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The rise to greatness of a certain individual name Mario
By admin | August 24, 2010
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The Birth
Mario was born from the mind of Shigeru Miyamoto around 1980. The game was Donkey Kong, and the star was of course Mario. But, little do people know, this star-in-training wasn’t named Mario at first, he was called Jumpman. Luckily, it was noticed that “Jumpman” bore a striking resemblance to Mario Segali, the Italian landlord of Nintendo’s office in New York, thereby adverting disaster. Maybe it’s just me but Jumpman doesn’t have the same marketing flair as Mario. Donkey Kong Jr, Miyamoto’s next game, was Mario’s first appearance as Mario.
The Outfit
Now you ask, how did Mario come about his looks? (Okay, maybe you didn’t ask that, but I’ll answer it anyway). Mostly, the look was because of the 1981 immature graphics technology. Hopefully this will answer the huge air of mystery surrounding Mario’s clothes. (:
Hat
There wasn’t enough pixels to depict the movement of hairs while Mario was jumping so a hat was added to cover the hairs.
Mustache
Again, because of the limited amount of pixels allotted for the character, Mario has a big nose and a moustache so people would notice that he had a nose.
Overalls
In order to see Mario’s arms moving, his arms needed to be a different color from his body. Red overalls were give to solve this problem. The blue shirt and red overalls outfit was worn for Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. It was then switched to red shirt and blue overalls when Mario Bros. hit the arcades. When Super Mario Bros. came out for the NES, Mario had his original red overalls, but his shirt was a brownish color. In Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario was back to his secondary outfit of red shirt and blue overalls, and that color scheme has not changed since.
A Rise to Greatness
Many games paved the way for Mario’s success. I’m going to outline the major ones for you out there in DigitalFan land.
1981: Donkey Kong (Arcade)
Mario (or technically, “Jumpman”) the carpenter battles through crazy construction sites to save Pauline from the clutches of a giant monkey named Donkey Kong.
1982: Donkey Kong Jr. (Arcade)
This was Mario’s next appearance, and first appearance as an enemy. Mario sics enemies at D.K. Jr., who is trying to free his caged father.
1983: Mario Bros. (Arcade)
Mario is now a plumber. He teams up with brother Luigi (in 2-Player mode) to kill an infinite supply of turtles, crabs, and flies that came out of pipes.
1985: Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Mario explores The Mushroom Kingdom in search of Bowser, who has kidnaped Princess Toadstool. Mario mania grasps the nation.
1986: Donkey Kong (NES) and Mario Bros. (NES)
The NES versions of the two arcade games are released, exposing the greatness of these games to players who may have missed the arcade versions. Because of limited space on early NES Game Paks, the fourth level (A.K.A. “Pie Factory”) of Donkey Kong was omitted.
1988: Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES; USA version)
Nintendo takes a game developed and released in Japan called “Doki Doki Panic” and replaces the four characters with Mario characters, resulting in perhaps the most unique game of the Mario series. I never really understood this game.
1989: Super Mario Land (GB)
Mario’s first appearance on the Game Boy was apparently not supervised by Miyamoto. This game had really strange enemy names, most of which were not translated into English.
1989: Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
The best-selling game of all time. Mario again searches for Bowser who has kidnaped Princess Toadstool.
1991: Super Mario World (SNES)
Mario’s first appearance on the Super NES. Bowser has kidnaped Princess Toadstool (sound familiar?) and Mario travels through Dinosaur Land to rescue her. Super Mario World introduces us to Yoshi, which spawns a zillion games riding on his popularity.
1995: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island (SNES)
This game takes place in Mario’s past. A gang of Yoshis helps baby Mario find his brother Luigi, who was kidnaped by baby Bowser’s henchmen. Powered by the FX² chip, this was arguably the best platform game ever made.
1996: Super Mario 64 (N64)
Mario frolics through a 3-D Mushroom Kingdom to save the kidnaped Peach. Arguably the best game ever made.
Conclusion
From there, Mario Mania only grew in size and intensity. I have just brought you through the birth and rise to greatness of the game icon we know and love. Now that you know the great truth, go and spread the word!!! Okay, don’t do that, but as least you know the facts now.
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