro board with major differences. the Astro board had a good run but eventually was discontinued by Nintendo in 1983 for better hardware to come from Nintendo. here are the specs of the Astro Board!

The Astro Board​

Release date	November 9, 1977 (JP) March 13, 1978 (NA) June 25, 1978 (EU and Everywhere else)
Lifespan	1977 - Early 1983
Manufacturers	Intel
Developers	Nintendo, Intel
Cost	$2,999 at launch
CPU	Intel 8085 (3 MHz)
VDP	Nintendo Mach 186 Chip (8 bit, 1.86 MHz)
RAM	32 KB of RAM
Media	Cartridge (up to 32/64 KB) Cassette (up to 96 KB) Floppy Disk (up to 96 KB)
Color Palate	up to 32 colors (advanced effects and techniques can push it up to 121 colors)
Sprites	up to 8 sprites (2 colors) or 4 sprites (4 or 8 colors)
Resolution	160 x 192 or 320 x 384
Sound Chip	Nintendo Sound System "Monte" (3 PSG channels, similar to the VIC-20)
Other Features	can do some parallax scrolling, 4 bit DAC, tile mode and bitmap modes, and multiplayer
Games Released	around 30 games (4 bootleg games)

Next Chapter will be about the jackbot board.

 

[Nivek]

hardware to come from Nintendo. here are the specs of the Astro Board!

Nice board