While London Slept in Fear, Nintendo Was Born

In 1889, a small Japanese company called Nintendo was founded in Kyoto, originally producing handmade playing cards known as hanafuda. Around the very same time, on the other side of the world, the streets of Whitechapel were still echoing with the terror of Jack the Ripper, the unidentified killer who stalked London in 1888, leaving behind one of history’s most chilling mysteries. It’s strange to think that while a company destined to create colorful worlds, cheerful characters, and childhood memories was just beginning, Europe was still haunted by gaslit alleyways, unsolved murders, and a shadow that was never caught. History doesn’t move in neat chapters—sometimes the darkest and the most playful parts of our world are born side by side, separated only by oceans and silence.