Happy Mar10 day all!

Truly the most celebrated and important holiday of the year!

I normally try to make these posts on Mondays, but in honour of Mario, I’ve brought it forward a day to March 10/Mario! (A time rivalled only by Star Wars Day). I don’t have a theory or anything to talk about here, this is just a short and general Mario appreciation post.

Though for all that, I have a terrible confession. I was not aware that Mario Day was a thing, until just a few days ago. I’m not sure how, but it’s always passed me by. Still, I like an excuse to talk about Mario so “let’s a go!”

The importance of Mario to gaming cannot be overstated. Both in its own right and for the industry as a whole.

I think it’s fair to call Mario the core and heart of Nintendo and, without Nintendo, there may not even be a game industry. At least, not in the way there currently is. Following the Video Game Crash of 1983, when the industry collapsed under a sea of poor quality control, Nintendo played a key role in reviving it. They did this, first, by introducing the much-needed quality control and, second, by marketing their first console as a toy rather than as a console – the Famicom in Japan became the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the US. Both these principles are, I think, still very explicit in the DNA of Nintendo. And of course, leading the charge amongst Nintendo’s new high-quality NES games was the incredible Super Mario Bros.

I suspect, and some of my interactions anecdotally confirm, that some non-gamers view Mario as a thing for kids. To some degree that’s true – there’s a definite kid-friendly aesthetic – but Mario is so much more than that. In terms of its polish and creativity, and in terms of its game design (a sadly underacknowledged art form), Mario is miles ahead of the competition. And in that sense, it is more mature than many other games. Entries in the Mario series are generally, and practically without exception, very sophisticated and in-depth games. That emphasis on quality, which saved the industry, is deeply engrained within Mario and Nintendo as is, I suspect, the earlier industry requirement to present games as a toy rather than a novel electronic good. Which is probably why the cartoony aesthetic perseveres, not just in Mario or Nintendo, but across the entire industry. And I’m all for it! Who doesn’t love the nostalgic and creatively amazing cartoon aesthetic of the classic platformer?

My own experience of Mario started kind of late to be honest. My parents wouldn’t let me and my siblings have a console when we were little (the absolute monsters!), so I never really encountered Mario as a kid. I was tangentially aware of it – through social osmosis, I guess – but knew nothing. The first actual memory of Mario that I have, was at my cousin’s house. He was playing Mario Sunshine with my siblings on his GameCube – one of the harbour levels. But they were all quite a bit older than me and I, then a little kid, wasn’t really involved in that (sad times). I remember mentioning Mario to them at one point and then playing Mario Kart Double Dash with everyone (great times!) but that image of Mario Sunshine and the harbour area really stuck in my head for a long time. I had no idea which Mario game it was – I just knew that it looked amazing! Later, we got a Wii and my brother promptly acquired Mario Galaxy 2 (which was then my first Mario game). And my god, what an amazing game! Still, that image of Mario Sunshine would haunt me. I eventually learnt which game it was from, but for a long time couldn’t play it.

A couple of years ago, Sunshine was released on the Switch as part of the 35^th anniversary collection, Mario 3D All-Stars. I do have some minor grievances here (and I don’t think I’m alone), cause 3D All-Stars is a bit weird. I suspect that Nintendo didn’t actually want to make it. The entire package feels a bit rushed and, most notoriously, it was a limited-time release (and, crazy take, artificial scarcity is bad). Me and my brother pre-ordered it immediately, to beat the inevitable scalping that would occur (perhaps falling for their plan?). I reckon that Nintendo had only intended to release 3D World + Dowsers Fury for the anniversary but that it got delayed due to Covid – so then they panicked and quickly created a limited-time ensemble release without really wanting to. Regardless, I finally got to play Mario Sunshine! And it’s everything I’ve imagined it to be since I was a kid! And I’ve even found an old GameCube controller, so I can play it with the intended analogue controls that Nintendo refuses to include on their recent consoles.

Going from Mario Galaxy 1 (also in the collection) to Mario Sunshine is a bit jarring. Sunshine is janky and unpolished in comparison, but that’s to be expected from an older game. From a nostalgia standpoint, I got to say it was kind of weird. Mario Galaxy on Switch feels like playing the Wii again (which I was already nostalgic for) but then finally getting to play those harbour levels in Mario Sunshine – that have been circulating through my head for who knows how long… Is there a word for experiencing something you were nostalgic for, but had never actually done? I don’t know, probably.

Anyway, that’s all from me. It’s quite a short post this week, I Just wanted to talk about Mario without really having anything to say. Happy Mario Day, all!  I’m off to play Sunshine again.

– Dexter.