A screenshot from a partially wiped promotional tape of Mario 64. Believed by some to be of Operation Hodges.
Operation Hodges is a supposed operation from Nintendo which took place in 2003. Hiroshi Yamauchi got in contact with a data preservationist named 'W. William Hodges' to hide the evidence of Personalisation and the 1995 build among others. However, Hodges actually wanted to betray Nintendo and 'destroy Japan' for 'taking his family' the stuff sent to Hodges was bought by MCMax05 of reddit in 2005. The fate of Hodges is unknown, he is possibly the 'W Hodges' listed in UK death records in 2013.
The tape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBNQqPoYm6w
Backstory[]
W. William Hodges was a British data preservationist born in August 1924 to Arthur and Cassandra Hodges in Dover and was the youngest of 3 boys.
Picture of the Sandwich Platoon, Hodges is in the middle on the top row.
Not much is known about his early life but it is believed that he went to the local school in Dover. His eldest brother, Arthur Hodges, was killed in the Sinking of the Prince of Wales on 10 October 1941 by the Japanese Air Force. Hodges soon grew xenophobic towards Japanese people and would do whatever to avenge his brothers death. Much against his will, he was enlisted as a part of the Home Guard in local Sandwich in 1942, where he was constantly at arms with other platoon members.
He was enlisted again as a mechanic in the Royal Signals in 1944 and served until 1953 at Blandford Camp and Bovington, both in Dorset, where he had a passion for go-kart racing. After he left the army, he played in amateur racing circuits under the name 'Lancelot the Brave' for his daring stunts while racing. However, he was struck with an injury in his right leg in 1966 which resulted in his right leg having to be amputated and replaced with a wooden one, which ended his career.
Data preservationist causes racism row (1984)
While recovering, he read an article in The Times which detailed data preservation and it fascinated him to the point that he took on data preservation as his career after leaving hospital. He became a well-known data preservationist in the UK during the 1970s and was well-paid by companies such as OXO and Mattel to preserve heaps of data. Hodges briefly sparked minor controversy in 1984 for refusing to act as a data preservationist for Sony due to their Japanese nationality, but this was quickly forgotten.
Nintendo hired him in 2003 to hide the data of the Personalisation A.I. and wasn’t seen as a threat by Nintendo because he was just an old man and that the data would be returned to them when he died. Hodges saw this as an opportunity to slander the Japanese and immediately sold the important data to MCMax05 in 2005, who finally leaked the data on Reddit in 2020.
Hodges is believed to have died in December 2013.
The contents of Hodges data[]
These are the contents of the data bought by MCMax05 in 2005.
- 7 beta builds, including the July 29th 1995 build and March 5th 1996 build among several others
- 57 Mario 64 renders of numerous characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Bowser.
- 5 promotional images intended for use in Nintendo Power magazine and SpaceWorld.
The letters (found on floppy disk)[]
親愛なる茂、パーソナライズを祝うテープを拭いてください。飛行機に乗って博物館に行き、ホッジに会って彼と話します。
親愛なる茂、私は連絡先を見つけました、彼の名前はホッジです、彼はテープと手紙を隠します、そしてマリオ64の個人化実験のすべての言及。彼は戦争のベテランです。
親愛なる山内さん、私はテープを取り、ポーツマスの博物館にある私の避難所に隠します。手紙はコンピューターゲームのビルドでブランドフォードに送られます。あなたのクライアント、ホッジスから。
Share what you can about personalisation and the builds, I want to destroy Japan and give them the punishment they deserve for taking my family. From W William Hodges.