Gadgetory

okay do you recognize this chap yes I do can you tell me his name Mario Mario definitely it's Mario grew up with that guy Mario dos Mario it's Mario indeed the dungarees wearing gaming icon that for decades has endured as the mustachioed mascot for an entire industry but how did the world's most recognizable plumber leak to such heady heights and as video games grow up how of Mario's cartoonish antics continue to represent the very best that the medium has to offer japan 1981 and an almost 100 year old company called Nintendo is expanding into the booming market for Electronic Entertainment with its latest arcade wander Donkey Kong the game's director Shigeru Miyamoto had only a few pixels in which to animate his protagonist Mario who was originally called jump man in fact if you're wondering why Mario looks the way he does it really is a direct consequence of being only 16 pixels tall why does mario have a mustache because it saves on animating a mouth why does he wear a hat so you don't have to try and make hair out of only a few pixels the colored overalls they made Mario's limited running animations easier to see the finished product was an endearing plucky little plumber and Mario soon spread into other Nintendo games including early game and watch titles and Donkey Kong jr. which featured Mario's only role as a bad guy if getting dropped kicked by a gorilla isn't a humble origin I don't know what is but Mario's fame grew his cheery face becoming inextricably linked with a phenomenon that was changing the gaming industry the rise of the home console Mario's big break was the legendary Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo Entertainment System a perfectly honed platformer this title set the tone for Mario's 2d adventures from the precision mechanics to the cutesy enemies power-ups and insanely memorable theme music the work of longtime Nintendo composer Koji Kondo the thing that I always gets me excited to my marrow is the music it's so it's really iconic and it's so catchy and everybody knows it and you know we can be sitting in the office and someone will just go denon in an in it and everyone will join in it's this sort of touchstone that everybody has in that childhoods everyone can join in everyone can sort of remember what it was like to play those games and it's just sort of this really nice think it's quite rare as well you can't me say that about many games over mario super mario brothers would rack up sales of over 40 million propelling Mario to international fame but the game did something much more significant it helped save the gaming industry still reeling from a massive crash in 1983 the reason why the great the industry crash happened is because so many companies for releasing so many utterly terrible games and these weren't just like bad games as in like oh there's a bug in this room it was like I don't know what is this a game I dunno what i'm doing here is this i was dumb but this is fun and intended came out with a console home console that seems to work very well and a game that appeared to be good of all things in fact very good and I think that turn them up he was head so oh people are now making fun games again the fun games kept coming Super Mario Brothers 2 was released in 1988 followed by super mario land in 1989 which was set to be bundled with the Gameboy hand held until Nintendo decided to go with Tetris instead the early 90s brought Super Mario Brothers 3 and super mario world while the booming popularity of the brothers themselves saw the cast of regulars expand as well as spin-off appearances including a somewhat ill-judged movie in 1993 and the entirely surreal Super Mario Brothers Super Show sitcom do the mario swing your arms from side to side come on it's time to go demario like beanie babies or the Macarena larios time in the Sun could easily event it in the 90s say for a single title look once more revolutionized the industry and proved how far video games as a medium had yet to evolve released in 1996 Super Mario 64 was nothing short of a technical marvel putting Nintendo's 2d character into a vibrant fully explorable 3d world one of gaming's first and still one of its best if the processing power of the new nintendo 64 console made the game technically possible it was the ingenious camera system and flexible controls that made it a joy to play successfully making the transition to 3d proved that Mario and Nintendo had real staying power something that sadly not every video game icon at the 90s really managed ah who knew what 3d gaming is gonna be like and merciful came out and everyone went oh it's gonna be like this and not only were these games you know be very different from what the Mario's that we normally expect they were very very good I think it allowed Nintendo to use the weight and the respect the brand on to other games so they've been made very tennis very party paper mario mario golf the crucial thing is all those games also brilliant so if you're looking for a single reason for Mario's enduring success is that his face has become synonymous with a certain level of video gaming quality that's down to Nintendo's cautious controlling approach when it comes to its stars a mindset that's very much at odds with the broader entertainment industry where pop culture is increasingly built out of heavily franchised multi-platform media empires Nintendo own some of the most beloved characters in the cultural pantheon but so far doesn't seem that bust about branching out you know if they're feeling quite frivolous still make and a Mario amiibo tweet thing that's as far as I'll go that's when they let in their hair down who has now lasted 30 years you don't stay relevant for 30 years if you start smearing a face on a lunch box you know they like to keep they like to stick to games they like to stick to a few releases and they like to make it great and I think that's why that's why even though that the Nintendo may seem out of step that's actually why they're successful with care and caution Nintendo has managed to build mario into more than just a symbol for platforming or his parent company but into a figurehead for what games are at their best honest uncomplicated fun and the longer Nintendo can keep churning out high-quality Mario action the more fond memories it creates and the stronger Mario becomes there's a baseline of Marianas like that everyone can relate to so music the gameplay the aesthetic all these games sort of hold on to what makes Mario special but are also unique in their own way so he's managed to stay relevant and knowing that but popular from 30 years and of course it would hardly be fair not to mention Mario's often forgotten brother Louis but it looks like we're out of time here to you Mario keep on entertaining us and viewers let us know your fondest Mario memories or what you want to see the character do next and stay tuned to seen it