Mario is the biggest franchise when it comes to video games, but did you know that Mario only exists because Nintendo couldn’t make a deal with Popeye?
What does Popeye have to do with Mario? Popeye was one of the most popular franchises about 45 years ago and held a significant place with the target audience Nintendo wanted to reach. In 1981, Nintendo focused their efforts on arcade machines and their games, and they probably thought that a game with Popeye could be quite lucrative.
While negotiations with the owners of the Popeye license were ongoing, Shigeru Miyamoto developed initial concepts for the game. Since the negotiations ultimately failed but the development of the game idea had already progressed, it was decided to develop the game anyway.
Here you can see the trailer for Super Mario Bros. Wonder:
From Popeye to Mario without spinach
So how did Popeye turn into Mario? The game was supposed to have three characters:
- Popeye who became Mario
- Olive Oyl, who became Pauline
- Bluto who became the monkey Donkey Kong
The planned characters all received new designs. But spinach was also replaced, instead, there was a hammer that made Mario stronger.
The similarity between the planned Popeye game and the resulting “Donkey Kong” game can be seen most clearly in the posters.
After the success of Donkey Kong in 1981, Mario became the main character in many more games. Nintendo then had its breakthrough in 1985 with Super Mario Bros. for the NES. Donkey Kong became one of the launch titles for the NES in North America but also had the sequel “Donkey Kong Jr.” on a cartridge.
Due to the great success of the game, there were also ports for home computers like the Commodore 64 and remakes and re-releases of the game for modern platforms.
What was the reaction from the team behind Popeye? The reaction of the people responsible for Popeye is not exactly known. But after Nintendo was very successful with Donkey Kong, they were able to obtain the license for a Popeye arcade game just a year later. The game was also developed by Shigeru Miyamoto.
The Popeye game was also successful and was one of the most popular games in the early 1980s, but it could not reach the cult status of Donkey Kong.
Not only Mario was actually never planned the way he exists today. The popular life simulation “The Sims” also underwent significant changes just before release, even though the game had been in development for many years: With “Sims,” it was actually not meant to be about the Sims at all, but then someone had the successful idea
