Every game magazine worth their salt has done some sort of Mario retrospective, or history of Mario gushing heaps of praise on our little video game icon. While I wish I was the first to come up with a Mario history lesson, I'm glad I didn't have to since there's roughly 25 years of history to cover and I am a pretty lazy guy. So instead I will simply share my thoughts on him.
Like many gamers growing up in the late 80's, the Nintendo Entertainment System was the first experience with gaming many of us can remember. I know I toiled away endless hours on Asteroids for the Atari as a youngster, but playing Super Mario Brothers for the NES is honestly my first real video game revelation.
It was unlike anything I had played on the Atari before. There were backgrounds that reminded me of things I drew myself when bored, music that was actually catchy, and something that blew my mind, actual level progression. The Atari games I had played prior were only for getting high scores or beating your friend at simple games like Tank or Pong. I had never before played a game where the levels were actually changing on me and I could see the numbers increase. "How far can this go?" I asked myself once. Is world 8 really the end? It was something to strive for, something that made Super Mario Brothers special, something I will never forget.
And there was one other nuance that made the game of course, Mario himself. The way he moved, gained momentum, threw fireballs, or even growing taller, everything about him was interesting. Mario was the most versatile and fluent character for a player to control at the time. Playing as him you felt like you could do anything, make that impossible jump, or narrowly escape oncoming bullet-bills. It's not hard to imagine what many have said before, that Mario single-handedly ignited what we know as video games today.
For me though, I didn't quite get what Mario did until the later years of the Super Nintendo. I still bought those crappy move-licensed games, or horrible sports games. Occasionally I would stumble across the Mega Man's, Street Fighters, and Donkey Kong's of the gaming world accidentally tasting the golden nuggets of what gaming really had to offer. I started figuring out which games sucked, and why they sucked. I was under the impression that if I was losing at a game that it was my fault, and that others were succeeding where I was failing, not because the game was a shoddy pile of dog poo, (Terminator 2 SNES). I lived in a world of Game Genie codes and awful gameplay design, those were the dark ages.
Fast forward to the N64 years where I first got my hands on....Star Wars Shadows of the Empire. Not the worst game in the world mind you, but also not a very good one. Suffice to say I only past level 4 without cheats. But I mention this game because the mechanics of controlling Dash Rendar were TERRIBLE. The Hoth level was fabulous though. Still, the point is I immediately played Super Mario 64 right after. This was the turning point. I put two and two together. I wondered why Dash would float around after I jumped, or would skate around the floor while running where Mario was...well absolutely perfect and did everything I told him to do.
I noted that controlling Mario didn't frustrate me, and the challenges of the game were not stemming from me struggling with the character but the challenges the game had laid out for me to accomplish. I loved this. And what followed were the best gaming years I ever had.
Mario showed me what quality games were. Mario taught me that games should have a standard, and that Mario set those standards. There is honestly no denying this. Mario set the standard for 2D gameplay, just as he did with 3D gameplay. He revolutionizes every aspect of gaming we know today, and continues to prove his worth with each new iteration.
Mario is easily my favorite video game series of all time. He has never disappointed me and showed me the way to what quality gaming is.
*Yah, Wah, HOOOO!* you'll get that if you play Mario.
