Disney princesses aren't the only royalty walking around Disney parks. Over the years, real-life royals have visited the parks too.

While the world's royal families have been known to take lavish vacations, Disney's magical rides, whimsical characters, and Mickey-shaped treats make for memorable trips for royals and commoners alike. 

Here are nine photos of royals having a blast at Disney parks.

Walt Disney and his wife presented King Baudouin of Belgium with a memento of his visit to Disneyland in 1959.

Walt Disney gave the visiting monarch a personal tour through the amusement park, and even took him on a few rides.

Princess Michiko and Crown Prince Akihito of Japan visited Disneyland in 1960.

They rode on an Italian boat that runs on rails around a miniature Matterhorn mountain, ending with a splash into a pool of water.

Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia rode “It’s A Small World" at Disneyland in 1967.

Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was in town to deliver a speech at UCLA, so naturally he stopped at Disneyland to ride "It's A Small World."

Unlike The Master's, which is always held at Augusta National, the U.S. Open changes venue every year, in order to give the USGA a chance to show off its different courses. Still, given that the tournament has been going for over a hundred years now, it is only natural that certain courses have become fixtures it the U.S. Open's schedule — and will continue to be in the future.

Below we take a closer look at the ten course that have hosted the U.S. championship most often.

Oakmont Country Club: 9 times hosting

Years Hosted: 1927, 1935, 1953, 1962, 1973, 1983, 1994, 2007, 2016 

Future Hosting Dates: 2025

Location: Oakmont, Pennsylvania 

Baltusrol Golf Club: 7 times hosting

Years Hosted: 1903, 1915, 1936, 1954, 1967, 1980, 1993

Location: Springfield, New Jersey 

Oakland Hills Country Club: 6 times hosting

Years Hosted: 1924, 1937, 1951, 1961, 1985, 1996 

Location: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 

E3 2018 is finally coming to an end.

The biggest video game event of the year featured plenty of major game announcements throughout the week, from the world's top game makers including Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and others.

But some came out of the event looking better than others.

These were the winners and losers of E3 2018:

SEE ALSO: The 13 biggest announcements from E3 2018

Winner: Sony-backed studios making PlayStation 4 exclusives

Upcoming PS4 exclusives "Spider-Man,""Ghost of Tsushima," and "The Last Of Us Part II" all look incredible, and it goes to show what studios can do when they have the support of a major studio like Sony.

Sony put Insomniac Games in charge of "Spider-Man," Sucker Punch is developing "Ghost of Tsushima," and Naughty Dog is leading the way on "The Last Of Us Part II," but what's impressive is how all three of these games already show the level of polish fans have come to expect from a PlayStation 4 exclusive. The future of the PS4 looks very bright thanks to these studios.

Loser: Sony

Despite the incredible-looking games coming from Sony-backed studios, Sony itself came off looking not so great after E3. Its press conference featured a big intermission that many fans say ruined the flow of the show, and made its later announcements feel less exciting.

Later in the week, Sony got into hot water when many of the the 2+ million people who downloaded "Fortnite" for the Nintendo Switch in its first 24 hours of availability found they couldn't play on both a PlayStation 4 and the Switch, and would have to choose one or the other — at least, if they wanted to keep their purchased items. 

Now, Sony is facing a great deal of pressure from fans and even rival companies to provide cross-play for games like "Fortnite"— that is, the ability for PlayStation 4 gamers to play with people on other platforms. Microsoft and Nintendo have made great strides in cross-play, with "Minecraft" and "Fortnite" letting Microsoft Xbox One and Nintendo Switch owners play together.

Frustrations with Sony over the topic are bubbling all over social media. A senior Xbox exec even tweeted his fans asking who would want to play "Destiny" across Xbox and PlayStation. And Microsoft's Xbox UK account also sent this cheeky tweet:

Winner: "Super Smash Bros" fans

Nintendo spent 24 of the 42 total minutes of its E3 presentation to talk about "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate," its mascot-versus-mascot fighting game coming to the Nintendo Switch on December 7.

Fans knew before E3 that "Super Smash Bros." would be Nintendo's focus at the event, and Nintendo lived up to that promise by introducing plenty of details about the new game. But Nintendo went a step further and paid homage to the game's biggest fans by bringing back every character from past "Super Smash Bros." games, including characters that only appeared once, as well as fan-favorite stages and items.

Nintendo also made some in-game tweaks that "Smash" fans asked for, like shorter Final Smash moves and small changes to the intricacies of combat. The game will even support GameCube controllers, a nod to people who play "Smash Bros." in competitive tournaments. If you loved "Smash Bros." before E3, Nintendo's presentation was directed right at you.

• In 2017, global gold mine production was a reported 3,247 tonnes.
• China produces the most gold in the world. 
• It's possible we've reached peaked gold production.

Gold is one of the rarest elements in the world, making up roughly 0.003 parts per million of the earth’s crust. But how much gold is the world digging up each year and what countries produce the most?

In 2017, global gold mine production was a reported 3,247 tonnes. This figure is down 5 tonnes from the previous year and marks the first annual drop since 2008, according to the GFMS Gold Survey 2018. The driving forces behind the drop in output were environmental concerns, crackdowns on illegal mining operations and rising costs.

This raises the question I’ve explored recently – have we reached peak gold? The idea is that all the easy gold has already been discovered and explorers have to dig deeper to find economically viable deposits. For example, South Africa was once the top gold-producing country by far, digging up over 1,000 tonnes in 1970, but annual output has fallen steadily since. On the other hand, several nations have emerged in the last few years as growing gold producers. China and Russia have both seen production in an overall upward trend.

As seen in the chart below, China takes the number one spot of global gold producers by a wide margin, extracting 131 tonnes more than second place Australia. The top 10 rankings remained unchanged from 2016 to 2017, with the exception of Canada and Indonesia switching between fifth and seventh place, respectively. Of the top producers, Russia posted the largest annual gain, boosting output by 17 tonnes.

