The very magnitude of its failure helps to explain the close relationship that exists between Nintendo and HAL today, with the latter producing games like the first two Super Smash Bros. Iwata, who became president of HAL in 1993 and then president of Nintendo in 2002, worked as a producer on the game, which took four years to finish in a time when game development was often measured in months, not years. Iwata himself avoided talking about the exact circumstances of the deal: “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to go into the details but many people at Nintendo had faith in us: ‘if they can just unleash their true potential, they’ll be a great developer.’ People like Miyamoto, who had known firsthand about our contribution to Nintendo since the early Famicom days, were saying stuff like that, and so were several other key people at Nintendo. In the past we had applied ourselves and made solid, quality games that were profitable.”

Source: The Famicom Failure That Almost Bankrupted HAL, But Shaped Nintendo’s Future