Shinji Mikami, creator of Resident Evil, has revealed the reason why Resident Evil 4 became exclusive to Nintendo’s predecessor to the Wii.

There were three hardware choices to put Resident Evil 4 on: Sony Playstation 2, Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo’s Gamecube. The latter got the game because of a very interesting reason. In the recent piece on why the Xbox failed in Japan, it has been revealed that Shinji Mikami was searching for a console to put the game on, and starting inquiring the respective hardware makers on what makes a video game.

His reason for rejecting the PlayStation 2? It’s because he was fed up with how difficult it was to work with. One could argue Kamiya did the same with Bayonetta and PS3, but we already know about that, don’t we?

“Mikami had confirmed what Microsoft had heard, that he was frustrated developing for PlayStation 2, which was tough to work with. But his team’s bonuses were tied to game sales,” the translator said.

“He needed a reason, a way to explain the shift away from the wildly successful PlayStation 2, the dominant platform of the time, to the Xbox, which had yet to launch, and which in most Japanese eyes was doomed to failure. “What do you guys have to offer?” he asked, bluntly to the three manufacturers.

The answers were intriguing. Sony said games were entertainment, powered by the Emotion Engine, Nintendo said they were toys, created by Shigeru Miyamoto–the creator of Mario. While Microsoft had no answer to the question, and so the choice was simple: Nintendo Gamecube.

Nintendo’s answer made the most sense for him and that’s how it ended up on the GameCube. That really is some interesting information there. Make sure to read the entire Eurogamer piece here.

Thanks, Kotaku.