Voxcali

One man’s persistence led to the popularization of a global food sensation.

Billions of servings are eaten every year all over the world as late night cravings or during finals week when there’s no time to cook. Let’s take a look at how instant noodles became one of the greatest food inventions of all time.

Momofuku Ando is the founder of Nissin Food Products Co. and the inventor of the very first prepackaged instant noodles. Born into a wealthy Taiwanese family, Ando followed their entrepreneurial footsteps, opening his own textile company. He later moved to Osaka to expand his business and study economics at Ritsumeikan University.

During World War II, Ando’s businesses thrived, but in 1948, he was given a two year prison sentence for handing out scholarships to students, which counted as tax evasion in Japan at the time. After his sentence, he had lost all of his textile businesses to bankruptcy and he ended up founding Nissin where he began to produce salt.

When World War II ended, Japan faced major food shortages and the Ministry of Health encouraged people to eat bread made of wheat flour. Confused as to why bread was being recommended when noodles were much more familiar to the Japanese people, Ando figured this was his opportunity to come up with something new.

After experimenting for months, Ando finally released the very first package of instant noodles called Chikin Ramen and it became a huge hit. This led Ando to the invention of Cup Noodles in 1971 when he was 61 years old.

Cup Noodles were an international hit and over time, Ando was able to observe the different ways people were enjoying Cup Noodles. He upgraded to a styrofoam cup to help keep the noodles warm and once production costs went down, business boomed.

By 2009 98 billion servings of Cup Noodles were in demand worldwide, and today that number has exceeded 100 billion every year. The brand has developed more flavors like Thai tom yum and Korean stir fry, keeping customers from every continent happy.

There are two Cup Noodle museums in Japan dedicated to instant noodles as well as Nissin’s founder where you can customize your own cup and flavors. Momofuku Ando passed away from heart failure in 2007 at the age of 96 but he lived long enough to see his invention revolutionize the world.

Chinese American Super Bowl LVI champion Taylor Rapp looks to get the Bills over the hump in the last year of his contract.

Buffalo Bills starting safety Taylor Rapp is providing crucial defensive acumen for the league contender in his seventh NFL season.

The Chinese American first made his mark with the Los Angeles Rams in 2021, Rapp’s best season for both individual and team performance.  Starting all 17 regular season games with the Rams, he tallied a career best 4 interceptions, 1.5 sacks, 6 pass deflections and 94 tackles. 

A head injury in the last game of the regular season sidelined him for the start of the postseason as he entered a mandatory concussion protocol.  The Rams won three games in a row on their way to Super Bowl LVI versus the Cincinnati Bengals, hosted in LA on their home field SoFi Stadium. Rapp returned for the decisive game and contributed 7 tackles in the Rams’ first Super Bowl win playing in Los Angeles.

After being selected by the Rams in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft Rapp would play his first four seasons on a rookie contract worth $4.67 million.  During his 58-game tenure in LA he logged 337 tackles, 23 pass deflections, and 9 interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

As a free agent in 2023 Rapp signed a 3-year $10.6 million contract with the Buffalo Bills.  To date, through 37 games with Buffalo he’s grabbed 4 picks.  The Bills past two seasons have ended in defeat by the Kansas City Chiefs, in which Rapp was sidelined with injuries.  This season the Bills are off to a 4-1 start, inspiring hopes of their first Super Bowl win.

Rapp played three seasons of college football at the University of Washington before declaring for the draft after his junior year.  He was Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year in 2016 and all-conference the next two seasons.  In 2018 Rapp was also named a second-team All-American. The 27-year-old was born in Atlanta, and raised in Bellingham, Washington to a mother from Shanghai and a Canadian father.  He was raised with Chinese values and celebrates traditional Chinese holidays. Rapp’s collection of tattoos includes Chinese calligraphy meaning “little brother” mirrored by his brother Austin who has the “older brother” version.

Political Strategist Trip Yang explains why the "bubble tea strategy" doesn't work and breaks down how Zohran Mamdani secured a commanding lead in the New York City mayoral race.

Romen (00:00)

Trip (00:17)

Romen (00:21)

Trip (00:57)

But look, back then it was, you know, was so much fun, it was so much work. You really have to love this type of work to stay in it.

