When we consider Nintendo as we know it today, and in the only way most people have ever known it, it's impossible to conceive that at any point in its history it wasn't quite so squeaky clean.
Of course, with such a long and illustrious history (this is a company that was founded in 1889, remember) and having operated through various 'gaming' mediums since way before the advent of video games, it's not surprising that Nintendo has had to 'get with the times', go with the flow, and involve itself in passing trends and fashions.
Playing cards, given that they've been around since the 9th century and show no signs of becoming unpopular just yet, factor heavily into Nintendo's backstory and over on them there social medias, Nintendo enthusiast blog BeforeMario — which (obviously) delves into the history of pre-Princess Peach Ninty — has been sharing a fascinating look at some rather risqué (and perhaps a little NSFW) cards produced as part of a long-running range of fancy Nintendo sets.
What's more, besides a little 'tasteful' nudity (the 1950s were a very different time), one of these decks is adorned with a very famous, and quite spicy, photograph of a topless Marilyn Monroe taking a load off on her bed. She doesn't look very tired, though. Maybe she just needed a wee lie down. We get that, Marilyn. It's Thursday and it's very warm.
This particular image has its own special place in history, given that it was published as the first ever Playboy centrefold, in the first ever edition of the magazine - although it was taken at the very beginning of her career before the weirdness and tragedy that would ensue when she became world-famous.
By jumping down a rabbit hole in the form of a 1950s edition of the 'Nintendo Playing Card Report', BeforeMario's Erik Voskuil discovered this rare find (as detailed in full in a very informative post which features the uncensored pics and therefore is NSFW) and confirmed that, although they knew of its existence as part of a range of cards, he'd never seen one in real life. This changed, however, when he purchased the cards on behalf of another Nintendo card collector.
It's certainly a very high-quality, adult-marketed product, with what we like to imagine is the customary Nintendo 'seal of quality' making an appearance in the form of a slick gold edge around every single card. Heck, the deck even comes in a big embossed box and everything.
The Nintendo Playing Card Report featured on the BeforeMario blog also goes into lots of details on Nintendo's standing in the world, or at least how it liked to imagine its standing in its brochures, with images showing its worldwide business links, along with a list of details such as its founding date — "in the 22nd year of the Meiji era (1889)" -- as well as the fact they had 423 employees spread across Tokyo and Osaka in the mid-1950s.
There's also a host of cool old pictures of Nintendo's manufacturing processes and advertising during its card-making days, so it's worth high-tailing it over through the links if you love yourself a little bit of gaming history, as Nintendo's really is so rich and full of curios.
Surprised to see Nintendo dabbling in a little risque business? Let us know in the comments!