History is just lucky that it wasn't yet another bad licensed sideshow. Usually companies which had no intention of making a good game, would buy up the licenses to put out anything they could contract out for dirt cheap so that they could sell a crap product with a distinct name on it. Luckily, much like Capcom, Sunsoft generally cared about the quality of the games they put out so it's no coincidence that it ended up a classic on the NES.