From a 20-second splash
to Explore, Shop, Support

The oldest nintendo.com homepage we found is from December 22, 1996, and its browser tab says Nintendo Power Source. The page is one picture and two short paragraphs on black. The first is a warning: This site is constructed for use with a browser that supports frames and JavaScript, such as Netscape Navigator 2.0 (or above) or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. Some areas also needed the Director 5.0 Shockwave plug-in, or for Internet Explorer the ActiveX control for Shockwave.

The picture is a link to /hallway/index.html, and the page’s code sends you there anyway after 20 seconds. So the homepage was a waiting room, and the real site started one door further in, in the “hallway”.

The address is older than this capture. A Nintendo Power ad from August 1995 printed www.Nintendo.com under the words get on it, and right below it a second way in: AOL Keyword: NOA.^[1] NOA is Nintendo of America. The ad gave readers two doors: a web address, and a keyword for AOL members.

By December 1997 the black splash is gone. The homepage is a single banner in the top left corner of an empty white page. The address itself is the logo: www.nintendo.com in outlined letters above a red NINTENDO POWER SOURCE label, with the Nintendo 64 “N” on the right and the words home of the curving around it.

From capture to capture, mostly the game in the middle changes. December 1997 and May 1998 show the same basketball game: Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside tips-off, the kid got game!, Plus Nintendo 64 reviews, tips, codes and more!

The May 1998 capture also has a small Privacy Policy link under the banner. April 1999 swaps in Mario Party: Join Nintendo’s biggest stars for the frantic four-player fun of Mario Party! Plus Game Boy Color, codes, and much more. June 2000 shows Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, with one small extra tile under the banner: an ESRB Privacy Online seal.

The tab gets longer as the page stays small. In 1999 it reads Nintendo Power Source - The Official Web Site for Nintendo of America, Inc. Four years, four banners, and almost nothing else on the screen.

In June 2001 the whole page sits inside a purple frame with rounded corners, drawn like a piece of hardware. A cartoon Mario leans over the top edge with a speech bubble: WELCOME TO NINTENDO.COM! The tab now says | Nintendo |, and the Power Source name is gone.

This is the first of our captures with a real menu: GAMES, SYSTEMS, NEWS, NSIDER, DOWNLOADS, with buttons for the Code Bank and a Game Finder on the right. Under it, the small print reads like a company directory: Parents, Customer Service, Corporate, Global, Privacy, Store, Contact.

Click GAMES and the same purple frame turns into a catalogue. Four tabs run down its left edge, TOP TEN, TOP RENTALS, PLAYER’S CHOICE and ESRB RATINGS, and a grey box on the right explains the GAME FINDER: Use this tool to narrow your search for games and codes. A bar across the middle offers a WISH LIST: E-mail or print a list of your favorite games. First in the list in May 2001 is The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Three days, 24 masks, one hero.

The big panel is the Game Boy Advance, Gorgeous graphics, great sound and multiplayer fun are hitting the road. The next console is already in the news column: NINTENDO GAMECUBE Set At Mass Market Price Of $199.95. It reached American stores on November 18, 2001.^[5] NSIDER, in the middle of the menu, was Nintendo’s own community and forums, and it will come back later in this story.

The purple frame is in all three captures from 2001 to 2003, and so is the best thing on it: the Player’s Poll, bottom right. Each capture asks a different question, and the answers sound like the people who wrote them.

In August 2002 the main picture is a motocross rider and a pun: I believe I can Superfly. (the game is MX Superfly). By June 2003 the panel sells the console with free software: Get one of these great games FREE! with the purchase of a Nintendo GameCube, over Zelda, Mario Party 4, Starfox Adventures and Metroid Prime. A tile on the right offers a car: Win a tricked out 64 Chevy Impala!

The forums behind NSIDER had a rough time. When the site was redesigned that November, Nintendo World Report wrote that the forums were finally up and running after literally years of “maintenence” (spelling theirs).^[2]

The same November 2003 report described the new white backdrop and a game list that has become more searchable.^[2] Our June 2004 capture shows it: three white columns, a grey Nintendo logo, and a menu of NEWS, GAMES, SYSTEMS, COMMUNITY. A dark “My Nintendo” bar under it offers Sign up Now!, Newsletters, a Wish List, Nintendo Power and Register Products.

The left of the page is a blank space with grey text: Couldn’t load plugin. That is our browser talking, not Nintendo. The main feature in 2004 and 2005 was Flash, and the replay can’t play it. Next to the gap, the game list is retro already: June 2004 lists the Classic NES Series for Game Boy Advance, Super Mario Bros., Xevious, The Legend of Zelda, Ice Climber, Excitebike.

The June 2006 menu starts with four consoles: NINTENDO DS, Wii, GAME BOY, NINTENDO GAMECUBE, then WI-FI, FUN VAULT, COMMUNITY. Wii is there months before it went on sale at the end of the year.^[5] A Toad in the corner asks NEED HELP?, the login bar offers Inscrivez-vous en français, and the poll asks Which of these Touch Generations titles will make the best gift for Dad? The footer adds an address: Nintendo of America Inc. Headquarters are in Redmond, Washington.

The December 2007 homepage is white, airy and split down the middle. On the left, a group of friends on a sofa with a Wii; on the right, a woman with a Nintendo DS. Under them, two buttons: Show me all Wii Games and Show me all Nintendo DS Games. The menu shrinks to Wii, Nintendo DS, Games, Product Registration, Support, and the search box asks What are you looking for?

The designer behind the redesign, Adrian Chong, wrote that he architected the site with a bifurcated focus on the Nintendo Wii & DS. The colors came from the hardware: We used the blue glow of the console as a thread to tie together the experience from moment to moment.^[3]

Chong also describes a game finder that asked a few conversational questions; it isn’t on this homepage still. Nintendo World Report covered the new layout on December 1. It also reported that Nintendo had closed the NSider forums indefinitely in September, citing a major overhaul.^[4] The 2007 menu has no community link at all.

The small print is very 2007. The top news item, dated 2007-12-06, is Wild New Donkey Kong Truck Swings Into Monster Jam. Super Mario Galaxy promises a gravity-defying adventure! And a panel in Wii blue offers Wii Remote wrist strap replacement details, next to a Wii Remote Jacket Accessory Offer. The browser tab: Nintendo :: Home.

The two panels are still there in June 2008, 2009 and 2010. The pictures change, and from 2009 the menu has Club Nintendo where Product Registration was. June 2008 has Wii Fit, How will it move you?, and Guitar Hero On Tour played on a DS. June 2009 has Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and The Legendary Starfy, plus a NINTENDO @ E3 box for Full Coverage Here!

One notice stays. In June 2008 a blue panel says Character Lapel Pin Recall Information, Click here for more information. In June 2009 and again in June 2010 a smaller tile is still there: Important Character Lapel Pin Recall. The safety box about playing Wii is still there too.

June 2010 brings Super Mario Galaxy 2, Travel with Mario on his latest adventure!, and a DSi XL reading 100 Classic Books. Lower down: Iwata Asks: Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. Iwata Asks began before the Wii launch as interviews by Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata with his own staff.^[5] By 2010 they are homepage tiles, next to Picross 3D, Over 350 puzzles included.

Chong’s game finder never made it onto these homepage stills, but the games page has one. In February 2010 it opens with Gameguide: Explore hundreds of games and find the one for you - fast! Beside it, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle promises Dual beam katanas. Slammin’ wrestling moves. Giant robots. Coconuts. The tiles below run from Guitar Hero and Style Savvy to Iwata Asks - New Super Mario Bros. Wii, with Nintendo’s president in the picture.

From November 2011 the address itself says who the page is for: nintendo.com/?country=US&lang=en. The top is one big product, a red Nintendo 3DS: ONLY $169.99 MSRP, Now Available in Flame Red. Under it, a strip of consoles with prices: Wii Just $149.99*, Nintendo 3DS Now $169.99*, Nintendo DS From $99.99*.

The asterisk leads to the small print: MSRP: Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price. Actual price may vary. The carousel below has a Holiday Gift Guide 2011 and a Nintendo Direct tile, BREAKING NINTENDO 3DS AND WII NEWS.

October 2012 opens with a black strip, GET GENESECT! AVAILABLE UNTIL NOV. 12, over Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. The hardware strip is titled Nintendo Hardware Lineup · Choose Your Style of Play, with a new console in front.

