A History of Nintendo’s Game Engines

While many video games are produced using industry-standard game engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine, some companies including Nintendo have kept their game production information private. I started this search looking for the original game engine used for Super Mario 64 and quickly hit a roadblock — proprietary game engines, specifically ones created and used by massive companies such as Nintendo. Through research done on the original Nintendo 64 games’ code, it's been agreed upon that most of the games created for the Nintendo 64 system use the same but heavily modified game engine which is referred to in gaming circles as Nintendo 64 SDK. Nintendo would use its in-house engine as a base and adapt it specifically for the games being produced. Some games have nearly the exact engine reused but improved for the sequels such as the Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask using an updated version of the game engine used for its predecessor Ocarina of Time. This cycle of game engines is thought to have started with Super Mario 64 and evolved until even today. Many Nintendo enthusiasts even theorize the engine used for the Nintendo 64 games is the same one being used to create modern games, albeit a heavily updated and improved version. <a href="https://medium.com/@hbarone_28866/a-history-of-nintendos-game-engines-e5834151ae62">Visit Now</a>