Below are more details on the top 10 countries with the largest gold production in 2017, beginning with the top producer and top consumer of bullion, China.

SEE ALSO: Brutal 568-page watchdog report blasts Comey, finds FBI officials may have wanted to hurt Trump's chances of winning the election

China - 426 tonnes

For many years China has been the top producing nation, accounting for 13 percent of global mine production. Production fell by 6 percent last year due to escalated efforts by the government to fight pollution and raise environmental awareness. However, production is expected to pick back up this year due to several mine upgrades at existing projects.

Australia- 295.1 tonnes

Although gold production increased 5 tonnes from the previous year in Australia, MinEx Consultingreleased a report detailing an expected drop between 2017 and 2057 unless the amount spent on exploration is doubled. The minerals industry produces over half of Australia’s total exports and generates about 8 percent of GDP.

Russia – 270.7 tonnes

A massive 83 percent of European gold comes from Russia, which has been increasing its production every year since 2010. The nation increased output by 17 tonnes last year, even as the ruble appreciated 13 percent, which hurts producers with weaker revenue growth relative to the cost of production. Who is the largest buyer of Russian gold? The Russian government, of course, which purchases around two-thirds of all gold produced locally.

• As diversified and cash-rich retailers like Amazon take the world by storm, investors have been left scrambling to identify companies that will be able to withstand the disruption over the long term.
• Credit Suisse has singled out seven companies it says will continue growing a key measure of financial strength, even amid mounting headwinds.

It's Amazon's world, and the rest of the retail industry is just living in it. Or at least that's how it seems these days.

But Credit Suisse isn't ready to give up hope. The firm recently ran an analysis to assess which companies around the world are the most well-equipped to withstand the so-called retail apocalypse. 

It started by calculating the share price implied cash flow return on investment (CFROI) for each company in the global retail industry. By comparing this figure with the five-year historical median and its forecast for the next year, Credit Suisse was then able to see which companies are already priced for falling returns amid heavy disruption.

By the same token, the firm was able to pinpoint the elite handful of stocks expected to grow returns even as industry headwinds mount. And the findings show that not all hope is lost for (1) companies with a large and growing e-commerce business and (2) discount and value retailers.

"In most cases these companies have a more significant online presence which is benefitting from being asset light (especially relative to brick and mortar retail) and are experiencing stronger top line growth allowing for quicker operational efficiencies," a group of Credit Suisse analysts led by Eugene Kierk wrote in a client note.

Without further ado, here are the seven companies that the firm says will generate positive CFROI going forward.

SEE ALSO: One of investing's most influential pioneers just made a bold prediction about where tech stocks will be in 10 years — and it's not pretty for the likes of Apple and Facebook

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Cristiano Ronaldo, the Real Madrid and Portugal national team striker, is one of the best soccer players in the world. He has four Champions League titles, helped Portugal win the UEFA European Championship in 2016, and is set to star for his country in the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Ronaldo is incredibly gifted. He is one of the fittest, most athletic sportsmen in world football today. To maintain an edge over his opponents, he has to stay motivated on the training ground and ensure he eats right.

We looked into what the world's biggest soccer star eats and drinks to stay on top of his game. Here's everything Ronaldo has for breakfast, lunch, and dinner:

SEE ALSO: This is everything boxing champion Floyd Mayweather eats and drinks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

DON'T MISS: Everything tennis icon Roger Federer eats and drinks for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

UP NEXT: Here's what time the Champions League final starts where you live — and how you can watch it live online

This is Cristiano Ronaldo, the powerful forward who plays for Real Madrid and the Portugal national team. The 33-year-old scored 43 goals for Real last season, and begins his World Cup campaign today.

Ronaldo does not deprive himself of good food even though he is a world-class athlete. Judging from this photo he is a big fan of big breakfasts featuring pastries, cold cuts, European cheeses, and fresh fruit — all washed down with a latte and juice.

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Being Portuguese, and specifically hailing from Madeira, Ronaldo has a taste for fruits and juices, according to Le10Sport. Ronaldo's preferences include pear, apple, or pineapple juice, but he is also very fond of coffee.

Source: Le10Sport

Globetrotters are always looking for inspired travel recommendations from those in the know in order to experience new destinations in the most authentic way possible — and those passed by word-of-mouth are always best. 

As summer kicks off, Business Insider asked friends, colleagues, and some of the world's travel experts for their favourite — and overlooked — European destinations that can be seen in a long weekend. 

From the mystical Arabic influence of Granada to the dilapidated charm of Porto, and the gothic churches of Transylvania, here's a selection of their top recommendations, along with some local tips. 

SEE ALSO: 25 under-the-radar places in Latin America to visit in your lifetime, according to the world’s top travel experts

Pretend you're in a Bond film at the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro.

Montenegro provides a less obvious alternative to neighbouring Croatia, and it's not hard to see the draw of the stunning setting of the Bay of Kotor, with its glistening Adriatic sea and mountainous backdrop. The bay is also home to the preserved medieval old city of Kotor which just so happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage site.

One TripAdvisor user from the UK called it "Europe's best kept secret." 

"Despite seeing many images of this place before my visit, nothing really prepared me for just how stunningly beautiful this bay is," the review stated. "The waterside setting (obviously) with its mountainous backdrop was for me a cross between the Norwegian fjords and those lovely Alpine lakes."

Admire the azulejos (painted tiles) and dilapidated charm of Porto, Portugal.

Emma McWhinney, the UK head of editorial at Secret Escapes, recommends a long weekend in Porto, a coastal city on Portugal's northern coast that's steadily growing in popularity as an alternative — possibly even a cheaper one — to Lisbon. 

