10 Things Nintendo Wants You To Forget About Mario

4. Mario Was Only Invented Because Nintendo Couldn't Licence Popeye

The game that ended up as Donkey Kong was originally planned to star Popeye, Bluto and Olive Oyl, but after failing to secure the license (until 1982) Miyamoto opted to design his own characters for the concept he had in mind. That means Mario was essentially invented by mistake, merely a throwaway character for Miyamoto to use in his game as he couldn't use Popeye. Had he secured the license a year earlier, it's highly likely that Mario would not have been created and Nintendo wouldn't have had the same degree of success, meaning they wouldn't have still been a company that's around today. Ultimately, the failure to licence Popeye was a blessing in disguise. Gaming would be a far different industry today without the face of Mario around, yet I'm sure Nintendo would rather have us believe that the popularity and success of Mario was always a certain thing. The lack of already popular characters that Nintendo could attach to their game lead them to develop their own IP, one that's still a force to be reckoned with today, if the sale figures for Mario Kart 8 have taught us anything. Nintendo's success in the early eras of gaming were part fluke, part genius, but they'd rather you only remember the latter.