--- product_id: 1280644 title: "Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America" price: "167.84 DT" currency: TND in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1280644-super-mario-how-nintendo-conquered-america store_origin: TN region: Tunisia --- # Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America **Price:** 167.84 DT **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America - **How much does it cost?** 167.84 DT with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.tn](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1280644-super-mario-how-nintendo-conquered-america) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America [Ryan, Jeff] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America Review: Great read! Really hits home... - As a child of the 1980's, some of my earliest memories are video game related. Christmas of 1987 will always be remembered as the year I was given my version of a Red Rider BB Gun...a Nintendo system, complete with Super Mario Bros. So in reality (and this sounds a little sad), I've known Mario as long as, or longer than, some of my closest friends. They say never judge a book by its cover, but as soon as I saw the cover art for "Super Mario", I knew I was going to love it. Maybe I was just getting a little wistful for the days of 8-bit graphics, but I had high hopes for this book before I opened the cover. And it roundly exceeded my expectations. I thought I knew about Nintendo's history, but from the very beginning, it was clear there was a great deal I didn't know. The author does an outstanding job of chronicling Nintendo (and Mario's) rise to power over the years. For all its success, Nintendo has its share of failures, and I was happy to see the author give them their share of attention. I never like when a book like this reads like a commercial or propaganda, and this most certainly didn't. Mr. Ryan is obviously a fan of Nintendo (he admits this early on...and I don't think you could write a book like this if you weren't a fan), but I never felt like he was gushing. Lastly, I really enjoyed the author's writing style. The pacing was good, and he mixed in a lot of humor, so in addition to being informative, I found it fun and entertaining. So whether or not you're a fan of video games, I really think you're going to enjoy this book. I know my interest in video games isn't what it once was, but "Super Mario" had me captivated from start to finish. All told, I would highly recommend this book to anyone. Review: A fun mix of history, trivia, business insight, and nostalgia - "Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America" is a delightful romp through the history of Nintendo's rise to dominance, from playing cards to Game & Watch to Donkey Kong to the console wars -- and its struggles along the way. I was a Nintendo fan almost from birth: Born in 1987, I came of game-playing age just about the time the SNES was released. Christmas 1996, when I received an N64 and a fresh copy of Super Mario 64, still goes down as my favorite Christmas ever. But GameCube would be the last Nintendo console that I'd purchase; I was turned off by the Wii, and I bought an Xbox 360 instead. With the Wii, Nintendo was seemingly turning their back on the hardcore gamers of the "D-pad generation" (as Ryan calls them), their most devoted fans and the ones who propelled Nintendo to success in the 80s and 90s. Why? Ryan explains this shift in strategy -- and many others -- in this book. In "Super Mario," we learn of Nintendo's business brilliance: the decision to convert an overflowing inventory of Radar Scope arcade cabinets into Donkey Kong cabinets, rather than building new cabinets, narrowly saving Nintendo's American business; the careful crafting of Mario and his image; Nintendo's iron grip on distribution and third-party developers; the devotion to "lateral thinking of seasoned technology" and avoidance of hardware arms races; and much, much more. But we also learn of Nintendo's failures: the Virtual Boy and a backward-looking adherence to cartridges, to name a few. We learn of Shigeru Miyamoto's wizardry and get a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of classic series like Donkey Kong, Mario, and Zelda, the different installments in those series, and the evolution of those series over time. And we get Jeff Ryan's take on the history of video games overall -- from the "joystick generation" to the "D-pad generation" to today's "motion generation" of casual gamers -- and where the industry might be heading in the future. If you're fascinated by video games, technology, and/or business strategy -- or if you're just a child of the 80s/90s looking to take a trip down memory lane -- you'll love "Super Mario." Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in the basement digging through boxes to find my old SNES... ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #866,819 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #98 in Computer & Technology Biographies #280 in Game Programming #347 in Company Business Profiles (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars (402) | | Dimensions | 5.47 x 0.83 x 8.39 inches | | ISBN-10 | 1591845637 | | ISBN-13 | 978-1591845638 | | Item Weight | 10 ounces | | Language | English | | Print length | 320 pages | | Publication date | September 25, 2012 | | Publisher | Portfolio | ## Images ![Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71LiXcbuRzL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great read! Really hits home... *by J***N on August 5, 2011* As a child of the 1980's, some of my earliest memories are video game related. Christmas of 1987 will always be remembered as the year I was given my version of a Red Rider BB Gun...a Nintendo system, complete with Super Mario Bros. So in reality (and this sounds a little sad), I've known Mario as long as, or longer than, some of