until December 21, 2008
The U.S. version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is in fact an altered version of Nintendo’s own Doki Doki Panic? Nintendo of America thought the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was too hard and would sell poorly in the U.S., which is why they altered Doki Doki Panic into a Mario game by changing sprites, music and other small things. It is known as Super Mario USA in Japan.
until January 2, 2009
A jet-ski mini-game was included in Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 because Tomonobu Itagaki, the creator of the series was a fan of Wave Race 64. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, WR64 used 80% of the N64’s power and is famous for its realistic wave physics that were hard to program. It was re-released on the Wii Virtual Console with Kawasaki ads changed to Wii and DS ads and Kawasaki logos on the jet-skis removed, making it one of the few altered titles on the VC. There’s a sequel called Wave Race: Blue Storm for the GCN. WR64 is actually a sequel itself, to the Game Boy game Wave Race.
until January 15, 2009
There are many interpretations of the word “Nintendo” (yes, it has more meaning than just a multi-billion dollar entertainment company.) A popular one is “Leave luck to Heaven” but others include “Deep in the mind we have to do whatever we have to do” and “Work hard, but in the end it is in Heaven’s hands.”
until February 22, 2009
Nintendo Co, Ltd. liked the idea of opening a Chuck E. Cheese in Japan because they could test new games and make money off pizza. It turned out that opening a Chuck E. Cheese in Japan was not easily done, so Minoru Arakawa (president of NOA until 2002) with the help of Peter Main and Phil Rogers, opened one in Vancouver in 1983. It did great in its first year with profits over $700,000.
until April 15, 2009
You can countdown to upcoming DS and Wii games by going to this post: http://blognintendo.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/countdown-to-new-ds-and-wii-games/?
until May 9, 2009
In an interview during a tour of Japan (probably in the early 1990’s), ex-Beatle Paul McCartney said that instead of sight-seeing at Mount Fuji, he’d like to meet Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario and Zelda. Miyamoto is a fan of The Beatles (especially their final album Abbey Road) and was thrilled by McCartney’s comment. That’s all I know about this, so I don’t know if my two idols ever met.
