That caution didn’t stop Nakayama from assembling a team entirely outside Intelligent Systems — he hired Mario Paint creator Noriaki Teramoto to handle programming. Nakayama also worked cooperatively with Intelligent Systems’ HR department to identify additional candidates. “I spoke with Teramoto, who had already left the company, and asked if he’d do the programming,” he recalls. “There were still many roles to fill. The head of HR at Intelligent Systems would tell me, ‘There are ten people left in the interview process but we’ll only hire five. I’ll introduce you to the other five.'”
Jupiter’s debut title became Mario’s Picross, a move that stemmed directly from Nakayama’s connections. According to Nakayama, Shigeru Miyamoto suggested they use Mario’s name when adapting a popular magazine puzzle into a video game: “Miyamoto said, ‘You can use Mario,’ after we discussed turning that puzzle format into a game.”
The partnership was mutually advantageous: Nintendo was between mainline Mario releases and wanted to keep the character visible while the next entry was in development.
Masahiro Sakurai, creator of Super Smash Bros. and Kirby, has said, “It’s best to just play games, instead of focusing on who made them.”
Source: gamesradar.com
