Some eagle-eyed gamer at NeoGAF seems to have found the first ever mention of Nintendo in the United States, by way of a “Patent Notice” section of the October 8, 1955 edition of the New York Times. “Among the notices of trademark applications published this week is one from Nintendo Playing Card Company, Ltd., Kyoto City, Japan,” the blurb reads, adding that Nintendo represents “a corporation whose fortune or prosperity should be left to the mercy of heaven.” Interestingly, this was written some 26 years before the company would make its first American splash with the release of Donkey Kong in 1981.
