If there were ever a perfect example of a polymath, Mario is certainly it. Rivalled only by the likes of Barbie, and the infamous Jack (the man of all trades), Mario is equally proficient in a wide range of sports, activities, and professions, making him just as capable as he is iconic. One 1990 survey of American children even found that Mario was more recognisable than Mickey Mouse. That might seem surprising, but if you really think about it, it’s not actually that surprising at all. Whether you first ‘got to know’ Mario through his first appearance in Donkey Kong (1981) as ‘Jumpman’, or in his second most recent outing as a globe trotting good samaritan in Super Mario Odyssey (2017), his grotesquely stretchable low-poly face on the start screen of Super Mario 64 (1996) or literally any of his other countless games, I am absolutely one hundred percent certain that you’d recognise Mario, even if you’ve never picked up a controller. In this article, we celebrate the 35th anniversary of gaming’s favourite Italian plumber (who is also a doctor, construction worker, olympic athlete, kart racer, boxing referee, golfer, toymaker…) by taking a look back at some of his finest moments, and acknowledging the undeniable impact that his various escapades have had on the gaming industry as we know it today.
To tell the story of Mario though, we first need to learn a little about the mind of his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. Although now considered by many to be one of the ‘founding fathers’ of modern video games, young Shigeru had humble beginnings, growing up in the 1950s in Sonobe, a very traditional rural town in the Northwest of Kyoto, Japan. Like many other children who find themselves bored and having ‘nothing to do’ inside, Miyamoto loved to explore the natural areas that surrounded his home, and would often venture into caves to fuel his vivid imagination and quench his insatiable thirst for adventure. Every child has to grow up eventually though… Right?
Perhaps not. Citing his childhood caving expeditions as the inspiration behind much of his game design philosophy, Miyamoto channels the inherent feelings of childlike wonder and excitement that come from boldly entering the unknown into every game he creates, in an attempt to not just encourage exploration and discovery, but create an immersive adventure that anyone can enjoy. All the best adventures have some kind of narrative, but surprisingly stories had little to no place in video games before appearing in Mario’s debut arcade hit.
In Donkey Kong (1981), Miyamoto felt that players would benefit from relating to the main character, ‘Jumpman’ (not ‘Mario’, until workers at a Nintendo warehouse had started calling him that after Mario Segale, the landlord of the property), and so created a short, chubby, moustachioed carpenter (yes, a carpenter) with a rather large nose who sported a red cap, red shirt and blue overalls. This lovable everyman was tasked with saving his girlfriend, tactfully referred to as ‘lady’, but later named ‘Pauline’, who was kidnapped by an escaped gorilla called ‘Donkey Kong’. Though many rumours about the origins of this name have circulated over the years, one legend has it that ‘Donkey Kong’ was a poor translation of what Miyamoto thought to mean ‘stubborn ape’, which earned him ridicule from Nintendo of America employees. However, he liked the name so much that he decided to keep it. After scaling a construction site with ‘lady’ in hand, Donkey Kong eventually meets his end when Jumpman removes the supports for the platform that the gigantic gorilla stands on in the final level, allowing Jumpman to finally save his ‘lady’. An extremely simple and derivative narrative to say the least, but it did its job of getting gamers invested. Oh, and the game was pretty good too, single-handedly allowing Nintendo to finally penetrate the North American video game market. Good job, Shigeru.
Super Mario Bros. (1985) for the Nintendo Entertainment System is a game that truly needs no introduction. Simply put, it’s the original 2D Mario game. Princess Toadstool (later, Peach) has been kidnapped by the dastardly King Koopa (later, Bowser), and it’s up to Mario to save her, running and jumping through a series of colourful themed obstacle courses containing an obscene number of floating coins and zany powerups, along with a wacky cast of lovable (and hateable, looking at you, hammer bros.) enemies to boot. Every 2D Mario game essentially follows this exact same premise, and this one is relatively barebones, but this is the one that did it first. Many argue that Super Mario Bros. is one of the most important video games ever made, revolutionising the 2D platformer, and I’m inclined to agree. It’s little wonder that the ‘Mario premise’ took the world by storm, because it’s just so damn good.
Despite enhancements to the controls over the years that have made Mario feel less like a ten tonne lorry without brakes and more like a soaring acrobat, to me there’s something incredibly charming about the clunky physics of his first side scrolling romp. They hold up surprisingly well today, just as the game does.
Now, let’s finally talk about Super Mario 64 (1996). While certainly not the first 3D platformer, it was the first 3D platformer to be designed with an analog stick in mind, and my God, does it show; Miyamoto went to painstaking lengths to ensure that Mario’s (and gamers’) transition to the third dimension was as smooth as possible by applying a laser sharp focus on refining Mario’s movement to be as satisfying as possible, and the result is absolutely glorious. Backflips, somersaults and wall kicks, amongst an abundance of other new moves that can all be strung together reward skilled players for mastering the game’s physics engine, while intuitive controls, stellar level design and an incredible soundtrack all put the icing on the fantastic proverbial layer cake that is Super Mario 64.
Mario’s adventures have always made the shortlist of ‘absolutely essential games to own’ no matter which Nintendo system you’re playing on, and this is backed up by sales figures; to date, the mainline Super Mario franchise has sold a staggering 373 million games, not including his various spinoff titles! Anyone who’s played can tell you why: tight platforming physics ensure that Mario is always a pleasure to control, while creative and challenging level design gives both newcomers and veteran gamers plenty to enjoy, demonstrating time and time again that the Super Mario series is the go-to for a great time on your own or with friends. Over the course of 35 years, the series has been incredibly influential on the platforming genre as we know it, providing not just an extremely high bar for competitors such as SEGA to try and meet, but also providing more than its fair share of fun, laughter, and joy. Happy birthday, Mario.
Image credits: IGDB.com
