Treasure began to develop "Mischief Makers" in mid-1995. At the time, they knew little about the Nintendo 64's final technical specifications, graphics implementation, and development kit, but were nevertheless interested in the console and its improved "pixel quality". Historically, Treasure developed games exclusively for Sega consoles, which made "Mischief Makers" their first release for a Nintendo console. Bringing "Mischief Makers" to the Nintendo 64 was a hardware-based decision: the Nintendo 64's cartridges were more expensive than CD-ROMs, but they loaded data instantly and were thus more conducive for action games such as "Mischief Makers". However, Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa said that development for the Nintendo 64 had a harsher learning curve than even the Sega Saturn. Other than the special attention required to build a single boss in 3D, the team did not use features specific to the Nintendo 64 hardware.