Making portable gaming big.

First (?) open world game: Legend of Zelda

More or less invented the platform genre (Donkey Kong)

Perfecting 3D gaming (Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time)

Also, invention of "Z-targeting" that the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time implemented. Since then, many hack and slash games has used this mechanic...

First handheld to incorporate a touch screen?

Also, first company to make handheld battery life last?

Invention of Mii's? (Damn i'm on a roll here)...

Nintendo didn't actually 'invent' some of those things.

Like said by others, the Analog Stick is already debatable when most 2nd Gen systems used something similar and the Odyssey2 used a stick basically the same as the N64. Motion control is equally debatable as there were devices before that were similar. Of course, Nintendo did actually make those things viable and friendlier to use.

The D-Pad also wasn't 100% Nintendo's idea, though they perfected it and created the current shape and function. Before there were directional buttons on 2nd Gen consoles and arcades. In any case Nintendo invented it for their Donkey Kong Game & Watch, a couple years prior to the NES.

"First side-scroller" is definitely false, there was Jungle Hunt on Atari 2600 in 1982 and I don't even think that game was the first. Nevermind all those space-shooter and flying games that scroll like Defender or Air Raid.

As far as I know the inclusion of a microphone was done first by Nintendo, but it wasn't on DS like you said. The Japanese NES, the Famicom, already included a microphone on the controller.

Also, something someone else mentioned, the NES wasn't the first console to allow third-party publishing. That also already existed during the 2nd Gen. However of course I must mention the practise of 'licensing' indeed didn't exist until Nintendo's famous policies, while before everybody could put anything on those early consoles. So the current third-party model could be traced back to the NES, yes.

It is of course without a doubt that Nintendo either introduced or perfected and popularized a lot of technologies and shaped a pretty big chunk of what gaming is today. I mean, where would we be today if we still couldn't 'save' our games?!

They made the first platform game and, although they didn't design the fist side scrolling platform game, they made the first side scrolling platform game that was really really good.

I think the wii motes getting a bad rep these days it doesn't deserve. It's certainly not ideal for every game, and games that badly implement motion control have let it down, but I'd rather play 90% of the fps's and 3rd person shooters on my 360 with well implemented wiimote controls over the auto-aim reliant joypad controls I have to put up with. Wii mote nunchuck controls are the nearest thing to mouse keyboard controls that you can play in comfort on the sofa.

Game.Com in 1997 and then the Tapwave in 2000 were touch screen hand helds. Just they were terrible.

Wii was a kind of a rip off of this thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH9u0eKgytc

Ultima and Dragon Slayer (in fact Dragon Slayer is the first JRPG in 1984 from Falcom developer of the Ys series)

zelda

What about dual screens?