In honor of Nintendo's 30th anniversary and the release of Super Mario Maker, here's an older Fact Friday that you might enjoy:
Hello! It’s time for Fact Friday with Screenhog. I am Screenhog, and today we’re talking about Popeye... the video game.
In 1981, the video game company Nintendo was just starting to make arcade games, and wanted to make a game that would be just as successful as Pac-Man. How? Up-and-coming game designer Shigeru Miyamoto had a plan. He wanted to use Popeye (you know, the animated sailor who would acquire super-strength every time he ate spinach). He wanted to license Popeye, Olive Oyl (his girlfriend), and Bluto (his main rival) for an arcade game.
Nintendo started to make the game, with the story that Bluto had captured Olive Oyl, and it was up to Popeye to save her. Bluto wasn’t going to make it easy, though… Bluto hurled barrels and other obstacles down at Popeye, trying to get him. It was a great game idea, but the deal fell through… the rights holders for Popeye refused to let Nintendo use the characters.
Rather than stop there, Nintendo decided to switch out the Popeye characters for their own. Bluto turned into Donkey Kong, a big ape who had captured a girl named Pauline. Popeye turned into a jumping mustached man named Jumpman. Donkey Kong was released, and the game was a huge hit.
Jumpman, of course, didn’t keep his name for long. When Donkey Kong was released, Nintendo had just acquired an office in North America to handle translation and distribution of the game. The name of the landlord of that office was… Mario.
This has been Fact Friday. Screenhog out.