Weird, funny and interesting facts about the world of Nintendo
In our world, strange things happen all the time, and the world of Nintendo is no different. Join me as we take a look at some of the humorous, weird, interesting and downright freaky facts associated with Nintendo.
Starting with Mario…
Mario's voice
In Super Mario 64, the person who did Mario's voice is Charles Martinet, and it is likely that he did it again for Super Mario Sunshine.
Centaur Mario
In the beginning of development of Super Mario Bros 3, there were plans for "Centaur Mario" ability for Mario.
Super Mario FX
In the SNES era, Nintendo were hard at work on a 3D Mario game on the SNES using the S-FX chip, but it didn't work out and ended up turning it into Super Mario 64 2 years later.
Eat Mario for breakfast
At one time Zelda and Mario had their own brand of breakfast cereal and their own board game, but people lost interest and they were both pulled off the shelves.
Mario Merchandise
There are hundreds of different kinds of Mario merchandise, some that are now quite valuable. They ranged from Shampoo, Mario showerheads, stickers, ice cream, walkie talkies, key chains, wallets, TV trays, watches, cookie cutters, McDonalds toys, statues, plush toys, underwear, (a little to close to Mario!!) and many, many other things. If there is a product you can think of, Mario probably has been on it!!
Mario's Name
There are many different stories on how Mario got his name, but this is the official one. When the president of Nintendo of America saw Jumpman, he noticed how similar he looked to landlord owner of E&D's studios, Mario Segali, so he called Nintendo of Japan, and that was it. Jumpman was renamed Mario.
Mario's Lastname
If you've ever wondered about Mario's last name, you will be surprised to know that Mario's full name is Mario Mario, and Luigi's is Luigi Mario!!
The Reason for Mario's Cap
In the 8-bit era, it was difficult to create certain things in a game. Shigeru Miyamoto had this problem with Mario's hair. If Mario did appear to have hair, it would blend in with the clothes, making it indistinguishable because of the limited colour palette. So Miyamoto fixed this by sticking a cap on Mario, and it's been like that ever since!
10 Million Mario's
The most sold 32 and 64-bit game today is Super Mario 64. It has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. However, although 10 million seems a lot, Super Mario Bros 1 sold 40 million copies, and SMB3 sold 18 million copies. The second most sold 32 and 64-bit game is Mario Kart with 8 million copies, and then Zelda: Ocarina of Time with 7 million copies worldwide.
Friends Or Foes?
Believe it or not, Bowser did join up with Mario to battle on the same side. The game was Super Mario RPG, which never made it to our Aussie shores.
Star fox just a program?
At first, Star Fox 64 was just a testing program, but it was so well liked inside Nintendo that they went ahead and made it a full game…. and a massive success it was.
Star fox Stealer
At the WCES exhibition in 1995, Nintendo previewed their new Star fox 2 game. However, a man named Shawn Freeman from Arizona tried to steal a pre release copy. He got within 10 metres of freedom, but was caught by a security guard who saw the incident on surveillance. He was arrested and charged.
Star fox 2 SNES
Even today, gamers still wonder what happened to Star Fox 2, a sequel to the popular Starfox game on the SNES. At the same time as production of Starfox 2, Nintendo set to work on a N64 version of the franchise. Once the had finished Starfox 2, the decided not to go ahead with it, because it may have made a bad impact on the N64 game. Nintendo even sent put billboards and posters announcing the game before they scrapped it.
Metroid = Crap?
In Japan, Metroid games are notorious for selling poorly and holding hardly any interest at all in the Japanese gaming market. After encountering this, Nintendo tried the US and European markets, and Metroid was a massive success. It will be interesting to see how Metroid Prime will perform in the Japanese market after its well-received showing at last months E3 2002.
Donkey Kong's Name
Its well known that Donkey was at first not called Donkey Kong, rather Monkey Kong. Thankfully, it changed when there was a translation error while converting the game into English, and when Shigsy saw this, he went ahead and kept Donkey. Thank God for that!