The prices are in the page’s code: Basic Set - $299.99 * and Deluxe Set - $349.99 * for the Wii U, suggested retail prices again. The Wii U launched that year.^[5]

November 2013 turns the top grey: Nintendo 3DS Family: Find the system that’s perfect for you. Three handhelds stand in a row, a 2DS, a 3DS XL and a 3DS. One tile in the carousel still sells a 2012 launch game:^[5] Nintendo Land, Now just $29.99 MSRP*.

June 2014 fills the top with one game and moves the console strip far down the page, under the heading Choose your style of play. Mario Kart 8 sits under two review quotes, “Karting never looked this good” 9/10 - Destructoid and “It looks absolutely amazing” 4.5/5 - US Gamer. The menu briefly lists a Wii mini.

Under the picture, four tiles: Nintendo Treehouse LIVE @ E3, a Super Smash Bros. event with 6/14 Last chance, an eShop sale and INTRODUCING amiibo.

In June 2015 the tab changes to Nintendo - Official Site. The slide shows the New Nintendo 3DS XL with a ring of feature badges: FACE TRACKING 3D, C STICK FOR ENHANCED CONTROLS, BUILT-IN amiibo & NFC SUPPORT, and a plain question: Have you seen it? amiibo and Play Nintendo now have their own menu items.

June 2016 is E3 again: Nintendo TREEHOUSE LIVE @ E3, Live gameplay and more, See the new Legend of Zelda game. The menu gains a Game Store, and a Change region link with a small US flag now also sits in the top right corner.

The 2017 homepage has a new corner: the Nintendo logo in white on a solid red block. Nintendo Switch went on sale on March 3, 2017,^[7] and in June it is the first word in the menu, ahead of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. The search box now spells out what it covers: Search games, systems, support, etc.

The games page shows the handover. On January 2, 2017, two months before the launch, it is a Game Store for two systems, Wii U Games and Nintendo 3DS Games, with New Releases below. Two years later the top is one red panel, Nintendo Switch Games, and the 3DS and Wii U share the row under it. That panel still says See the games coming to the new system. in January 2019, almost two years after the system went on sale.

Our captures come from mid-June, and three years in a row the top of the page is a red E3 stage. 2017: Nintendo Spotlight E3 2017 and Tune in. 2018: News from Nintendo at E3. 2019: E3 2019 Live streaming June 11–13, over Pokémon Sword and Shield, Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Animal Crossing.

June 2020 has no E3 stage. Its top slide holds a game from Nintendo’s first business: the company started in 1889 with hanafuda, flower-themed playing cards, and Nintendo of Europe lists koi-koi, a hanafuda game for two, among the games in Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics.^[6] The slide says Available now over a box of card and board games, beside a SUMMER GAME SALE.

In our March 2021 capture the consoles are gone from the menu bar. The top row is a long search field, Search games, systems, support, etc., with Support and a heart-shaped Wish List on the right. The second row has four menus: Games, Hardware, News & Events, Play Nintendo. All the consoles now sit under one word, Hardware. The picture is Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury and a red Learn more button.

There is no 2022 picture here: the June capture and a January one replayed with the main banner blank. In February 2022 Nintendo Life reported that Nintendo of America had expanded its My Nintendo Store, and that the full store was a key tab on the official pages.^[9]

By June 2023 the store is the first menu item, My Nintendo Store. Nintendo Switch is back as a menu of its own, and a Cart joins Support and Wish List.

The June 2023 slide repeats the 2014 trick with bigger numbers. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom stands between four review laurels: 10|10 from Destructoid, GameSpot and IGN, and 9.75|10 from Game Informer. June 2024 is pure store: MEGA EXTREME FUN SALE, Last chance to score some awesome savings on these select games. The sale ends 6/16, the same week as the capture.

2025 belonged to Nintendo Switch 2, but there is no 2025 picture here: the US captures we tried replayed without their main images and styles.

By June 2026 the address ends in /us/ and the menu is down to three items, each with a small red icon: Explore, Shop, Support. Search, a heart, a cart and a US flag sit on the right. The slide is a football game, Experience The World’s Game like never before in EA SPORTS FC™ 26., with a red Nintendo Switch 2 badge in its corner: a year on, the new console is a label on someone else’s game. Under it, a row of Featured cards.

The 1996 page gave you one picture and 20 seconds before its code moved you on. Thirty years later, nintendo.com still leads with one big picture, but everything around it is a choice: a search box, a wish list, a cart. And the menu that once listed GAME BOY and NINTENDO GAMECUBE now starts with Explore and Shop.