Romen (01:52)

Trip (01:54)

Trip (02:21)

Romen (02:50)

Trip (02:57)

But look, to finish that thought, as you get more experienced in politics, a lot of us, become strategists. Some may call them consultants. You essentially, you you start your own business or you work for a company where you do more specialized type of work. So what we do now, you know, I'm about six years into my firm Tripp Gang Strategies. We do a lot of media ads in terms of direct mail and digital ads on behalf of candidates, know, governor, Congress, the more local level, as well as, you know, we provide political strategy, advice for candidates and for corporations etc.

And at that level it's look you're not physically knocking on doors anymore obviously you're off you're often not even in the campaign office that you know managing the younger day-to-day staff at that level at the strategist consultant level you're really doing very very specialized work and in a lot of ways it's what you know is what a natural progression if you've been in this business for a dozen or 15 years what what often looks like it's much more sustainable right because as you get older you really just want to you want to essentially use your skill set all your specializations in a very very targeted way and that's you know professionally clients you know people who bring you in they're paying you a higher amount of money for a very specialized skill set

Romen (04:48)

Trip (05:14)

We know that AAPIs are, in New York it's 18 % the fastest growing demographic. Nationally it's somewhere around 7 % and the fastest growing demographic. However you slice it, Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders are just the fastest growing demographic across America. But you don't have a lot of diversity when it comes to people making the decisions and people really in charge of political organizations. There is a very distinct element I'll describe in that the elected officials are getting more diverse, which is a good thing because communities are diverse, but the people making decisions are not diverse. It actually gets whiter and whiter and male and older, the higher you go in politics.

And I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing. I don't want to take a paycheck from anyone. I'm not arguing for that at all. What I am saying is it helps where there's a real pipeline for people like us who have a different experience and can empathize a little bit differently to one day, you know, have an opportunity to earn their ability to climb the ladder. And so when I started my own company, you know, we're 100% AAPI owned because I own 100% of the business.

It was really an opportunity to reflect the fact that, look, a lot of political campaigns, they don't do their media ads and they don't do their strategy designed for AAPI audiences in mind. And in a state like, for example, in New Jersey, that's double digit Asian Americans, half of New Jersey AAPI population is Indian American. In a state like Nevada, which is perennially a battleground presidential state where you have the Filipino population as the as largest AAPI demographic.

We're in a state like California where AAPI as a whole is over six million California residents. You know, that's a huge gap in the market of voters communities who are not being communicated to in a culturally competent way. So as soon as we start our firm, we wanted to do a couple of things. We wanted to do professional translation of direct mail pieces, which are great for middle aged and older voters and digital ads, great for younger voters. So capturing really the political electorate here, it needed to be translated these different languages and they need to be culturally competent, right? What you say in English, you can actually, you know, nuance the message a little bit when you're talking to a Chinese American or Indian American or Muslim audience to really have more of a connection.

And one of the final things I'll say on this is that, look, 10 years ago, it used to be what I call kind of campaigns would just kind of bubble tea their AAPI strategy, meaning they would pour no effort, no resources into communicating and putting in ads or hiring field staff for Asian American communities until probably a month or two before the election. And it's some really bad shinglish type of written ad.

You know, it was just to me like I always felt growing up that was you know in this business It was really disrespectful and that was just poor quality and in the day that doesn't help a campaign win And so when we started our firm, we wanted to have, you know, culturally competent Communication and ads and strategy that was catered to AAPI audiences and we've done. You know probably ads in about ten different languages really, you know all the East Asian major South Asian as well as Arabic.

And we really wanted to see our communities thrive and be the center of attention. The final thing I'll say, and to answer your question directly, is that these things go hand in glove. The market in politics for outreach investment in Asian American AAPI communities used to be very small.

You know, 12, 13 years ago, Romen, when we started, it wasn't much. It really wasn't much. But, you know, as America changes, the political consulting industry changes as well. And there's a little bit more investment. You see this from the National Democratic Party, from the state democratic parties in the large states, especially like New York and California, where there's more intentional budget and investment and thinking set aside to how do we communicate to AAPI audiences. So I like to think, you know, our firm, we've contributed a small amount to some of that work, certainly in New York, but it really goes hand in glove. You know, the growth of our firm and growth of our professional trajectory, it really rises in parallel with how in America, political parties put more effort into Asian American communities.