"Often overshadowed by bustling Lisbon, Porto, with its coastal thrills, postcard-perfect architecture, and eclectic culinary scene, is a must-visit cluster of colour and charm," she said.

Wander through Porto's hilly streets and admire the crumbling buildings and ramshackle colourful houses decorated with azulejos (painted tiles), and you'll soon see why its dilapidated charm is drawing in tourists.

Porto's proximity to some pretty stretches of beach adds to its appeal.

Soak up the Andalusian sunshine, snack on the famous free tapas, and lose yourself in a colourful maze of market stalls in Granada, Spain.

Granada, located in Spain's southern Andalusian region, is a city rich in history and culture —and its Arab influence gives it a mystical edge.

Aside from the tapas — it's one of the few places in Spain where a free tapa is religiously served with every drink — there's the majestic Alhambra Palace, abundant Arab baths that make a perfect first stop to unwind into your weekend, and the intriguing whitewashed gypsy caves of Sacromonte, where some of the city's best flamenco haunts lie. 

Sakshi, a New York-based editor who recently visited the city, told Business Insider: "We enjoyed one free tapa with each drink. So we bar hopped as is recommended, we didn't ever get a second round at the same place.

"A tip for tourists is saying 'que tapa' after letting the bartender know the intention is a drink — either a cana (a small beer) or copa (little glass of wine). Bar Bodegas Castañeda came highly recommended and is somewhat of an institution. We started our bar hop there," she added. 

Changing the world takes vision, grit, and hard work.

And it takes just enough crazy to believe you might actually pull it off.

That's what makes the young generation of innovators so important. Chock-full of fresh ideas and optimism, today's crop of up-and-comers aren't wasting time waiting in line; they're building the companies and products of the future right now.

We've rounded up a list of those ahead of the curve: The entrepreneurs, CEOs, and product gurus, ages 30 and under, who are driving innovation from Silicon Valley to South Africa. To be eligible for this list, the person had to have done something awesome in tech in 2018.

Business Insider combed the tech landscape, from startups and tech giants to venture capital firms and investors, to find the most interesting and noteworthy rising stars. Here they are:

SEE ALSO: Meet the rising stars in New York tech who find hot startup deals and manage millions of dollars

Shruti Merchant's startup takes the hassle out of finding affordable housing in California's ritziest markets.

Title:Cofounder and CEO of HubHaus

Age: 24

As millennials continue to move in droves to expensive cities, startups are hatching creative solutions for helping them find affordable housing. HubHaus leases large homes, typically with five to 10 bedrooms, from owners and finds community-seeking renters to fill them.

Launched by Shruti Merchant and her cofounder Kerry Jones in 2016, the company has expanded to 82 properties in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. It's eyeing an expansion outside California in 2018, thanks to a recent round of $10 million in funding, according to Merchant.

Vitalik Buterin created the blockchain technology for ethereum when he was only a teenager.

Title: Founder of Ethereum

Age: 24

Vitalik Buterin first began working on ethereum when he was still a teenager. Today, the cryptocurrency built on ethereum's blockchain technology, ether, is considered one of the most influential cryptocurrencies in the world— spiking to nearly $1,500 in early 2018. 

Buterin, who stepped away from venture capital earlier this year, has remained an active figure in the cryptocurrency community.  In January, Buterin said that he expects 2018 to be a landmark year for ethereum: Already, the project's technology has spurred numerous blockchain applications and decentralized apps. 

Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone have plans to print rockets on the planet Mars.

Title: Cofounders of Relativity Space

Age: 27, 25

Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone left their jobs as engineers at Blue Origin and SpaceX, respectively, to start their own company, Relativity Space. The pair have developed an enormous 3D printer for manufacturing rocket hardware which they hope will make it possible to build rocketships in just a few days. 

In the future, Ellis and Noone hope their technology will be used to print spacecrafts on the planet Mars. Already, the pair has engineered the largest metal 3D printer in the world, which they say can currently manufacture 95% of the materials for a functioning rocket. In three years, they hope to launch a 3D printed rocket into space.

 So far, the company has raised $45.1 million from investors including Mark Cuban, Social Capital, and Y Combinator. 

• Jokingly shown off at Bethesda's E3 conference, most people didn't think that 'Skyrim Very Special Edition' on the Amazon Echo was real.
• In fact, it's a free app available for Amazon's Alexa and Echo devices.
• The game is a sort of stripped-down, text RPG version of Skyrim.

When I first saw Bethesda director Todd Howard slyly showing off "Skyrim Very Special Edition" at E3, a voice-only version of the game with Amazon's Alexa, I thought Todd had got us again. I assumed it was another one of Bethesda's jokes where they show how self-aware they are — this time making fun of how many re-releases they gave to the nearly 10-year old game "Skyrim."

I was wrong. "Skyrim Very Special Edition" is very real, and I loaded it up on the Amazon Echo Dot to give the text-to-speech RPG game a try.

Having never used an Echo device before, I wasn't sure where to start. After setting it up and connecting my Amazon account, I thought I was ready to go.

"Alexa, play Skyrim," I sheepishly said.

"Ok — playing Skyrim Main Theme," Alexa replied, and immediately queued up the infamous Skyrim theme song. 

I quickly realized that I needed to add "Skyrim Very Special Edition" to Alexa's "skills" before I could use it. There are no actual visuals to this game, and all the information is relayed to you through Alexa, so I created some Skyrim-style graphics to help illustrate what the speech-based adventure was like:

The game itself is pretty simple: here's how it works

You start off at a crossroads, Alexa asks you to decide which way to go after a few choices are presented, and you'll meet someone at the end of that road. That someone will always have some important quest for you that they can't be bothered to do themselves, and you can choose to accept or deny the quest. Then, you will inevitably get into some sort of combat. You can choose to use your weapon, cast a spell, use a shout, or flee the battle. You don't have many other choices to make, and answering is as simple as saying "weapon," or "spell"— you don't ever actually choose which weapon, spell, or shout to use. 