The "Legend" of Zelda…
Shigeru Miyamoto has openly admitted that his Legend of Zelda series was based on the major-flop movie "Legend". Directed by Ridley Scott, "Legend" follows the adventure of a young scrawny elf boy who is battling to save the princess, while the same time attempting to defeat the Ganon like demon. Funnily enough, the games were a hell of a lot more popular than the movie, and that's why your only hearing about the movie as you read this!
Link the girl….
I'm sure most of you would never have known this. The person who did the voice acting for Link in OoT, Majora's Mask, Super Smash Bros, and Super Smash Bros. Melee was a Japanese named Nobuyuki Hiyama. The funny thing is though, that Link is done by Hiyama, who is actually a woman. Nintendo couldn't find a man to get the right voice Shigsy was after, so the resorted to using a woman. That explains Link's very light voice.
Nintendo General
What does Nintendo really mean?
The word Nintendo means "Leave luck to Heaven" There are many different versions of it, but in an old interview, Shigeru said that he goes by "Leave Luck To Heaven". God speaks, we listen.
Missing Mario
In the early days of the N64, a Mario statue was stolen from Nintendo of America's Redmond Campus HQ. It was later found in an empty lot on campus, when someone noticed Mario's hand sticking out from under a blanket. Could this be the work of a jealous Sony fan? We shall never know.
SNES Stealers
When Nintendo was to distribute the SNES it did so with ships late at night to avoid a gang of mobsters who planned to steal all the SNES's and sell them on the black market.
SNES Lottery
The Super Nintendo (SNES) was so popular at launch in Japan, there had to be lotteries to determine who would get one. Not even Pre-ordering guaranteed a system.
Thoughtful Thieves
Soon after the N64 launch in America, several robbers broke into an electronics store and stole all the N64's, but didn't touch a single Playstation! Who said robbers are brainless!
Painful Parents
Several years ago, a group of concerned parent teamed up to file a lawsuit against Nintendo after their children received painful blisters on their hands after playing Nintendo. However, they failed miserably, and the lawsuit was thrown out soon after it started. "Nintendo Blisters" are just part of the fun of playing Nintendo.
Universal Problems
When Nintendo registered the name Donkey Kong, Universal Studios Production caught wind of it and immediately threatened to sue Nintendo, complaining that our favourite ape infringed on copyrights on their popular King Kong franchise. However, the court ruled that Nintendo had not infringed on any such copyrights, and was granted permission to continue work on Donkey Kong.
Death of A Legend
Something that saddens a lot of Nintendo gamers is the incident that happened to legendary designer Gunpei Yokoi in 1997. While out walking, Yokoi was struck by a car and was killed instantly. Miyamoto was deeply saddened, and made a promise to himself to carry on the legend of Yokoi. The great thing about Yokoi is that he was the man who taught Shigeru Miyamoto how to make games. He oversaw Shigsy develop Donkey Kong, and he was their every step of the way for the Mario games. However, his greatest creation was that of the Game Boy. Yes, Yokoi invented and developed the Game Boy, the most successful games system ever. He was in the process of developing the Game Boy Advance when he died. A true Nintendo legend died that day in 1997.
Smart Yamauchi
When at military school in the 2nd world war, Hiroshi Yamauchi came up with rather a clever way to get out of afternoon classes. During the war, food was scarce. His grandmother Tei packed him a lunchbox full of rice everyday. One day while he was eating, he noticed how his supervisor was watching him eat. Yamauchi offered to share it with his supervisor, and as a reward, Yamauchi got the afternoon off. From that day one, he always carried 2 boxes of rice to school and every day he got the afternoon off.
Card Killers
About 100 years ago, when Nintendo made playing cards called Hanafunda cards, the Mafia chose them as their favourite type! But after every play, they discarded the cards and used a new pack. The Mafia soon became Nintendo's best customer….
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There's heaps more awesome Nintendo facts to be found and added to this section, and Nintendo Facts will never stop being updated. I'm sure there are many more facts, so if you do have some, send 'em in and you'll get full credit for your help. So get thinking and start sending!! my email is nintendoking@hotmail.com
Writer: Tim Schaefer
29/6/02