Romen (10:35)

Trip (10:52)

Romen (11:35)

Trip (12:07)

And look, I think a lot of folks who want to work in a congressional office or in city hall or administration, think it's, look, it's laudable. It's just a different atmosphere and it's a different vibe. I like that experience. I'm very grateful for those several years, but I really like what we do as a company, you know, in terms of running political campaigns and public affairs campaigns and changing public opinion.

Romen (12:50)

Trip (13:20)

Romen (14:05)

So I obviously got to ask you about the Zohran Mamdani race for Mayor. We ran a piece the day after he won the primary where we looked at the different AAPI demographics and how they really turned out for Zohran. But it seems to me what's really cool —— AAPI is such a broad term. It can mean South Asians, East Asians —— It seems like you would think South Asians would come to the table for him because he's South Asian, but East Asians turned out in big numbers too, not to separate them as if there's some, but what do you think explain that?

Trip (15:19)

Trip (16:04)

You know people probably weren't taking his calls a year ago a 33 year old democratic socialist to trounce the Cuomo dynasty In New York he is on a as long as he doesn't make significant mistakes in the next couple weeks He's on a glide path to becoming mayor. He'd be the first Muslim American mayor of New York the first South Asian mayor of New York He's got a rich. you know identity. He is of Indian descent He spent a lot of time in Uganda

Of course he's identified often by his Muslim faith, for example. so ⁓ he's also, do know him ⁓ bit. Zohran's a very intelligent, really kind, charismatic person, great, great listener.

So look what he did was remarkable and to answer your question directly AAPIs which are usually were about 18 % in New York City's electorate were the fastest growing so it's a huge amount a close to

Half of that is Chinese American by itself, right? And then you have Korean American and then you have South Asian demographics in there. Zohran did extremely well with South Asians, whether they're Indian American, Pakistani American, Bengali American. You look at some of these neighborhoods, I'm gonna get specific for a bit. Kensington and Brooklyn or Parkchester in the Bronx, they had massive turnout spikes. So he really monopolized the South Asian bloc.

People expected him to because his campaign did make some investment in it, know wise decision But the big surprise was you know about two-thirds of all AAPI's which are East Asian largely Chinese and then Korean American He won a bunch a lot of these East Asian areas people expected to go for another candidate the reason why is because East Asian Americans in New York have a reputation for voting for a pro safety candidate often especially for an older Chinese American. You may like a tough on crime message from a Democrat. There was another candidate Andrew Cuomo who ran on a tough on crime message.

Romen (18:40)

Trip (18:41)

Romen (19:14)

How much do you put your own personal beliefs into taking on clients? Will you ever look at a client that wants your services and say, "they're a little further left than I am or a little more moderate than I am?"

Trip (19:48)

Does that cause us to lose out on some business, especially on the corporate side? Absolutely. But that's okay, right? You know, there are…Making money is important, especially as you have dependents and fixed costs as you get older, but it cannot be 100 % of your decision making. So really early on as a business owner, ⁓ you draw the line on what you will and will not do. So let's say we eliminate the 50 % of potential business because it's conservative, it's MAGA, it's anti-LGBT, it's anti-reproductive freedom, et cetera, right? Let's eliminate that potential pool of business.

Then you make more subjective calls. Within the democratic ecosystem, course, whether it's progressives like Bernie Sanders or more centrist Democrats, you kind of have to make your own decision. I identify as pretty progressive. I voted for Bernie in the Democratic primary twice. I was a Bernie delegate. ⁓ But look, on the candidate end, we have worked with candidates who were trying to flip Republican congressional districts.

You know, just last year, the George Santos congressional district ⁓ over in Long Island and Queens, we did an independent expenditure that put back the Democrat in place, Tom Suozzi in the special election. And then in November, you know, we did work with the New York State Democratic Party to help the Democrat, Tom Suozzi, retain it. You know Suozzi is a centrist Democrat, right? I'm personally a little bit more left than someone like he is, but you know, have to, you have to kind of…give yourself a little bit of wiggle room Because you know for a couple reasons one in democracy

You have to have the ability to work with people who you don't agree with 100% of time. I think that's just part about you know being an adult You have to just collaborate people you don't always agree with and then from a business owner perspective if you are Trying to expand your business you're bringing on new team members You know you need to you know you need to make payroll every two weeks You need to give out or you want to give out bonuses multiple times a year You got an office in Manhattan none of this stuff is cheap in life. Right, as a business owner. So look you have to give yourself some wiggle room there as well.