After getting the hang of the game (which took about 3 minutes), leaving it for a while and then coming back, Alexa greeted me and reminded me where I had left off. I was working on a quest where someone had asked me to retrieve a priceless work of art. 

I chose yes, and walked further into the cave (or at least Alexa told me I did).

I didn't feel like fighting, so I chose to flee.

“The mighty dragonborn manages to scamper off successfully," Alexa said, mocking me. Inside the cave and past the Khajiit that I ran from, I fought a few spiders. After that, I was finished with the cave. 

Luis Suarez is back at the World Cup hoping to lead Uruguay deep into the tournament, and hopefully, he will be around for their entire run this time.

During the 2014 World Cup, Luis Suarez bit Italy's Giorgio Chiellini in one of the most shocking incidents in recent soccer history. He was ultimately banned for nine games and sent home from the tournament.

While Suarez has been one of the best players in the world during his career, he has also been the sport's biggest villain. 

Inexplicably, the 2014 World Cup was his third confirmed biting incident. Below is a look at all three.

Tony Manfred contributed to this report.

1. While playing at Ajax in Holland in 2010, he was suspended for seven games for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal on the shoulder:

2. While playing for Liverpool in 2013, he was suspended for 10 games for biting Chelsea's Branislov Ivanovic on the arm:

3. While playing for Uruguay in the 2014 World Cup, he bit Italy's Giorgio Chiellini. He was not punished during the game:

Running out of movies to watch? We can help. 

Every week, we look through Netflix's collection to recommend seven movies you can watch over the weekend. 

Some of our selections recently joined Netflix, and some have been available for while — you just didn't notice. 

From the irreverent war comedy "Tropic Thunder" to Disney's "Moana," these are awesome movies on Netflix you can watch this weekend, including Netflix's newest hit romantic comedy.

Here are seven movies on Netflix you should check out (along with their scores from Rotten Tomatoes).

*Note: Not all of these films are available in countries outside the United States. Sorry!

SEE ALSO: The 14 most painful TV cancellations of all time

"Set It Up" (2018) — a Netflix original

Netflix description: In desperate need of a break from the office, two beleaguered assistants team up to trick their workaholic bosses into falling in love.

Critic score: 83%

Audience score: N/A

Predictable in an adorable way, "Set It Up" follows every beat you expect it to but in a brilliant way. Plus, Lucy Liu is great. This one could fill the hole "A Christmas Prince" has left.  

"Inside Man" (2006)

Netflix description: A detective matches wits with a thief who's always one step ahead of the cops, and when a loose-cannon negotiator arrives, things spin out of control.  

Critic score: 86%

Audience score: 85%

There are a lot of heist movies. But Spike Lee's masterful direction in the underrated "Inside man" turns a common story in the film world into a thrilling and clever one. Its stellar cast, which includes Clive Owen, Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Christopher Plummer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Willem Dafoe helps, too. 

"Tropic Thunder" (2007)

Netflix description: This combat film send-up from director-star Ben Stiller tracks a group of actors who are forced to become real-life soldiers.

Critic score: 82%

Audience score: 70%

While Robert Downey Jr.'s Oscar-nominated role as a white Australian man playing a black man hasn't aged very well, this comedy is still a great social satire that blew people away for its accuracy as a Vietnam War movie satire, and with Tom Cruise's role as a ruthless producer. 

If you've ever read a magazine or looked up fashion tips online, you've probably come across at least a few fashion rules that you feel you need to abide by. No one really knows exactly where they came from, or who made them up, but we all know that we're supposed to be following them.

These rules may have began with good intentions, but they actually aren't that helpful. They lead to fashion myths that can smother any sense of personal style. Fashion should be about wearing what you like and what makes you feel good, and that shouldn't come with a set of guidelines. A great outfit can be something classic and trendy, but it can also be something unique and wild. Listening to fashion myths is never going to help anyone find their own personal sense of style.

Even legitimate stylists, who make a living out of coaching people on what to wear, dislike the rules within the industry. INSIDER spoke with a few stylists who talked about the fashion myths they want everyone to stop believing, and their answers just might help you put together a more creative look each day.

Sweatpants are only for your house.

Sweatpants have always been seen as an article of clothing that is only appropriate for the days you spend in the comfort of your own home. But if the last few years have taught us anything, it's that the athleisure trend isn't going anywhere. In other words, sweatpants can absolutely make a stylish outfit. LA-based stylist Kimmy Erin Kertes told INSIDER, "I don't know if we should be thanking Virgil Abloh or whoever Lululemon is, but I'm so grateful that comfort and style can be combined in a modern way and with a statement attached."

Ignore the myth that they can't be dressed up, and pair your comfiest sweats with the right accessories to make them work for any event. Kertes says, "Sweatpants are great. Tracksuits are great (mismatched or matched). Popped with a heel? You're unstoppable."

You shouldn't wear leather in the spring or summer.

Leather is a heavier material than, say, cotton, and so many believe it should be avoided during the warmer months. INSIDER spoke to fashion stylist and costume designer Tiffany Hasbourne, who said, "If this was the truth, then why do they make leather shorts, leather bustiers, and cropped leather jackets? Especially in a time where New York and even LA are experiencing chilly nights, why not throw on your favorite biker jacket over a dress or leather shorts with a cute jean jacket to add a bit of edge to your look?"

Don't feel that you have to wear materials based on the season if you feel comfortable in them.

You can't mix silver and gold jewelry.

Mixing metals if often frowned upon, but two stylists agreed that it's a myth that needs to die. Hasbourne said, "This is one of my favorite myths to defy. I wear silver and gold together all the time."

This doesn't just apply to silver and gold.

"Mix all the metals! Rose, yellow, and white gold are a great place to start, but of course there's room to add in oxidized shades and colored stones," Kertes said. 

The fast fashion industry is booming, as retailers output ready-to-wear garments straight from the runway in record time.

H&M seems to be at the forefront of this movement. Almost everyone has at least one piece of clothing from H&M or at least stepped inside one of their stores, largely because the retailer is able to offer a wide range of apparel and accessories at a very low price.

But no matter how many H&M garments are stuck in your closet or rolled up in your drawers, there are probably some things you don’t know about the company. Check out some other surprising facts that will give you something to think about the next time you’re shopping for a basic.

INSIDER reached out to H&M for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

H&M originated from a hunting and fishing store.

In 1946, Erling Persson opens a women's clothing store in Sweden called Hennes, which is Swedish for "hers." About two years later, Persson bought a hunting apparel and fishing store, called Mauritz Widforss. When he combined that brand with Hennes, the store began to sell women's and men's clothing. That new store was called Hennes and Mauritz — more commonly known as H&M.

There are thousands of retail stores around the globe.

Today, H&M has expanded to every corner of the globe with 4,743 stores in over 50 countries. Despite getting its start in Sweden, the United States holds the most stores with 543. But the brand has a presence in all parts of the world, including locations in Cyprus, Macau, Tasmania, and Iceland.

Every time a new store location opens, employees must perform a choreographed dance for the press.

It is the company's tradition to have the new employees celebrate the opening of a new store by performing a choreographed dance in front of customers and the press. Typically, there is a DJ present to start the "flash-mob." When one store opened in Australia back in 2015, more than a 100 employees performed a lively number for the awaiting customers.

In March 2017, Nintendo launched its new Switch console alongside a huge new "Legend of Zelda" game.

A month later, Nintendo followed up with a "Mario Kart" game.

A few months after that, a new "Splatoon" game arrived.

Then, just before the big holiday shopping season, Nintendo dropped "Super Mario Odyssey"— a brand new, main-series Super Mario game from Nintendo's top development talent.

In short: 2017 was a big year for Nintendo.

Look no further than the company's astronomic stock performance in 2017 for an idea of just how big of a year 2017 was:

2018, however, is shaping up to be a lot less exciting by comparison.

Here's why:

SEE ALSO: The 7 biggest announcements from the first 2 days of E3 2018

Nintendo's 2018 games line-up is distinctly less impressive than last year:

Between now and December, Nintendo has four first-party games scheduled to launch:

1. "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate"— the next entry in the long-running Nintendo fighting game series which features an all-star cast of gaming characters.
2. "Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!" and "Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu!"— an updated re-master of "Pokémon Yellow" that comes in two slightly different versions.
3. "Super Mario Party"— the next entry in the multiplayer-focused minigame series starring Nintendo characters.
4. "Mario Tennis Aces"— the next entry in Nintendo's franchise of popular mascots playing each other in wacky games of tennis arrives June 22.

That's pretty much it.

There are some big third-party games, like "Octopath Traveler," and a major addition to "Splatoon 2" just launched (the "Octo Expansion"), and the Nintendo Switch Online service is scheduled to light up this September.

There are a few new things, no doubt.

But it's a major dropoff from 2017, which had major Nintendo Switch game launches nearly every month. It was always going to be hard for Nintendo to top a year with major new "Mario" and "Legend of Zelda" games, but 2018's comparative game line-up is a return to the Wii U years of B-tier games sporadically launching.

With 2017's Switch launch, Nintendo revitalized its two biggest game franchises — Mario and Zelda. 2018's line-up pushes the pause button on that evolution; it'll be at least another year before Nintendo launches the real Pokémon game for Switch, to say nothing of the long-awaited "Metroid Prime 4."

"Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,""Super Mario Party," and "Pokémon: Let's Go!" are B-tier Nintendo games.

As a lifelong "Smash Bros." fan, it hurts to admit it — but it's true: The "Smash Bros." franchise is a B-tier Nintendo franchise, along the lines of "Kirby" and "Mario Party." 

It's an incredible game series, but it's also a fighting game series. It's inherently limited by its genre, even though it stars literally every major Nintendo character (and loads of minor Nintendo characters, to say nothing of guest characters from non-Nintendo games). 

To be clear: "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" is likely to sell quite well, and millions of Switch owners will love it. But it's unlikely to see the absurdly high numbers that games like "Super Mario Odyssey" and "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" did. 

The same could be said for the new "Pokémon: Let's Go!" games and "Super Mario Party." The former isn't the much anticipated new "core" Pokémon title being made for Switch, and the latter is, well, it's a "Mario Party" game. Both will sell well and entertain millions of people, but it's unlikely that either will achieve the astronomic impact levels of impact that games like "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" did.

The biggest games in development for the Nintendo Switch are coming in 2019 or later.

Many Nintendo fans are looking beyond 2018.

Nintendo's "Yoshi" game originally scheduled to launch this year was pushed to 2019, according to Polygon.

And a major new Pokémon game is coming to the Nintendo Switch — the next entry in the main series, in fact — but it's scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2019. It's a big deal that the next game in the main series will be on the Switch, considering the entire Pokémon series up to this point has existed solely on Nintendo's handheld consoles. The first Pokémon game debuted on the original Nintendo Game Boy, and the series continued that tradition through to the most recent release on the Nintendo 3DS. 

And what of "Metroid Prime 4"? 

That's the big question. The game was notoriously absent from Nintendo's big video presentation this week at E3 2018, the annual video game trade show in Los Angeles. 

Since announcing the game in a logo at E3 2017, Nintendo's been quiet about "Metroid Prime 4." It's unlikely to arrive in 2017 given its absence from the big show — it's expected in 2019 or later.

The SR-71 Blackbird spy plane is the fastest and highest-flying production aircraft to ever hit the skies. 

Despite the US Air Force officially retiring the Blackbird in 1990 (although NASA would use two of them for research in that decade), it remains to this day one of the most popular and captivating aircraft.

The SR-71 was developed in the early 1960's in response to two U-2 spy planes getting shot down — one over the Soviet Union and one over Cuba. 

Thousands of missiles would be fired at Blackbirds during the 24 years it was in service, but the US never lost one because of its incredible speed. 

Check out the photos below:

SEE ALSO: 15 photos of the MiG-31, the Russian fighter jet that can chase away SR-71 Blackbirds

SEE ALSO: NASA just dropped a ton of rare footage of SR-71 Blackbirds doing what they do best

The SR-71 Blackbird was powered by two Pratt & Whitney J58 axial-flow turbojet engines.

Source: US Air Force

Each engine gave the Blackbird 32,500 pounds of thrust.

Source: US Air Force

The Blackbird had a maximum speed of Mach 3+, which is more than 2,000 mph or three times the speed of sound.

Source: US Air Force

• Wegmans regularly takes the top spot as customers' favorite grocery store in the United States. 
• It recently received the highest customer-service ratings of any of America's supermarkets in an annual survey by Market Force Information. 
• Here's what it's like to visit the grocery chain with a cult following. 

The best grocery chain in the United States is one that most Americans have likely never visited.

In fact, Wegmans, which has fewer than 100 locations, gets thousands of calls per year from people begging for a store to open in their hometown.

For the third year in a row, Wegmans earned the No. 1 spot on Market Force Information's annual survey of Americans' favorite grocery store chains. The regional chain beat out Trader Joe's, Aldi, and H-E-B with a score of 77% on Market Force's Composite Loyalty Index. 

The grocery chain has ranked at the top of the list for several years in a row thanks in large part to its loyal fans. Wegmans also demolished the competition in Temkin's annual customer-experience ratings, as the research, consulting, and training firm announced earlier this year. 

But we, like many other Americans, had never been to a Wegmans. So, on a recent trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, we knew we had to visit one.

Here's what it was like:

SEE ALSO: We compared the food courts at Costco and Sam's Club — and the winner was obvious

Driving up to the Wegmans in Charlottesville, Virginia, it was immediately clear that this wouldn't be a normal shopping trip.

The impressive attributes of the store shouldn't have come as a surprise. Wegmans was voted the best grocery chain in the US in 2018, based on Market Force Information's annual survey of the industry.

It was when we walked into the store, however, that we realized Wegmans isn't just large — it's a behemoth.

If you've never had nice jewelry before, caring for the nicer pieces you might acquire as you get older, like engagement rings, fancier necklaces or bracelets, or silver pieces (jewelry or not) you may inherit from family members, can be kind of a mystery.

Maybe you've never really needed to go out of your way to take care of your jewelry before, because it was mostly cheaper, trendier jewelry. If that's the case for you (as it is for many young adults), it can be easy to inadvertently misstep when you're trying to take care of your more grown-up pieces, even though you have the very best of intentions.

INSIDER consulted the experts for all the information you need to know about the right way to care for your jewelry so that you can avoid anything with potentially devastating consequences.

1. Simpler is best.

Though you might think that you need fancy or expensive solvents and cleaners in order to clean your jewelry, that might not be the case. In fact, you might be better off not using those sorts of things and going with warm soapy water and a soft-bristled toothbrush instead.

"The issue with that blue solvent that a lot of jewelry places will give you when you buy a diamond ring or something is that that's heavily alcohol-based, so while it cuts out grease, if you're unintentionally putting something in there like, say, an emerald, emeralds are 99.9% of the time fracture-filled, even antique stones, with an oil-based solution or newer emeralds, because that oil eventually leaks out in all cases, are filled with a polymer, which also can become [unstable], depending on how you clean a thing," Katherine Van Dell, the director of jewelry at Rago Arts & Auction Center, told INSIDER.

Van Dell said that diamonds are attracted to oils, which means that while you do want to use a liquid dish soap with a grease-cutter in it, you still have to be careful about cleaning it.

"But always, always good with colored gems to keep in mind that [they've] likely been stabilized or enhanced in some way that could leave them in sort of a bad—you could put yourself into a bad situation by putting them into an alcohol-based solution, so I just tell people to not use that at all and ultimately with a soft toothbrush you're not going to hurt anything," she added.

Not only that but if you have any antique pieces that you're trying to clean, you need to keep in mind that having them professionally cleaned using an ultrasonic cleaner probably isn't a great idea. Van Dell said that this method "literally shakes the dirt off of it," which can damage older pieces — definitely not what you wanted to do.

2. Don't sleep in jewelry.

Even though you may have slept in jewelry before without any issues, sleeping in your nice pieces is a definite no-no.

"Sleeping in jewelry can harm the jewelry or you,"Jill Maurer, a fine jewelry designer and YouTube creator, told INSIDER. "Not only can you break a chain or bend a prong causing you to lose a stone, but earrings have even been known to end up in a person's ear. It's generally safer for you and your jewelry if you spend the night apart."

You can put it on again in the morning.

3. Store it separately.

Storing your jewelry is important too because it can either help or harm your pieces, depending on how you do it.

"Always store your jewelry in a jewelry case or box and keep each piece separated from one another," Donna Distefano, an artist, master goldsmith, and owner of Donna Distefano Ltd., told INSIDER. She added that harder stones can scratch softer ones, which you definitely don't want to happen.

