During 1988, a shortage of ROM chips and the preparation of a version of "Super Mario Bros. 2" for the west delayed several of Nintendo's game releases in North America. The delayed products included "Super Mario Bros. 3" and "". The delay presented Nintendo with an opportunity to promote the game in a feature film. In 1989, Tom Pollack of Universal Studios approached Nintendo of America's marketing department about a video game film; inspired by Nintendo video game competitions, Pollack envisioned a video game version of "Tommy" for younger audiences. Nintendo licensed its products for inclusion in the film. During production, the filmmakers were granted approval from Nintendo regarding the script and portrayal of its games. "Super Mario Bros. 3" was one of the products shown in the film and was used in a final scene involving a video game competition. Despite the film touting itself as featuring the first public reveal of "Super Mario Bros. 3", the game had already been released in Japan during the previous year, with U.S. magazines such as "Electronic Gaming Monthly" and "GamePro" having already covered the Japanese version.