Romen (22:29)

Trip (22:48)

Romen (22:51)

No, I'm just kidding, you didn't actually say any of that, but you ordered the Blazin' and my God, like one bite into this, you were like, what have I done? There was like sweat and tears running down your face. It was gross. It was these new people you just met. And I thought it was the coolest, funniest thing ever because you were just like. "I'm here to have a good time and meet new people and I don't care how they judge me."

And everyone ended up loving you for it, but that became a story for which we would roast you ⁓ time and time again. And I will still do it any chance I get. And I don't think you finished them, though you put up a pretty valiant effort. But my question to you is, if you're walking into a Buffalo Wild Wings right now, what flavor would you?

Trip (24:11)

So I'd probably get some, you know, I probably play conservative right now. I probably do like some, ⁓ you know, ⁓ probably, probably some honey, ⁓ you know, you know, garlic parm, you know, that's like the go to, right? If I'm on the wild side, I'll do like buffalo, a little bit spicy, but I would never do blazing again. I learned my lesson.

Romen (24:50)

Trip (25:00)

Romen (25:01)

Trip (25:10)

The Japanese pitching trio of Ohtani, Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki fires the Los Angeles Dodgers’ through an undefeated postseason.

The World Series champs are headed to the NLCS for their seventh time in the past decade following convincing Wild Card and NLDS wins.  The hot start has made the LA Dodgers heavy favorites to defend their title.

The Dodgers’ strong Japanese presence features generational superstar Shohei Ohtani, pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki, the off-season’s most talked-about rookie.  The 6’4” 23-year-old was brought in to reinforce the starting rotation as future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw finishes off his final season. 

Sasaki’s first season didn’t go as planned with a right shoulder impingement that kept him on the injured list for over four months.  Upon his late September return the Dodgers deployed him to the bullpen to add stability to the team’s struggling relievers.

A revived shoulder and a new mission have produced a revelation.  With his fastball hitting over 100 mph Sasaki struck out 9 batters in 7.1 innings through 6 appearances with zero runs.  His first two career saves have come in the playoffs to give the Dodgers a 2-0 NLDS lead over the Phillies.  Ohtani and Sasaki made a history as the first Japanese-born starter and reliever duo to earn a win and a save in the same postseason game.  To close out the series Sasaki provided three shutout innings of extended relief as game 4 went into extra innings.

The success prompted manager Dave Roberts – who in 2020 became the first manager of Asian heritage to win the World Series – to designate Sasaki as the primary option in the 9th inning.   A return to a starting role is possible, but for now Sasaki’s formidable fastball and devastating splitter appear key for the Dodgers to close out games as they close on a second straight World Series title.

Here’s a roundup of pop culture's most iconic Asian characters that you can dress up as for Halloween this year.

If you haven’t found your Halloween costume this year yet, here is your ultimate Asian Halloween Costume guide.

Starting off with some timely suggestions.

Rumi, Mira, Zoey from K-Pop Demon Hunters, Netflix’s number one animated movie. The girls wore fierce and vibrant outfits throughout the film and neon accessories or matching wigs will complete the look. It’s the perfect bit for any trio.

Simu Liu represented the Asian community in the Barbie movie, so if you’re in need of a couple’s costume, Barbie and Ken screams confidence and charisma.

For something simple and mysterious, a Squid Game Guard is the ideal Halloween costume. It’s recognizable and can be incorporated into a group costume with others dressing up as Squid Game players.

Next up are some iconic characters that will radiate that nostalgic feeling.

From the Fast and the Furious franchise, Suki is the 2000s cool girl. Her pink flare pants and purple tank make it easy to bring back the Y2K glam.

Then we have Scarlett Sinister from the Halloweentown movie series on Disney Channel. Scarlett has an attitude and a sparkly wardrobe. Wear dark colors or leopard print and don’t be shy with the red lipstick.

Lucy Liu plays O-Ren Ishii from the classic movie Kill Bill and she was both graceful and deadly. A white kimono and a katana is all you need for any movie-goer to recognize who you are dressed up as this year.

Another 2000s diva you can go as is the one and only London Tipton from Disney Channel’s The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Throw on a colorful beret and matching scarf and pair it with a cute mini bag with dangling purse charms.

To round up this part of the list we have one of the most beloved Asian characters on television, Glen Rhee from The Walking Dead. You probably already have a flannel shirt in your closet. Complete the look with a baseball cap and if you really want to get into the Halloween spirit, splatter some fake blood over your outfit.

