Super Mario 64: 10 Facts Every Nintendo Fan Needs To Know

2. It May Have Stolen Ideas From Another Game

Mario 64
Nintendo/Sony

Argonaut Software's game, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, was released for the PlayStation in 1997. Despite being well-received, it was criticised as a rip-off of Super Mario 64.

However, it was far more likely it is the other way around.

In the mid-1990s, Argonaut founder, Jez San, approached Nintendo to make a 3D platformer called Yoshi Racing. Shigeru Miyamoto was fascinated when he saw the prototype but rejected Argonaut's request, stating it was too risky to let an outside company have control over one of Nintendo's most popular characters.

Argonaut tweaked the prototype into a different game called Croc, and had it published by another company.

However, when San saw the grand reveal of Super Mario 64, he couldn't help but notice the similarities it had to his Yoshi beta. San claimed Miyamoto met him after a show and thanked him for giving him the idea to make a 3D platformer.

Jez says he doesn't feel bitter about the experience but feels like Nintendo underestimated his company's capabilities, especially after the success of their previous projects like Star Fox and Super Mario World 2.

Contributor

James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows