Once upon a time long gone by, in an era long forgotten, there was one character at the start of one of the longest videogame series in history. Mario, the Italian plumber. Having made a very first appearance on the NES, the character was christened Jumpman.

After all, in this pre-quality variety of Mario's videogames, jumping was Mario's only ability. At this early stage, the game had three characters: Jumpman, Donkey Kong, and a damsel in distress called Pauline.

Donkey Kong, Jumpman's foe, became the hero of a whole other series of videogames. The damsel in distress, Pauline, never made it into another game.

Jumpman was renamed Mario, and started a chain of events which would lead to the great variation of Mario-themed videogames we have today. Goombas, bloopers and koopas were added into the mix, and Mario's nemesis turned reptilian; Bowser, the koopa king. Also, Mario suddenly obtained a brother called Luigi. This was the start of the infamous breed of videogames, where you jump around in a sideways scrolling adventure.
Mario evolved in his abilities throughout the years, learning how to wield a hammer, how to drive around in a kart, how to "ride" on a koopa shell, how to play tennis, golf, soccer, basketball and so on. Mario obtained a repertoire without comparison in all of the videogame universe, being one of the most versatile characters in videogame history.

This fat, Italian plumber became one of the icons of the whole videogame industry, and Mario stands proudly at the top of Nintendo's videogame character hierarchy.

But are all these new games featuring Mario really that good? Mario only became famous because of his great start; The two-dimensional, sideways scrolling, adventure game with 16-bit graphics, tops. This sounds bad, indeed, but the SNES was the start of a whole new era in videogames.

Nintendo has proven to be a company about innovation, meaning both innovative technologies and innovative gameplay. The Nintendo Wii was a big step in videogame technology considering the whole new experience it would give the player, but sometimes I long back to a controller with six buttons and a directional pad. The simple games prove to be the best, has been said before.

Nintendo should get back to its origin, the very start of everything which made Nintendo into Nintendo. Mario can walk around on distant planets and play some golf, but why would he when he can save princess Peach from an evil koopa king?

Tags : gamecube : mario : NES : Nintendo : Nintendo 64 : Nostalgia : snes : Super Mario 64 : Super Mario Galaxy : Super Smash Brothers Brawl : Wii

Comments

By: ApplesauceNinja

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On: 01:54 Dec 2nd, 2007
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Why? Because if you recycle the same idea ad infinitum, gamers will get bored of it. How about a game about being the princess, and kicking the
asses of those trying to kidnap you in the first place. Give Mario a break!
Or, have a game that starts with the Princess being kidnapped, and then
Mario responds by saying "You know what? To hell with her. If her ass
is stupid enough to get kidnapped for the six thousandth time, she deserves it." And then, he goes on his merry way on another adventure to conquer
the evil Pimp King on StripperWorld.

By: Eturo

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On: 01:58 Dec 2nd, 2007
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Fine, it maybe shouldn't always be Princess Peach being kidnapped. Variety is always a good thing, but what happened to the Mario games is that it all turned into hundreds of different things. Maybe it can be Luigi being kidnapped, or Bowser trying to destroy Mushroom Kingdom, or some well thought-through quest for Mario, but still holding that primary jumping around and splatting enemies. Maybe they could add different "weapons", new characters, new enemies, yet another nemesis, resulting in Mario and Bowser working together...

By: Dragonfly

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On: 02:10 Dec 2nd, 2007
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Although I agree with your points, you can't deny the quality of Super Mario Galaxy.

I personally would go so far to say it tops Super Mario 64, and it's certainly a hell of an improvement over the lacklustre Super Mario Sunshine.

Thing is, Mario is not just a character; he's a mascot. He's the face of gaming. As such, he gets around, as this page more than aptly shows: http://forums.videogamechat.net/showthread.php?t=3334

It's not a new thing, but for all the average games that just happen to star Mario and Co. in it, it's the really special games that make it worthwhile. Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario.

Appreciative of the past, whilst looking forward.

By: Eturo

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On: 02:26 Dec 2nd, 2007
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Super Mario Galaxy has indeed been an enormous step forward since Super Mario Sunshine. I didn't say they should stop trying to make videogames new and exciting. Revolutionary kinds of videogames tend to be better, at first, at least. The thing I like about Super Mario Galaxy that it somehow still held to a baddie-beating experience. And I can't say that about Super Mario Sunshine. It's good that they try to add some variety into it, but there are hundreds of Mario-games that prove Mario's versatility. I'd say, go on making revolutionary games, because they're getting better every year!
But I wouldn't mind an all new, side-scrolling adventure, with an epic storyline and innovative ideas and new things for the players to mess around with.

By: boa

On: 08:03 Dec 3rd, 2007
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This is because no matter how much we love revolution and improvement, we yurn(sp?) for more of what we enjoyed in our youth.

By: dilmanator

On: 02:06 Dec 4th, 2007
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Mario is the only series i know of that has been able to evolve and adapt with time.

As gaming as an industry becomes more complex, Mario does as well to feed it. Mario, in my opinion, is an icon of where the industry is. The latest game (Super mario galaxy) is definately testament to this. The game is definately the most intricate of all the mario games and yet at the same time, it
manages to keep its Simplicity and addictive game play.

Much like everything in the world, if you don't adapt and evolve with time, then your going to die out. Nintendo know this and has put time into every Mario game (minus the stupid spin offs and Mario sunshine (shudders)) and it shows. The series has maintained its venerable name longer than any other series and despite what everyone says, is still true to the original side scrolling fun of the first games.

Mario has changed yes, but the concept is still the same. The princess will always need to be saved, Mario will always be a fat Italian plumber and bowser will always be the big baddie. More importantly however, the FUN factor will remain. Remember that? Fun?? Its something i forget about on occasion. A new Mario game helps me to remember what it was.

A toast to Mario. His adventures from the past and present have captured our hearts and have shown us what gaming should be about. FUN.

By: MistaRob

On: 06:51 Dec 4th, 2007
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If it weren't for Mario, alot of our games which we at times like to refer as "Teh best games EVAR!!!11" wouldn't be here. During Mario's beginning the gaming industry was reeling from a failed arcade to home system transfer and when Mario was released along with the NES, many companies were nervous about it but his success paved the way for the gaming industry that we know now.

By: Eturo

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On: 10:06 Dec 6th, 2007
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dilmanator;38053

A toast to Mario. His adventures from the past and present have captured our hearts and have shown us what gaming should be about. FUN.

AGREED! *holds up his glass of orange juice*
All hail the pipe-crawling, mustached Italian!

Never forget that you're playing a videogame because you like doing so, not because you HAVE to level up, or because you feel obliged to in any other way.

And Mario for the NES was the start of the gargantuous gallery of games this planet features today and beyond, and will never be forgotten!

By: Corrine

On: 10:27 Dec 6th, 2007
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