From the big screens to the stadiums, next on this list is Steve Aoki, world renowned DJ and producer who is the cake-throwing king. Channel the Aoki energy with his long hair, a tank top, and a fake cake prop so everyone knows who you are.

To finish out our costume guide we have the Dodger dynasty. Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Sasaki have been powerhouse players for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Head out solo as the city’s MVP or with your friends as the Big Three from Japan.

A seven-member Japanese girl group makes waves globally with their unique English-language hip-hop and R&B tracks.

XG, short for “Xtraordinary Girls,” is a seven-member Japanese girl group based in South Korea that releases hip-hop, pop, and R&B music mainly in English.

After gaining the distinction of being the only Japanese act to perform at Coachella in April, in September XG released the music video for “Gala”, a pre-release single from their first full-length studio album slated to drop January 23, 2026.

XG debuted in March 2022 with the single “Tippy Toes”.  Since then it has built a global fanbase comprising 4.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify and a combined 12 million followers between TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

In 2023 it hit number 27 in the US pop charts with “Left Right,” its second most streamed song.

From the same year “Shooting Star” has been played over 250 million times on YouTube and Spotify combined.  Those were followed by the debut EP New DNA containing 6 tracks including their lead single, “Grl Gvng.”

In 2024 XG’s second mini-album Awe reached the US Billboard 200 with the Top 40 Dance track “Something Ain’t Right” and a remix of “Woke Up” which hit number 5 in Japan.

The group’s “Million Places” reached number 2 in Japan in 2025, making it their highest charting single in any country.

XG members Jurin, Chisa, Hinata, Harvey, Juria, Maya, and Cocona range in age from late teens to early twenties.   Members are of Japanese ancestry with the exception of Hinata who is of mixed Japanese and Korean heritage. XG kicked off its “The First HOWL” world tour in 2024, drawing an estimated 200,000 fans across 26 cities.

Yale’s Vicky Chun used her experience as a pioneering coach and player to transform the athletic department to make room for AAPI student-athletes.

Vicky Chun became Yale University’s first woman and first Asian American athletic director when she was appointed to the position in 2018.

She began her tenure by spearheading a complete overhaul of the athletic department’s facilities, directing more than $100 million toward new construction and renovations.  Keeping up in the arms race has yielded the Bulldogs significant success, with teams securing 11 national championships and 38 Ivy League titles.

Chun has also had an impact in fundraising by raising over $65 million from Yale’s donors.

Prior to Yale she made history in 2012 as the first Asian American woman athletic director at the D1 level at her alma mater Colgate University.  She had spent five years working as associate AD after stints at NCAA and as commissioner of New York State Women’s Collegiate Athletic Association.

Preceding her time as an administrator Chun was a student-athlete and coach for the Raiders.   She was an assistant for the volleyball program in 1993 before leading the program for the next three seasons.   The team saw great success with a 67-27 record and earned Colgate’s first-ever NCAA tournament berth.

As a player the Chinese American led the Raiders to a conference championship and was named Patriot League Player of the Year in 1991.   Chun graduated the same year with degrees in poli sci and education.  She earned a masters in history in 1994.

Colgate volleyball retired Chun’s jersey in 2015 to honor her accomplishments during her time as both a student-athlete and a coach. In 2021, along with University of Washington’s current AD Pat Chun, and former America East Conference commissioner Amy Huchthausen, Vicky Chun founded Asian American & Pacific Islander Athletics Alliance, or 4AAPI, to create a college sports community for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.   The number AAPI collegiate student-athletes increased 50% from 2012 to 2022.

The innovation and culture behind these Asian-owned brands will upgrade your shoe game.

These Asian-owned footwear brands deserve just as much attention as your favorite Nike sneakers or everyday Birkenstocks.

Starting off with a footwear classic, Mizuno was founded in 1906 in Osaka and built their empire with high performance sneakers. Runners swear by Mizuno’s comfort and the brand also carries shoes for specific sports like volleyball and tennis. Their affordable pricing and sleek style have made Mizuno a quiet favorite amongst athletes.

Next we have 1587 Sneakers, which is named after the year Filipinos arrived in North America. With the name alone this brand is making statements blending Filipino culture with modern sneaker culture and has even been invested in by award winning actor Daniel Dae Kim. 1587 Sneakers is known to release limited edition drops, each with a cultural story that conjures Filipino pride.

