With innovative marketing and games that appealed to cartoon-loving young people, Hiroshi Yamauchi built an early computer-gaming empire, Nintendo Co. Mr. Yamauchi, who died on Thursday at age 85, transformed Nintendo from a small maker of "Hanafuda," traditional Japanese playing cards, to a manufacturer of gaming consoles and software that delivered Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong into living rooms around the world. An upstart among Japan's high-technology giants, Kyoto-based Nintendo managed to become one of Japan's most successful companies globally by offering affordable devices coupled with popular games. Read more http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323308504579084841731442728.html