my closest friends. They say never judge a book by its cover, but as soon as I saw the cover art for "Super Mario", I knew I was going to love it. Maybe I was just getting a little wistful for the days of 8-bit graphics, but I had high hopes for this book before I opened the cover. And it roundly exceeded my expectations. I thought I knew about Nintendo's history, but from the very beginning, it was clear there was a great deal I didn't know. The author does an outstanding job of chronicling Nintendo (and Mario's) rise to power over the years. For all its success, Nintendo has its share of failures, and I was happy to see the author give them their share of attention. I never like when a book like this reads like a commercial or propaganda, and this most certainly didn't. Mr. Ryan is obviously a fan of Nintendo (he admits this early on...and I don't think you could write a book like this if you weren't a fan), but I never felt like he was gushing. Lastly, I really enjoyed the author's writing style. The pacing was good, and he mixed in a lot of humor, so in addition to being informative, I found it fun and entertaining. So whether or not you're a fan of video games, I really think you're going to enjoy this book. I know my interest in video games isn't what it once was, but "Super Mario" had me captivated from start to finish. All told, I would highly recommend this book to anyone. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A fun mix of history, trivia, business insight, and nostalgia *by N***K on August 8, 2011* "Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America" is a delightful romp through the history of Nintendo's rise to dominance, from playing cards to Game & Watch to Donkey Kong to the console wars -- and its struggles along the way. I was a Nintendo fan almost from birth: Born in 1987, I came of game-playing age just about the time the SNES was released. Christmas 1996, when I received an N64 and a fresh copy of Super Mario 64, still goes down as my favorite Christmas ever. But GameCube would be the last Nintendo console that I'd purchase; I was turned off by the Wii, and I bought an Xbox 360 instead. With the Wii, Nintendo was seemingly turning their back on the hardcore gamers of the "D-pad generation" (as Ryan calls them), their most devoted fans and the ones who propelled Nintendo to success in the 80s and 90s. Why? Ryan explains this shift in strategy -- and many others -- in this book. In "Super Mario," we learn of Nintendo's business brilliance: the decision to convert an overflowing inventory of Radar Scope arcade cabinets into Donkey Kong cabinets, rather than building new cabinets, narrowly saving Nintendo's American business; the careful crafting of Mario and his image; Nintendo's iron grip on distribution and third-party developers; the devotion to "lateral thinking of seasoned technology" and avoidance of hardware arms races; and much, much more. But we also learn of Nintendo's failures: the Virtual Boy and a backward-looking adherence to cartridges, to name a few. We learn of Shigeru Miyamoto's wizardry and get a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of classic series like Donkey Kong, Mario, and Zelda, the different installments in those series, and the evolution of those series over time. And we get Jeff Ryan's take on the history of video games overall -- from the "joystick generation" to the "D-pad generation" to today's "motion generation" of casual gamers -- and where the industry might be heading in the future. If you're fascinated by video games, technology, and/or business strategy -- or if you're just a child of the 80s/90s looking to take a trip down memory lane -- you'll love "Super Mario." Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in the basement digging through boxes to find my old SNES... ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ An entertaining read, but not without errors. *by T***E on March 20, 2014* I've been a fan of Nintendo history for a while, and I like reading about the development of video games and video game consoles. This book does a good job of describing the process through which Nintendo's video game business came to life, from the Game & Watch to Donkey Kong and beyond. Even better than that, though, the book places all of these elements into their historical contexts. Before discussing the creation of Donkey Kong, the author describes the state of the industry at the time, and why Nintendo was either brilliant or crazy to do what they did, making you celebrate their success all the more. You get a full picture of Nintendo's place in video game history, and the book shows exactly why they are celebrated as the innovators they are. With that said, the book's main issue is that there will occasionally be blatant factual errors. It's rather odd because the information is very easy to verify, and makes the book seem like it wasn't properly edited. Just as one example, the author claims that Super Paper Mario is a spiritual successor to New Super Mario Bros. This is information that is very easy to verify, with only a couple seconds of Googling, making me wonder how such an error might slip through. There are several of these scattered throughout the book, so I would be reluctant to use this book as an academic source or anything of the sort. If you can look past the occasional error, this book is a great read for Nintendo fans. It illustrates the history of Nintendo in an engrossing way, making you excited for each new development, even though you've known what they are for the past 30 years. ## Frequently Bought Together - Super Mario - Ask Iwata --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1280644-super-mario-how-nintendo-conquered-america](https://www.desertcart.tn/products/1280644-super-mario-how-nintendo-conquered-america) --- *Product available on Desertcart Tunisia* *Store origin: TN* *Last updated: 2026-05-08*