Game news 30 years ago, Mario was steamrolling pirated Nintendo games to teach a lesson. He wasn’t kidding.
We know that Nintendo is uncompromising when it comes to misappropriation of its video games and its licenses. An inquisitive attitude that the Japanese company has presented since the 1980s and which is particularly reflected in this story published in Dutch newspapers in 1994.
3 million counterfeits per year
The last few months have borne witness to this: Nintendo doesn’t mess around with criminals, whether online or in real life. Not long ago, the individual the origin of threats against Kyoto society was taken into custody. We can also highlight the letter sent to the manager of a Palworld mod which transformed the characters and pals of the game into protagonists from Pokémon. We do not misappropriate the firm’s flagship licenses with impunity. A rigor that Big N has displayed for almost 40 years. It is displayed through different evidence over the years.
For example, we are at the beginning of the 90s and more precisely in September 1994. In the Dutch newspapers there are astonishing images where we can see Mario, the mascot, accompanying a steamroller. Both are working to crush…Nintendo games!
There should be no mistake. Nintendo does this for the simple reason that they are counterfeit copies from China and more precisely from Taiwan. Dutch newspapers explain that around ten thousand video games were compressed until the explosion at Lelystad airport. A trifle at the time: per year, three million counterfeits per year are recovered for destruction. Counterfeits which represent a lack of profit (we’re talking about 800,000 guilders, or around 400,000 euros today!) additional for Nintendo already well established on the market at the time. Its last two consoles, the Game Boy and the Super NES, boast a catalog of quality video games and are selling like hotcakes.
Nintendo facing the crash in 1983
Success attracts jealousy and especially envious people who also want to get a piece of the pie. Already in the 80s, Nintendo had to deal with many patent troll : studios creating video games with all their might, hoping to win the jackpot by attacking, via lawsuits, publishers who had the idea a posteriori. There were a lot of them in the 80s, which even caused a crash in video games in 1983. For once, Nintendo emerged as the great savior of the market.
Zelda, Mario, Pokémon… Nintendo games have always had one thing in common and you never noticed it. They all display the same golden seal stamped “Original Nintendo Seal of Quality” whose description is still available on the official Nintendo website. A golden seal which establishes trust between Big N and its client established to certify the quality of its own games. A detail that can make you smile today as the digital market, with regard to video games, seems to have taken over the physical market. However, it remains a witness to a time when Nintendo was already uncompromising with its licenses. And almost 40 years later, the company has remained true to itself.