15 Trivia Questions Only Hardcore Nintendo Fans Will Know
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Q: What is the best-selling Nintendo exclusive game of all time?
Tetris, with an estimated 495 million copies sold and downloaded, is the best-selling cross-platform game of all time. But what's the best-selling Nintendo exclusive?
A. Duck Hunt
B. Super Mario Bros.
C. Mario Kart Wii
D. Wii Sports
(Image credit: Shutterstock/padu_foto)
Answer: Wii Sports (2006)
The game sold 82.96 million copies, more than double that of the original Super Mario Bros.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: Which of the following games did Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto NOT design?
A. Donkey Kong
B. Kid Icarus
C. Excitebike
D. The Legend of Zelda
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Answer: Kid Icarus
Toru Osawa and Yoshio Sakamoto are credited with designing Kid Icarus.
Sakamoto is also co-creator of Metroid.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: What is the first game with Princess Zelda as a playable character?
A. Zelda: Wand of Gamelon
B. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
C. Super Smash Bros. Melee
D. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Answer: Zelda: Wand of Gamelon (1993)
This truly atrocious game was released for the ill-fated Philips CD-i system. The low budget, crudely animated game was created with almost no involvement from Nintendo.
(Image credit: Philips)
Q: What is the best-selling Nintendo handheld of all time?
The system in question sold an estimated 154 million units since launch.
A. Nintendo Game Boy
B. Nintendo Game Boy Advance
C. Nintendo DS
D. Nintendo 3DS
(Image credit: Shutterstock/Paul Stringer)
Answer: Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS is the second-best selling video game system of all time, second only to the Sony PlayStation 2.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: Which pro baseball team did Nintendo become majority owner of in 1992?
Nintendo spent $100 million to dip its toes in a very different kind of game.
A. Seattle Mariners
B. Oakland Athletics
C. Kansas City Royals
D. Tampa Bay Rays
(Image credit: Composite by Fox Van Allen)
Answer: The Seattle Mariners
Nintendo, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, purchased the team in 1992 as a goodwill gesture to keep it from relocating to St. Petersburg, Florida.
Nintendo sold all but 10 percent of its stake in the Mariners in 2016 for $661 million.
(Image credit: Shutterstock/Alan C. Helson)
Q: What game is this screenshot from?
Yes, we know it's a Mario Kart title. You'll have to be more specific than that.
A. Mario Kart: Super Circuit
B. Mario Kart: Double Dash
C. Mario Kart Wii
D. Mario Kart 8
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Answer: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (2003)
The GameCube title is the only from the series to feature two riders per kart.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: Which Nintendo game caused enough injuries in children to result in a $80M settlement?
Former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer went after Nintendo when parents reported cuts, blisters and friction burns that resulted from playing...
A. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
B. Super Smash Bros.
C. Mario Kart 64
D. Mario Party
(Image credit: Chris Johnsson/Shutterstock)
Answer: Mario Party (1999)
Under the terms of the settlement, Nintendo was required to provide four sets of gaming gloves to every owner of Mario Party who requested them.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: What is the first Nintendo game to feature Mario in it?
His first video game appearance predates Super Mario Bros. by four years.
A. Mario Bros.
B. Tennis
C. Donkey Kong
D. Wrecking Crew
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Answer: Donkey Kong (1981)
In the arcade classic, Mario must jump over barrels and other obstacles to rescue his girlfriend, Pauline.
Q: What is the name of Nintendo's first-ever 'Game & Watch' title?
Nintendo started production on the line of handheld electronic games in 1980.
A. Ball
B. Oil Panic
C. Egg
D. Mario Bros.
(Image credit: peeterv via iStock)
Answer: Ball (1980)
Ball, a simple juggling game, sold about 250,000 copies.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: Which film inspired the enemies in Nintendo's Metroid series?
Co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto called this movie a "huge influence."
A. Star Wars
B. Galaxy of Terror
C. Predator
D. Alien
(Image credit: Talaaya Cosplay)
Answer: Alien
The Metroid team was most influenced by the film's creature designer, H. R. Giger.
(Image credit: iStock/BrendanHunter)
Q: What was the first NES game to use the "Konami Code"?
This game was damn hard to beat without first pressing up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.
A. Contra
B. Life Force
C. Gradius
D. R-Type
(Image credit: Konami)
Answer: Gradius (1986)
Konami's Kazuhisa Hashimoto created the cheat to make the incredibly difficult game easier to play during testing.
(Image credit: Konami)
Q: What was Nintendo's original line of business when the company was founded in 1889?
The company sure wasn't making video games 128 years ago.
A. Love Hotels
B. Instant Rice
C. Taxi Company
D. Playing Cards
(Image credit: Shutterstock/Tinxi)
Answer: Hanafuda (Playing) Cards
Though Nintendo has invested in love hotels, instant rice and taxis in the past, the company got its start manufacturing traditional Japanese playing cards. Nintendo has since made Mario-themed Hanafuda editions for its Club Nintendo members.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: What was the first SNES game to use the Super FX chip?
The chip, first used in 1993, allowed games to render polygons in 3D.
A. Pilotwings
B. Star Fox
C. Doom
D. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Answer: Star Fox (1993)
Nintendo later used the Super FX chip in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island to scale sprites to create the game's massive bosses.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: What was the first Nintendo game to have a "save game" feature?
We're not talking passwords here, we're talking the first battery-powered game backup.
A. Dragon Warrior
B. Final Fantasy
C. Metroid
D. The Legend of Zelda
(Image credit: iStock/robtek)
Answer: The Legend of Zelda (1987)
The game relied on a soldered watch-type battery to hold save game data.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Q: What was Mario's original name?
A. Jumpman
B. Big Red
C. Luigi
D. Squattin' Sam
(Image credit: Shutterstock/Barone Firenze)
Answer: Jumpman
Actually, Mario had a few alternate names: He was listed as "Jumpman" in the English instructions for Donkey Kong, while designer Shigeru Miyamoto named him "Mr. Video."
The character's name was eventually changed to Mario in honor of the company's US landlord.
(Image credit: Nintendo)