You'd be upset if something scratched something else, plus, if you have designated storage for each piece, you always know where to find it — and you don't have to worry about necklace chains or bracelets breaking.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

The Insider Pick:

• If you usually leave your driver in the bag, rather than risk a badly shanked tee shot that leaves you behind a tree or in the lake, why not try a different driver that offers the latest design features?

• The Ping G400 Max uses a smart design that will keep your off-center ball strikes closer to the target without robbing you of distance, which is sure to make the game of golf a lot more fun to play. 

The driver provides the most distance of any golf club in the bag or, perhaps more accurately, potential distance. Between shanked drives that dribble along the ground or careen wildly off the fairway, some golfers choose to use their drivers sparingly, despite the potential of this club.

If you cannot control your driver, hitting the ball off the tee can be a source of frustration. No one wants to hear the jeers of your opponents when you pull out a hybrid club or a long iron to use off the tee, sacrificing distance for accuracy.

Fortunately, golf club manufacturers have placed a lot of emphasis on adding new technologies to the driver, attempting to help all levels of golfers achieve more success off the tee. The driver is designed to give you the most distance of any club in your bag, as it has the longest shaft and the smallest angle of loft on the club face.

Today’s drivers don’t look much like the small sized, wooden head drivers from many decades ago that were commonly called 1-woods. In fact, the minimal loft of the driver’s club face and the long length of the club shaft are about the only similarities between older drivers and today’s drivers.

Of late, driver makers have worked to minimize the effect of mis-hits. A right-handed golfer who strikes the ball with a slightly open club face is likely to slice the shot, sending it far to the right of target, for example. Off-center mis-hits rob you of distance as well.

We've rounded up the best drivers with the latest technology in a variety of price ranges to help you find the one that's right for your golfing style.

Here are the best golf drivers you can buy:

• Best overall: Ping G400 Max
• Best for fixing a slice: Callaway Rogue Draw
  
• Best adjustable: Wilson C300
  
• Best for swing forgiveness: Cobra King F8
  
• Best affordable: TaylorMade AeroBurner Driver

Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.

SEE ALSO: The best golf irons you can buy

The best driver overall

Why you'll love it: The Ping G400 Max Driver has a large sweet spot that will keep your off-center strikes more on line.

When you’re looking for the latest technology in a golf driver, you’re usually looking for a Ping driver. Ping has been at the forefront of recent upgrades to drivers, leading the change from a forward center of gravity to a rear center of gravity.

Ping’s new designs have been popular enough that many other driver companies have followed its engineering changes. Ping’s latest driver, the G400 Max, makes use of the rear center of gravity design with just enough engineering tweaks to make this driver a tremendous performer. The sharp-looking Ping G400 will deliver amazing performance for many different levels of golfers.

Today’s Golfer says the G400 Max gives you just a bit more forgiveness in your ball strikes than the G400, which is important for players of any experience level. The Golf WRX review likes the slightly smaller head size of the G400 Max versus other drivers and versus previous Ping drivers, as the smaller size allows for slightly faster clubhead speed.

At the top of the Ping G400 Max’s club face are small raised areas that help to reduce air friction and give you a little more club speed. Even an improvement as small as this can deliver enough of a bump in club speed to give you several more yards on your drive.

Golf a Lot says the G400 Max continues the tradition of high-quality drivers from Ping, giving you just enough improvement over its predecessors to make the G400 the new king of the hill.

The G400 isn’t cheap. So if you’re happy with your current driver, you may want to stick with it. But if you’re unhappy with your current driver — and honestly, who isn’t a lot of the time? — the Ping G400 Max is an amazing piece of golf technology.

Pros: Delivers the length you want from the driver with a more forgiving face for mishits, includes all of the latest technological updates, comes from a well-respected driver manufacturer

Cons: Drivers are expensive and this is no exception, not hugely different from last Ping driver model

Buy the Ping G400 Max Driver on Worldwide Golf Shops for $399.99

The best driver for fixing a slice

Why you'll love it: The Callaway Rogue Draw driver is very effective at reducing the penalty from a slice.

If you’ve never sliced a golf shot … well, you’ve probably never played golf. Few things are as frustrating in the game. Sure, you hate leaving that 4-footer for birdie short, but at least you made two or three great shots to put yourself in that position.

The sliced drive almost always means you’re in huge trouble off the tee, and you’re in for a long, frustrating hole. Callaway's Rogue Draw driver is good at minimizing the negative effects of a slice.

A slice occurs when the face of the driver doesn’t strike the ball squarely. Instead, the heel of the club face is ahead of the toe, leaving the club “open” and causing the ball to leave the driver’s face with a side spin. For a right-handed golfer, this spin causes the ball to travel violently from left to right as it goes down the fairway, almost certainly leaving you in the rough, trees, or water hazard.

GolfTec says that Callaway increased the moment of inertia (MOI) across a wider section of the driver’s face, giving it a more forgiving ball strike. If you strike the ball off-center with the Rogue Draw, you won’t be penalized as severely as you would be with a less forgiving club face.

The Rogue Draw contains a greater amount of weight in the heel of the club versus the toe, which should slow down the heel and help you square the ball better, according to Golf Magazine.

Today’s Golfer says that although you won’t be able to see the slice-battling technology in the Rogue Draw, the results are clear. Its tests show that you’ll receive seven yards of draw bias versus last year’s Callaway Epic driver, which could mean the difference between being in the rough and being on the edge of the fairway.

The Callaway Rogue Draw driver does exactly what it promises, according to a buyer named Mr. M, making it easier to stay in the fairway off the tee.

Pros: Uses extra weight in the heel to encourage a ball strike that’s more square, larger sweet spot on the club face to reduce penalty from mis-hits, looks just like a non-draw-biased driver

Cons: Extremely expensive, won’t fix severe slice problems as well as changing your swing

Buy the Callaway Men’s Rogue Draw Driver on Amazon for $499.95

Buy the Callaway Women’s Rogue Draw Driver on Amazon for $499.99

The best adjustable driver

Why you'll love it: For golfers who struggle to repeat their swing from round to round, having an adjustable driver like the Wilson Staff C300 can help them dial in the proper club head path based on the way they’re playing that day.

