When Did Amada Make Nintendo Menko? Smoking Gun at the End!!

As Mario’s 1981 rookie Menko card is quickly gaining traction on the market, some questions have started to emerge.  Two different scenarios have been discussed as to the actual date or dates that Amada actually produced these Menko for Nintendo.  There is the more widely accepted view that Amada produced Menko for Nintendo over a 5 year period from 81-85. The other scenario is Amada produced “all” Nintendo Menko in 1985 only.  This article will explain in detail how we are to understand the dates in which Amada made Menko for Nintendo. 

Let’s begin with the historical aspect. Donkey Kong was released in Japan on July 9, 1981. Donkey Kong literally hit the ground running with immediate success. The first 2000 Donkey Kong cabinets that Nintendo made sold very quickly. By the fall of 1981, the demand for Donkey Kong was so high, Nintendo was selling 4000 units a month. It was so successful by summer/fall of 1981 in Japan that it prompted Nintendo to pivot its focus toward exporting the game to the US. Of course, this is the short version of the story, but we can see how Donkey Kong exploded in Japan. There were arcades built in Japan during this time that only had Donkey Kong cabinets! With that said, let’s now explain in detail both the 1 & 5 year scenarios. We’ll begin with the 5 year scenario.

The most accepted scenario is that Amada produced Menko for Nintendo over a 5 year period, making Menko in each year from 1981-85. Lets not forget that Amada made Menko long before it made Menko for Nintendo. Amada was a big Menko manufacturer and made many Menko of several different types dating back to the early 1970’s. They made Wrestling Menko, Bruce Lee Menko, as well as many others. When Nintendo experienced the Donkey Kong boom by late summer/fall of 1981, this is when Nintendo approached Amada. To be honest, why wouldn't they. By fall of 1981 in Japan, Donkey Kong was on everything. Donkey Kong was in advertisements, on T-shirts & even on cereal and food boxes all over Japan.  So, why wouldn't Nintendo take advantage of every opportunity. So, Amada produced the Donkey Kong Menko in 1981 along side the other Menko they were producing. Then Donkey Kong Jr was released in Japan in August of 1982. Again, Amada produced the 1982 Donkey Kong Jr Menko along side all its others. Then in 1983, things changed a little. The Famicom was released in Japan on July 15, 1983. Once the Famicom came out and started making more games, Amada continued to produce Menko for these games for Nintendo.  Finally, when Nintendo released Super Mario Bros in 1985, this caused probably the biggest Menko printing boom in Menko history. Nintendo thought Donkey Kong was successful….well Super Mario Bros far exceeded Donkey Kong’s success & then some. Nintendo knew they had a huge hit on there hands. That’s why Nintendo gave the green light to Amada to produce extremely large amounts of Super Mario Bros Menko in 1985.  Amada made tons of square & round Super Mario Bros Menko of all different types & sizes. While they were at it, Amada produced some “throw back” Menko and made some Menko of their previous successful games like Donkey Kong, Mario Bros & others. This is why we see some of the same images on different types of Menko with different dates. 

With all of this said, are we to believe that Nintendo had all this early success with Donkey Kong, Mario Bros (83) & the Famicom, as well as several other pre-85 games…. and didn’t print a single Menko until 1985? 

Now lets take a look at the 1 year scenario. This scenario is that Amada produced “All” existing Nintendo Menko in 1985 only.  I believe what fuels this scenario is when we see several different types of Menko, with the same image, with different dates. I suppose it is easier to lump everything under 1985 as Kaku (square) & Maru (round), instead of trying to decifer Amada’s horrific printing methods. In doing that though, it dimenishes the importance & significance of those Menko made before 1985. Lets dig into the 1 year scenario a little deeper. Nintendo released Super Mario Bros in Japan on September,13,1985. Nintendo didn’t release images of the game until its release or just shortly before. This means the 1985 Super Mario Bros Menko (40 card set) couldn’t have been produced until around September of 1985. This poses a serious question. Are we to believe that Amada produced “all” of Nintendo’s Super Mario Menko in a 4 month period? Even if not 4 months,  is it plausible that Amada made every Nintendo Menko in the calendar year of 1985? A really good clue exists that will help us answer these questions.  

Below are pics of 8 different variants of the 1981 Donkey Kong/Mario Menko. Each one of these Menko are different in their own special way. Different shapes, sizes. One is even a puzzle. They all have different dates. Some dated 1981, some 1983 & some dated 1985. Remember, Amada made all these variants in most all the other Nintendo Menko as well. This again, poses another serious question. Why would Amada make so many different variants, of the same Menko image, with different dates, all in the same year of 1985? Another blow to the 1 year scenario is the elephant in the room. It is a historical fact that Amada stopped Nintendo Menko production in 85, possibly early 86. The industry doesn’t see Nintendo Menko dated after 1985, with the exception of a few round Mario Menko from 86. The elephant in the room is this. Why would Nintendo have Amada take on such a huge monumental project to create insane amounts of Menko only to come to a screeching halt?

