Remember when Nintendo posted a photo of someone in a Mario costume peering creepily around a curtain?
The now-iconic image, posted by Nintendo of America on Twitter back in October 2016 to hype the upcoming reveal of Nintendo Switch, was instantly turned into a meme and reposted everywhere – including, multiple times, the pages of this very website.
But what was the story behind that photo? Where did it come from, and why was it so odd? Well, former Nintendo staff Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang have now discussed the incident on their podcast (thanks, Nintendo Life) – and the whole thing sounds as last-minute as it looked.
“This was very controversial,” Yang explained. “The person that had this idea was the former head of social. This person commissioned a photoshoot for the Mario costume character in the office to go… they basically staged the Mario costume character going behind the curtain and doing the thing.