Nintendo has received a lot of criticism in recent years  from their turn towards the casual market with the Wii to the frankly disastrous launch of the Wii U, many are beginning to question Nintendo's place in the home console market. Something that hasn't changed, however (and something that must be championed) is Nintendo's uncanny ability to encapsulate the essence of video games: fun. While other companies continue to churn out grit and violence in palettes of grey and brown, Nintendo strives to uphold the luminosity of video games.

What other companies are doing makes business sense, but it's boring. The same games appear on every system. At Nintendo we want an environment where game creators can collaborate and think of ideas for games that could never have happened before.

The philosophy of fun and good game design is one that has always existed at Nintendo  recently, in fact, the legendary game designer and creator of Super Mario Shigeru Miyamoto was quoted as saying:But this philosophy extends beyond the actual games themselves. Though Nintendo's marketing has been questionable recently (their naming policies have been met with universal confusion) it's easy to forget how wonderfully they interact with fans and fan culture. Over the years Nintendo has done all sorts of strange, hilarious and altogether charming things to please fans and win over new ones. Here are just a few...