No, Nintendo Employees Never Got Any Games For Free

Did you know Nintendo employees didn’t receive games that the company releases for free?

That’s what has been happening since the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Thanks to video game enthusiast Chris Bieniek, we now know that Nintendo of America employees purchased NES games through an Employee Purchase Order form.

The Employee Purchase Order form featured popular NES games that could be bought at that period of time with an employee discount. While most NES games cost USD40 to USD50 at retail, employees could purchase The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Golf for USD14 to USD17 a piece.

Games such as Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3 were much higher, priced at USD28 and USD35 respectively. They were the most popular NES games at that time.

While employees working at Nintendo of America now no longer purchase their games through a form, they could obtain exclusive products and games at employee discounts from the Nintendo Redmond Store, located at Nintendo of America HQ. It’s only open to employees, though!

As for Nintendo employees living in Japan, they have to get games the same way as everyone else – pre-order them through a retailer. Masahiro Sakurai, the director of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, had a hard time looking for amiibo in Japan.