There is another very important point to make in this debate. As we previously pointed out, Amada made Menko for several other companies in the 1980’s besides Nintendo, like Konami, Jaleco, Taito & Hudson Soft just to name a few. One of which was Sun Electronics. These Menko are identical in size & have the same backs as the Nintendo silver border (81-84) Menko. Of course the fronts don’t have a silver border. They have different colors, but they also have something special on the front. When Amada made these Menko for Sun Electronics most of the dates are hyphenated & have multiple dates. For example, one Menko is dated 1981-1985. Others dated 1983-1985, or just have 2 different dates side by side. This tells us that Amada is no stranger when it comes to dating Menko like this. Obviously the Menko would date to the time of the latest date on the Menko, and the previous date would indicate when the game was released. Even Nintendo themselves used this very type of dating method on their Famicom game boxes. The Famicom Donkey Kong boxes have a date of 1981-1983 on one end of the box. In fact, most all of the Famicom game boxes have dates like this. All that said to say this. Amada had a history of dating Menko like this for other companies & Nintendo used the same dating method for their Famicom boxes, so if all Nintendo Menko was made in 1985, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been a problem to date the Menko using this method with the later year being the date of production & the earlier date being the release of the game. But….this is not what we see on Nintendo Menko made by Amada. Only a single date is on all the silver border Nintendo Menko, because it was made in the year printed on the Menko. 

Which leads me to another point along these lines. Lets look at two Famicom game boxes. The Donkey Kong box & the Mario Bros (83) box. The Donkey Kong box is dated 1981-1983. The 1981 date is the release of the game & the 1983 was the year the Famicom box & games was produced. Now lets look at the Mario Bros box. It has a date of only 1983. Mario Bros came out the same year as the release of the Famicom in 1983. That is why the single date. Just like the Donkey Kong Jr Famicom box says 1982-1983. Again, first date for the release of the game & the last date is when the box & game was produced. I'm sure if Nintendo wanted to use this method of dating on Menko with date ranges, they could have easily done it, but they didn't. The fact they used this dating method on one product & not on the other would imply the product with the single date was both first released & produced in the same year.  This is what we see on all the silver border (81-84) Menko. A single date, meaning it was released & made in that single year. Below are pictures of the Donkey Kong & Mario Bros Famicom Box along with a few Sun Electronics Menko, and a few others made by Amada for different manufacturers showing this type of dating method.

Ok. So, at the top I mentioned there is a SMOKING GUN in this discussion. I acquired this Menko a really long time ago. I never dreamed it would be used for evidence in the research on this topic (pics below). As we know, all the silver border Nintendo Menko have dates for Each year of 1981 through 1985. I have a silver border Nintendo/Amada Menko of Mario Bros (83), but it has no date on the front. The back of this Menko is where the story is told. The back is completely different. The Japanese on the back says Family Computer, Mario Bros, Nintendo & then has the date at the bottom 1985 Nintendo Co. Ltd. Rather than any games, the back also has a really small caption with a small pic of the image on the front.  As we can see, when Amada made silver border Nintendo Menko in 1985 ….they obviously look like this one. The only other option would be to throw yet another version of Menko on the list that Amada made in 1985 with all the others. This would also mean Amada made more than one version of silver border Menko in the same year.  I believe the logical explanation here is the 1981-84 silver border Menko look like they do because they were each made in the year indicated on the Menko. The 1985 silver border Menko have all the different attributes listed above & is dated 1985. Why would Amada make so many different variants if all of this happened in 4-12 months? The more logical approach here is Amada released all of these over time. Lots of different variants makes more sense over a stretch of time instead of a short run of 1 year or less. This is also why we see far less Nintendo silver border Menko (81-84) available on the market. Less of these were produced because the full success of Nintendo wasn’t fully realized until the release of Super Mario Bros in 1985. Once Super Mario Bros hit the market, Amada began their Nintendo printing boom.   

Through all the years I've been collecting Menko, I've made many friends in Japan. Especially with Menko dealers in Tokyo.  I have been told by more than 1 person (friends & dealers) in Japan that they remember the 81 Donkey Kong & 82 Donkey Kong Jr Menko existing before the Famicom came out in 1983. For what its worth, every Japanese Menko dealer that I have ask agrees with the 5 year scenario. I haven't spoken to any yet that believe Amada produced all Nintendo Menko in only one year.

After looking closely at both scenarios, there are clearly more problems with the 1 year scenario. It would require us to believe that Amada operated outside the lines of logical decision making and common sense. It makes more sense that Amada produced these Menko for Nintendo over a 5 year period starting with the success of Donkey Kong in 1981 and continuing each year as each new success came along. 

One giant printing....Multiple variants of every Menko....All in 1985....Only to suddenly quit almost as fast as you started??  

I'm not sure about that one....