1.0Kotaku Australiahttps://www.kotaku.com.auLuke Plunketthttps://www.kotaku.com.au/author/lukeplunkett-usa/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="avffFL9K9M"><a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/10/how-nintendo-convinced-the-world-to-buy-a-weird-mario-game/">How Nintendo Convinced The World To Buy A Weird Mario Game</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2014/10/how-nintendo-convinced-the-world-to-buy-a-weird-mario-game/embed/#?secret=avffFL9K9M" width="600" height="338" title="“How Nintendo Convinced The World To Buy A Weird Mario Game” — Kotaku Australia" data-secret="avffFL9K9M" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); </script> https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/30/ohtmxbku2wmo7yrdan3c.jpg?quality=75678488Gail Tilden used to work at Nintendo. She was one of the founding editors of Nintendo Power, so knows better than most people how the company was able to sell one of Mario’s strangest moments — a game that wasn’t even really a Mario game — to the world.