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Super Nintendo

How One Japanese Company Helped the World Have Fun

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Super Nintendo

By: Keza MacDonald
Narrated by: Keza MacDonald
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The incredible story of how an unassuming playing card company became one of the dominant cultural forces of the twenty-first century: Super Nintendo is a joyous ode to our love of gaming by one of the most trusted voices in video games writing.

'A book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out'
SAM LEITH, THE TIMES

'MacDonald writes brilliantly . . . a great book'
CHARLIE BROOKER

'An engaging history of Japan's most famous business.'
STEPHEN BUSH, FINANCIAL TIMES (Best Books of the Summer)

FEATURING CHAPTERS ON
Ultrahand, Donkey Kong, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Pokémon, Kirby's Adventures, Wii Sports, Animal Crossing, Nintendo Labo, Super Smash Bros, Splatoon

'Fascinating' MAIL ON SUNDAY
'Affectionate' IRISH INDEPENDENT
'Charming' SPECTATOR
'Brilliant' MIRROR

'MacDonald's conversations with all the gifted (and often eccentric) creative people who actually make the games are full of such wholesome insights, as are her own superb analyses of favourite games, and of the general vibe of Nintendo'
GUARDIAN

'If you want to learn about Nintendo, this is the book to do it'
NINTENDOLIFE

©2026 Keza MacDonald (P)2026 Guardian Faber Publishing Asia Entertainment & Celebrities Japan Programming Programming & Software Development Software Development Video Game Game Heartfelt
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Loved the stories behind games I've known and loved through the decades. Also Keza has a very soothing voice to listen to. It's a 1 Up from me!

Awesome For Nintendo Fans

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This is what I have always wanted to read (er sorry listen to) about Nintendo. It’s almost answering the question “what do they mean to me and why?”.

When the author describes how the garden at the beginning of Mario 64 was as memorable as her memories in the garden of her childhood, I could only relate. Growing up in the 90s it was an unforgettable experience seeing that game running for the 1st time in the local video game shop. This book is full of these kinds of moments.

A celebration of what is great about a company that is close to my heart.

A triumph

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As a big Nintendo fan this was a lovely tour of the company through its biggest games. I definitely learned something new, and although my favourite franchise (Starfox) only gets a brief mention, the author has wisely limited their selections to games that were milestones in the evolution of Nintendo and gaming as a whole.

Nostalgic and insightful

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This feels like it ought to have been a youtube video series instead. While I am sure this will resonate with those who are solely fans of Nintendo, and view video games as almost synonymous with that brand, there are quite a lot in here which feels like it is judging gaming as a whole with tunnel vision. Understanding gaming requires context, and seeing all of gaming only through Nintendo, especually when there are a LOT of assertions being made about the industry as a whole, feels frustrating as somebody who grew up seeing gaming grow from something a bit obscure that mostly happened on strange home computers, to becoming a mainstream hobby. It feels like this is the bones of two books slammed together in the hopes of creating a unified narrative, except one half requires a broader look at the gaming industry as a whole, and that part is simply skipped altogether, and the other half comes across as a desire to express the authors personal adoration of Nintendo as a brand. Do not get me wrong: Nintendo certainly have a very important place in gaming history, but so much of what is said in this book makes it seem like the author never experienced a lot of the timeline themself, and have had to extrapolate how thing might have been, rather than knowing. It's hard to explain it more accurately than that without addressing specific points one at a time, but regardless, to me this ended up feeling drawn out and somewhat inaccurate.

Not-so-Super Nintendo

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