Moving on to Onitsuka Tiger, one of Japan’s most loved sneaker brands that was created to promote sports after World War II. Today Onitsuka Tiger’s shoes bring a vintage aesthetic to the footwear scene, using their original silhouettes, but reimagining them for sneaker lovers that appreciate heritage and streetwear fashion.

Finally, Olympic athlete Li Ning’s self named brand has been known to mix performance and streetwear into their sneakers. Not only is it a popular running shoe in China, Li Ning’s fashionable footwear has earned the brand notable collaborations with international designers and athletes and has even been seen on runways in major cities.

Amar Hanspal’s AI-powered Motif is poised to become an essential tool for architects and engineers.

Amar Hanspal is the CEO and founder of Motif, a company transforming architecture, engineering, and construction industries with its collaborative AI-powered design software. 

Founded in 2023, the platform allows users to generate 3D layouts by simply providing parameters like the number of conference rooms, ceiling heights, and window placements. Additionally, exterior sketches can be uploaded to generate robust mockups.

Clients include DLR Group, Perkins&Will, and Heatherwick Studio whose testimonials rave about its seamless implementation with existing projects.

Motif raised $46 million from CapitalG and Redpoint in its Seed and Series A funding rounds.

Hanspal’s 30-year career includes 15 at Autodesk where he was a former co-CEO and Chief Product Officer.  A key achievement of his was transitioning the company to a cloud-based, subscription-focused business model.  He co-founded Motif with Brian Mathews, another former Autodesk executive.

Prior to Motif Hanspal co-founded Bright Machines in 2018, an AI-powered software solution for manufacturing.  He served as CEO until 2021. Hanspal received a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stony Brook University in 1986 and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Bombay in 1984.

In 130 years Nintendo went from making playing cards to building the world's greatest gaming empire.

Long before anyone had ever heard of the iconic Mario character, Nintendo was just another trading card company in Japan called Nintendo Koppai. Let’s rewind back 130 years and see how these cards evolved into a modern gaming powerhouse. 

Fusajiro Yamauchi is the mastermind behind the Nintendo name. He began creating hanafuda playing cards in 1889 which he hand painted himself and because most forms of gambling was banned in Japan at the time, Yamauchi’s cards became very desirable. This led Yamauchi to open his very first store in Kyoto called Marufuku Nintendo Card Co. 

With the business taking off, Yamauchi was able to hire a team to mass produce the hanafuda cards allowing Nintendo to dominate the playing card industry for decades. Unfortunately, due to slow manufacturing and high product costs, sales were negatively impacted and it wasn’t until Yamauchi’s grandson Hiroshi Yamauchi took over in 1951. 

He changed the name of the company to Nintendo Playing Card Co. and in 1959, Hiroshi signed a partnership with Walt Disney Productions to incorporate Disney characters onto their playing cards. This opened up Nintendo’s fan base to children, resulting in an increase in production and sales selling over 1.5 million card packs in 1961. 

Over time, Hiroshi began to see the playing card market decline, so he decided to take a huge risk investing in toys and games. They made their entrance into the arcade video game world with Sheriff and Radar Scope, but their first big hit was Donkey Kong in 1981. This led Hiroshi to introduce the famous mustached character, Mario, into Donkey Kong’s world, marking a moment that would change gaming forever. 

By 1983 the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES, was available in North America, bringing us legendary games like Super Mario Bros. and Metroid. As the years went by, Nintendo stayed on top of the innovation game with their release of the Game Boy in 1989 and the Nintendo 64 that brought 3D worlds into gaming culture. 

The Nintendo DS and Wii took the 2000s by storm proving that gaming wasn’t just for gamers, it was for everyone. The DS had two screens fit onto a portable console that you could bring with you anywhere and the Wii’s remote control sensors turned living rooms into home arcades. 

In 2017 the Nintendo Switch was released giving users the choice to play as a handheld console or at home on your TV screen. With thousands of games available, the Switch became the third best selling console of all time, shipping over 150 million units internationally by 2024. 

Nintendo took things to the next level by bringing Super Nintendo World to life at Universal Studios Japan in 2021 and later to Universal Studios Hollywood in 2023 where fans could physically step into the Mushroom Kingdom and participate in interactive games. Visitors can walk around and meet Nintendo characters, eat at themed cafes, and use their Power-Up bands to collect coins, just like in the virtual games.