Nintendo was many things before becoming a multi-billion dollar company. One of its early ventures was in the manufacturing of instant rice cookers to capitalise on the rise of instant noodles. Unfortunately, despite the cool design, Nintendo forgot to make the rice actually taste good and the range was eventually discontinued.
Instant rice was part of a long list of failures for the company:
Nintendo, somewhat against the odds, did not just fade away. Instead, Hiroshi Yamamuchi was, in modern parlance, a hustler. He was dead set on keeping the company relevant somehow, so he started attaching its name to whatever he thought might work best. The Nintendo company made instant rice (which failed due partly to the success of instant noodles), started a taxi service, and even tried vacuum cleaners. The company is rumored to have attached itself to a chain of “love hotels” at some point, though that might be just a rumor or licensing misunderstanding.
via Gaming Yeeter
