Now, what many people my age don't realize is that the mega-popular Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario Bros., is actually a sequel to an arcade game, simply called Mario Bros. Less of a platformer than a high-score race, Mario Bros. did modestly in both Japan and America, which you might be surprised to hear knowing now that the famous fat plumber is Nintendo's mascot. But in any case, everyone in the world credits the NES title's success not to the character, but to the brilliant and fun gameplay. What that game did was it expanded on the home game system - where many children had grown up on the Atari 2600 and games that seldom lasted more than five minutes, Nintendo gave children a chance to experience a full-fledged gaming experience. Complete with challenging platforms, a multitude of levels, and even a two-player competitive mode, Super Mario Bros. soon helped in re-defining what gaming was, and lead the charge for a bright future of what video games could be.
Flash forward to today, we can see that Mario still continues to dominate the world with his platforming games, Not only that, but Nintendo has used Mario to begin experiments with other game styles, such as puzzle games in the form of Dr. Mario, or the famous racing series with MarioKart. Even the simpler Mario Party series has had financial success with the massive video game market. Since his arrival in 1985, the Mario series has sold over 262 million units worldwide. The little plumber that bested the beast and saved the princess has worked his way into millions of peoples' hearts and continues to ride strong to this day. Even now, Nintendo utilizes Mario to help other franchises. such as having Mario as a flagship character in the Super Smash Bros. series, or in other party games such as the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games franchise.
With all this being said, why is Mario so iconic to us still? Many people don't know that when creator Shigeru Miyamoto was designing Mario, his core concept came from the fact that Mr. Miyamoto only had a certain amount of pixels to work with. Doing overalls was easier than seperating shirts and pants from one another, and the mustache was more distinctive than a mouth for the original pixelated form. This simple design, which was easy to replicate, and even manipulate in order to create Mario's brother, Luigi, alongside the clever and challenging platforming, are all what went into helping create such a lasting impression for gamers around the world.
But, I believe that one more thing went into making Super Mario Bros. such a special thing. While Super Mario Bros. was such a game that anyone could pick up and play, Remember, the NES only utilized two action buttons and an up, down, left, and right button. Unlike many of today's controllers which often use no less than 12 buttons including toggles, the NES controller was much simpler to help arcade gamers transition into a home gaming environment. Anyone could have picked it up and begun to play. Today's games all rely on the fact that they need practice to get good at, which has its own merits in terms of gaining respect in the gaming community. However, they don't have the sense of couch community where everyone could pass around the controller there isn't any serious story in the original game like there would be in many of today's games. Mario brought gaming to the forefront and to the families, and for that he deserves to be remembered every day. Without him, we wouldn't have things like online gaming, multiple gaming systems, and the great variety of gaming genres that millions of people can experiment with and enjoy. Without Mario, the world might be very different today.
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