Rareware Leaves Nintendo

Rare or Rareware, was once partly owned by Nintendo, holding a 49% stake in the company. The Stamper Brothers, the company founders, who owned 51% of the company back then, wanted to sell their remaining stock to Nintendo; however, the company declined as they did not see the need to increase their ownership. As a result, the Stamper Brothers decided to sell their remaining shares to Microsoft which in turn made Microsoft the largest shareholder with voting power - Nintendo sold their shares to Microsoft shortly after the transaction.

Link's Inspiration

Link's design is inspired by Peter Pan.

Super Mario Bushes and Clouds Share the Same Spirite

To create the bushes in Super Mario Bros, the devs recoloured the top half of the cloud sprites and recycled them as shrubbery.

Super Mario Brother 2 Wasn't An Actual Mario Game

The original Super Mario Bros 2 was released in Japan which is what we in North America know it as "The Lost Levels". This happened because the game was deemed too difficult for western gamers.

Technical Constraints Led To The Creation of Luigi

During the development of the original Super Mario Bros.,the developers had problems fitting into certain elements of the game due to memory constraints. Miyamoto and other development team members got creative and found a way around these limits. They ended up creating Mario's twin brother, Luigi in the process.

30 Years Ago, Nintendo Created Games With A Team of Five to Six People

Back in the day, Nintendo was able to create one single game with only 5 to six team members. Nowadays, a team of 50 to 60 developers work on a game.

Link's Awakening Was Censored in America

In the American version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening had the hippo's breasts removed and had taken away the sheet she was wearing.