On July 9, 1981, Nintendo released Donkey Kong, the arcade game that saved the company. By this time Nintendo had been around nearly 100 years, though the company’s work had evolved greatly over time. It started as a playing-card company, later getting into such varied productions as instant rice and taxi services. In 1969, it ventured into an industry that would prove fruitful: electronic video games. For the next decade, Nintendo would achieve success in Japan with various home-gaming systems and arcade games. In 1979, the company decided it wanted to branch into the profitable U.S. market. Everyone agreed on...