Having an adjustable driver may seem odd to golf purists, but golf clubs that allow you to make slight adjustments to the various parts of the club while you’re on the course are becoming more popular. One of the most interesting adjustable drivers is the Wilson Staff C300 driver.

To start, you can adjust the loft and face angle of the C300 driver by using a twistable cylinder at the hosel of the club (just above the club head). You can change the loft in six different positions between minus-1 and plus-2 degrees with this cylinder.

Additionally, the C300 gives you adjustable weights in the club head. By changing the position of these weights, you can give this Wilson driver a draw bias, a fade bias, or a neutral bias for the ball flight. A draw bias causes the ball to spin slightly to the left, a fade bias spins the ball to the right, and the neutral bias reduces side spin.

You won’t be able to fix significant swing problems by adjusting the position of the weights in the club head, but you will receive slightly different ball paths with changes in the location of these weights.

As Golf Magazine mentions, another interesting design feature is what the manufacturer calls Power Holes, which are filled with urethane and provide a greater flex for the club face at impact, which increases the size of the sweet spot.

The C300 driver has a great looking shape and a rich red color on the top of the club. The C300’s matte finish reduces sun glare, too.

Golfers who have a high swing speed rate will receive the greatest benefit from the Staff C300 driver, according to Golfalot. However, high handicap players with slow swing speeds probably won’t receive much distance benefit from this driver, making it tough to justify its high price point.

Because of the low spin rate this club delivers off the face, golfers will receive extra forgiveness for off-center ball strikes, according to The Hackers Paradise.

With a heavier swing weight than some other Wilson drivers, one buyer named DJ179 says controlling the Staff C300 is an easier process.

Pros: Highly adjustable driver for changing the club face’s loft and weight positioning, red matte finish on the top of the driver reduces glare, slow spin rate delivers forgiveness for off-center ball strikes

Cons: High price point, high handicap players who have slow swing speeds won’t generate extra distance

Buy the Wilson Staff C300 Driver on Amazon for $399.99

• H&M and Zara are two of the top names in fast fashion.
• Zara's parent company, Inditex, reported a 7% increase in profits in 2017 and saw continued sales growth in its most recent quarter.
• H&M, on the other hand, has struggled in recent months, with operating profit dropping 62% in the first quarter of 2018. Sales growth was flat for a second straight quarter, it reported on Friday.
• Despite the striking difference in how each company is performing, we found on a recent visit to both stores that H&M had better deals to offer shoppers and a greater variety in the products being sold. 

Zara and H&M are in fierce competition with one another to be the best in fast fashion.

But things aren't looking good for H&M. In the first quarter of 2018, operating profit at H&M decreased 62%, following another massive sales drop in the fourth quarter of 2017. Its sales growth was flat for a second straight quarter, it reported on Friday. Business Insider's Mary Hanbury wrote in April that analysts believe H&M has a brand issue — it's not the cheapest store, and its clothes are not the best quality nor the most fashionable. 

It's also facing the fact that it simply has too much clothing in stock. H&M currently has over $4 billion worth of unsold clothing, and it's rolling out some big technological changes to better streamline its supply chain. 

Zara, on the other hand, has been successful in part because it has found a way to avoid the inventory issue. Brand strategist Martin Roll wrote in March that Zara limits how much of each product is made, controlling inventory and creating artificial scarcity that drives up sales, in addition to offering more fashionable clothing. At the end of the 2017 fiscal year, profits at Zara parent company Inditex were up 7%. It reported continued sales growth on Wednesday.

To see which store was better to shop at, we visited neighboring Zara and H&M stores in Jersey City, New Jersey. Here's what we found: 

SEE ALSO: We shopped at Sephora and Ulta to see which was a better beauty store — and the winner was clear

H&M was my first stop.

The entire first floor sold women's clothing. Some of the styles at the front of the store were nice ...

... but others missed the mark, like this t-shirt that just read "Saturday" on the front. The selection was very hit or miss — some of the clothes were fashionable, and others were far from it. The quality also hugely varied, with some clothes feeling like they were about to fall apart and others seeming to be of higher quality.

In a job interview, what your body says is just as — if not more — important than your actual words.

"Like it or not your future employer is assessing you from head to toe — from your movements, to your facial expressions, to your voice, to what you say and how you say it," body language expert Lillian Glass told INSIDER. "If you don't have the right body language —  which encompasses how you move, your facial movements and expression, voice and speech — you can turn off your employer to the point you won't get hired. So your interview may be over before you think it has begun."

Here are 12 body language tips and tricks to help you nail your next job interview.

1. Walk in with your shoulders pulled back and head held high.

"Remember that the job interview begins as soon as you exit your car, as you have no idea who is watching you," body language expert Tonya Reiman told INSIDER.

She advised walking in with your shoulders pulled back and head held high.

"Walk directly toward the person you are reaching out to by making eye contact and introducing yourself (this is typically the receptionist)," she said.

2. Nix sweaty palms with cold water.

After you've checked in, you'll likely have a few minutes to wait. During this time, Reiman recommends using the bathroom. 

"Go into a stall – do 10 deep diaphragmatic breaths to keep you calm and when you leave the stall, run your wrists under cold water for roughly 20 to 30 seconds," she said. "This will ensure cool palms during the handshake (if you tend to have nervous, sweaty palms)."

3. Give a firm handshake.

With your palms sufficiently cooled, you're ready for that first handshake with your potential next boss.

"Have a solid palm-to-palm handshake," Glass advised. "Don't shake their hand too hard or too delicately."