In this series of 30 daily articles celebrating the upcoming 30th Anniversary of Super Mario, various members of the Nintendo Life extended family will share their memories and thoughts on the iconic franchise. This time we have video contributor Lee Garbutt.
It is incredibly difficult to both express how important Mario is to me, as well as to pinpoint when and how that exactly happened. I suppose it technically all started at the age of around 3-4 years old, when I first played Super Mario Bros. on a Nintendo M82 (A pretty cool retail demo unit that contained multiple games). As a child more accustomed to the keyboard/joystick and single-button controls of Amstrad CPC 6128 games, it took me until the end of my demo time to realise that the A button could be used to make Mario jump, but even continually walking into the very first Goomba of the game kept me amused.
I wouldn't get a NES for myself until I was 7 years old (with Super Mario Bros. 2, a game that remains very close to my heart), but by that point Mario Mania was in full swing. I woke up to a Super Mario alarm clock, in time to watch the Super Mario Super Show, before putting on my favourite Super Mario T-shirt. Nothing highlighted Mario's popularity more than at a friends' 8th birthday party. His parents had planned a full evening of kiddy entertainment (including the usual party games), but made the fatal mistake of letting him unwrap a pristine copy of Super Mario Bros. 3. The donkey's tail remained unpinned, as we all took turns trying to tackle World 1, astounded at every second of Mario's latest adventure. We even missed that night's episode of GamesMaster, we were that enthralled.
Ultimately for me, and many of you, Mario has been a gateway of sorts to everything that is Nintendo. Before my developing brain could handle the complexity of The Legend of Zelda and the claustrophobia of Metroid, Super Mario was that friendly introduction to console gaming and the yardstick by which all other console games were compared to. Whether it's the platforming perfection of Super Mario World (which is a perfect game, and I won't hear anyone say differently), the astounding move to 3D in Super Mario 64, or the refinement of these mechanics in Super Mario Galaxy, these games remain as timeless experiences that I have repurchased and replayed many, many times over and will no doubt continue to do so.
This is why Nintendo's mascot continues to be a constant fixture in three decades of console gaming. By all accounts, a moustachioed Italian plumber should not be popular, but as each of those thirty years have shown us, it has been the game that has made the mascot - Not the other way around, something which many lesser developers have failed to realise even to this day. Mario has just been that friendly face inviting us into these surreal worlds of frog suits, flying raccoons and fire flowers, and it's through him that we see Nintendo's philosophy of impeccable game design.
At the time of writing, I too am 30 years old, soon to be 31. I've grown up with Mario, and even as an adult, I still get the same excitement from playing a new Super Mario game than I did when I played Super Mario Bros. in a Tandy electronics superstore, all those years ago. Here's to many more years of Super Mario!
Comments 16
Cheers, Mario. I raise my glass and tip my hat to you sir.
Cheers, Mario. I raise my glass and tip my hat to you sir.
I too am in debt of Mario for bringing me into gaming and back to gaming, when my Mom gave me a Wii when I was 25.
And yes, every gaming experience I have I compare it to him .
I hate to be picky, but there's a grammatical error in paragraph 4, line 3, "Not" should not be capitalised . Other than that great story, I agree with everything you say about the philosophy of Mario.
Aside from the fatal mistake of claiming SMW is perfect (), this was a great read. The original SMB was the first video game I ever played, so the nostalgia hit hard while reading this.
Stop making me feel old!
Super Mario 64 is the first Mario game I've played. Since then, I love playing his games!
Even if I have played it a ton of times, guess I should get a copy of SMW.
@sinalefa I just downloaded yesterday to my Wii U. It was tough choosing between the GBA and SNES version, but I went with the GBA one.
You pretty much can't go wrong with Mario.
@Mr_Zurkon The GBA verson is better as it fixes the small details.
Luigi looks unique now (In the SNES version, Luigi is literally a green Mario)
If you ask me, Mario isn't just a gateway for Nintendo, but video games in general. The moniker of "Mr. Video Game" couldn't fit him more perfectly. Many gamers I've known either fell in love with gaming through Mario, or flat out didn't know gaming existed before Mario. I personally am very happy my first video game ever was a Mario game.
Long live Super Mario. Nintendo have really looked after Mario over the years and made sure the games are consistently awesome, unlike the Sonic games which have been hit and miss.
His games are, like the previous comment said consistently awesome. Every single one is literally top drawer, and is special to many, many gamers around the world. Thirty years of the highest quality games?! Hats off to Nintendo, that's all I can say! Here's to 30more years
@DerMeister I couldn't agree more
My first Mario game was probably the "Vs." arcade cabinet, which i plugged lots of quarters into as a kid in the late '80s. I got my first NES when I was 9, and have loved the main Mario games ever since. I'm not a fan of the peripherals though, like "Paper Mario" or "Mario Party". Thew new "Mario Maker" for the Wii-U sounds interesting, though.
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