Around the same time Reggie Fils-Aimé stepped down from his role as Nintendo of America, he showed off some gifts he had received from co-workers as well as the company's studios.
One gift that generated a lot of speculation online (at the time) was a signed and framed piece of artwork from Retro Studios. We even ran a story about it at the time. In it, Reggie is surrounded by characters from Retro's games. However, one is hidden away behind a Mario statue and it kind of looks like a robot.
If you've been wondering about it at all, Reggie has now elaborated on what it is during a special AMA (Ask Me Anything) fundraiser. He also mentioned how his placement of the statue in front was also on purpose. Here's what he had to say, courtesy of GameXplain:
"He said that wouldn't show the portrait, but he did say this character was a personal, sentimental drawing of a character that the Retro Studios team did for him. And the president of Retro, Michael Kelbaugh – who is a good friend of Reggie, made him promise not to show it to anyone because it had an inside story that he's committed to secrecy about.
"Reggie confirms that he did put that Mario statue there on purpose because he didn't want anyone to know what this character was."
So, now we kind of know what was behind the statue, we guess? Some kind of "personal, sentimental" drawing…
Any ideas about who this character could be? Still hopeful we might see it one day? Leave your thoughts down below.
[source youtu.be]