From 1981 to now, this legendary icon has brought joy to all first appearing alongside another famous, banana loving, barrel throwing icon, until finally getting his own spotlight and recognition in 1985 since then he and his brother have had their own TV show, video games, and even become mascots for their company. We’ve all heard of him, played his games and probably even watched his TV show, he’s been apart of our lives since we were young and probably still is. He continues to bring both joy and frustration to us all both young and old. Can any of you guess who it is? C’mon you know this, blue suspenders, red long sleeve, white gloves, bushy brown mustache, and his infamous red cap. Have you guessed it now? Yep, it’s the one and only Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn who always saves the day and gets the girl (or more specifically the princess) and as he would say, “It’s-a-me! Ma-ri-o!”
Mario first made his appearance in 1981 under the name, “Jumpman” in the game Donkey Kong where he was once again trying to save a fair maiden from the clutches of a beast (told you he always gets the girl). It wasn’t until the second Donkey Kong game, Donkey Kong Junior that he was given the name Mario, but here’s the twist, in this game, Mario was the antagonist! I know I couldn’t believe it either Mario as the bad guy, what’s next Luigi and Princess Peach get married? But anyway, Mario stole the spotlight when he and his brother received their own playable roles in 1985 on the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES for short, with the classic game we all know and love, Super Mario Bros. In this two-player game, the first player will control Mario and the second player will control his brother Luigi and together the two brothers will venture through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to save Princess Toadstool (otherwise known as Princess Peach) from the clutches of the evil Bowser.
Mario’s fame has only grown since then, leading him to become an iconic character in the video game world he went on to have his own TV show, his own line of toys, he became Nintendo’s mascot, and went on to have a long series of video games which greatly added to his success, some of his titles included The New Super Mario Bros. (Series) Super Mario Galaxy, Super Paper Mario (Series), and the ever so popular Mario Kart series, where you could use a variety of characters from the Mario universe, as well as different platforms to race and battle each other in various customized karts and race tracks. Speaking of which, Mario Kart is actually what inspired me to write this feature, a few days back 2 of my RAs hosted an event where we de-stressed by playing Mario Kart Wii, now like most of you I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to play Mario Kart with a few friends, but I bet I can guess what you’re thinking in addition to being one of the most beloved games and figure of all time his games can be rather….stressful due to the large amount of frustration that comes from not beating a level, or being beaten over and over again by someone. But this wasn’t the case this time while we were playing all of us were completely relaxed and were having a great time laughing and gaming with each other. Mario not only helped us to forget our stress of school, but to have fun playing with each other, even if it was only for one night reminiscing of the old days of when I used to play Mario with old friends and making new memories playing with the friends I have now was exactly what I think we all needed. Oh, and if any of you are interested, Nintendo is releasing a new system known as the Nintendo Switch that allows you to take gaming on the go and play at home on the big screen, and guess who they announced is set to get a new game on the platform? J But bottom line the Mario’s not only given me great memories growing up but he’s also helped us de-stress so eh could do the same to you and your friends and with our fall semester of college coming to a close we all need it. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a date with a few friends and some Mario Kart Double Dash. “Let’s-a-GOOOO!”