The Evolution of Mario
How Mario has Stayed Relevant for Decades
From its simpler days on the Nintendo DS, all the way to the Nintendo Switch, Mario games have influenced my personal gaming journey since it began. Their simple yet immersive levels and mechanics, supplied by few buttons and move sets, are available in no other game and return me to the series indefinitely. That being said, the question of how Mario games have retained their spark over decades lingers in me as years pass. The antiquated confines of 1985, Mario’s major debut year, are no longer limits for Nintendo to expand and refresh the franchise. Thus, examining the evolution of Nintendo’s mascot in relation to the company itself allows one to conceive how the firm has maintained its relevance over generations since its birth.
Decades prior to Mario’s conception, Nintendo experimented in several business avenues. A YouTube video by Flatlife explains that, with founder Fusajiro Yamauchi, the firm, starting in 1889, manufactured Hanafuda, a Japanese playing card series that eventually led to a Disney partnership. As Flatlife emphasizes, playing cards lost popularity in the 1960s, leading the brand to branch into a variety of industries, including instant rice, a taxi business, and electronic toys, creating the Nintendo Beam Gun in 1970. According to the Flatlife video, the corporation designed a light gun attachment to the Magnavox Odyssey, an American console, and received rights to distribute the console in Japan, Nintendo’s home. Guy Julier, writing for The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Design Since 1900, clarifies that the firm started designing digital games alongside Mitsubishi Electric in 1977 as it discovered its final entrepreneurial lane. After experimentation with various trades, Nintendo would push past its previous realms of focus and dive into the video game world.
1983’s video game crash is vital to dissect for the context of Nintendo’s rise as a giant in the industry today. David Beren, writing for History-Computer, notes that the crash resulted in the video game market’s value plummeting from $3.2 billion to $100 million, a 97% drop, from 1982 to 1985. Two factors, as Beren describes, were an increase in PC demand over consoles and general poor quality of video games as they were developed faster by companies like Atari to accommodate for lesser profits. Nonetheless, Beren especially emphasizes the impact of oversaturation on the gaming market during the 1970s and 80s, since consumers had too many options of consoles and brands as opposed to the few companies, being Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, that dominate today. The market decline set obstacles that Nintendo would overcome by experimenting with how they created and released games.
Despite consoles’ decline in popularity, Nintendo’s approach to the medium would save the market entirely. As Beren highlights, Nintendo made its first step to reviving the crashed industry by reducing oversaturation through actually approving which games were allowed on its own consoles, which most companies could not accomplish then. Outlined by Julier, the company released the renowned Nintendo Entertainment System for America in 1985, a version of the Japanese Famicom, which had already excelled in Japan after being distributed in 1983. Before these consoles, according to an IGN video titled “Every Mario Game Ever,” Nintendo was popular in the arcade game industry, particularly through work containing Mario’s first iterations, which were Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr., and Mario Bros. Julier explains that Donkey Kong, a beloved game of the time, depicted Mario’s predecessor as a carpenter with distinctive features like a mustache and short height. The character, as Julier describes, popularized the NES and Famicom systems with the Famicom’s Mario Bros. and the most famous video game of the era: Super Mario Bros., which came out with the NES in 1985. With no one to compete effectively against the singularity of Super Mario Bros., the game’s single-handed popularization of the NES solidified Nintendo’s industry domination.
The insight of Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario’s creator, offers context behind creative decisions pertaining to Mario games. Stated in an NPR interview, Miyamoto believes the game series keeps its allure for decades because several generations share the feeling of Mario as a representation of oneself. With that, Miyamoto emphasizes in the NPR interview that he envisions the player’s experience, including both simplicity and depth in his creations to appeal to newcomers and more experienced gamers. Miyamoto, in another interview by Keza Macdonald, claims that an important notion that Nintendo has expanded upon over years is its unique technology integration with original, old franchises like Mario, making them feel fresh and distinctive despite being created decades ago. Miyamoto’s vision of entertainment that all demographics and gamers could enjoy manifests through the games’ familiarity that appeals to countless players.
The 2-D Mario series’ game design evolution during the following years tremendously explains how it has preserved its charm for generations. According to the “Every Mario Game Ever” IGN video, 1985's Super Mario Bros. inspired the 2-D platformer genre and became a model for future Mario game elements, like mushroom power-ups that alter Mario’s size, and NPCs (non-player characters) like the Koopa Troopas. IGN emphasizes that Nintendo’s release in 1986, Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan), expanded upon Super Mario Bros.’s components by adding franchise staples like the fire flower, star power, and Goomba NPC. As Gene Park, writing for the Washington Post, emphasizes, Super Mario Bros. 3 was a large leap in terms of game design, as it added a world map and encouraged replayability through stage secrets that urged players to replay levels repeatedly. In recent times, IGN describes that the 2-D genre innovates with 2015’s Super Mario Maker, a game in which players create their own levels using NPCs and building blocks from previous releases. The 2-D series has thrived largely due to its inherent simplicity, but also because of its captivating elements added over several titles.
The 2023 2-D Mario installment, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, stays true to Nintendo’s trend of innovation. The game feels like, as IGN describes in a review, how a Mario installment would have looked almost 30 years ago. The company’s focus on animation is evident with vibrant colors and graphic design unseen in previous Mario releases. As IGN explains, illustrative touches, like Mario snatching his hat before heading into a warp pipe and enemies’ fearful expressions as Mario chases them, strengthen the refreshingly unique aesthetic. The installment’s Flower Kingdom, rather than the traditional Mushroom Kingdom of past titles, allows the series to expand with not only appealing visuals, according to IGN, but also countless new enemies particular to their worlds: Gnawshers, Blewbirds, and Moving Doors mentioned in the video by Copycat embedded below. IGN describes added mechanics like the elephant power-up and the radical Wonder Flower, which produces level-warping effects in which anything unimaginable could transpire, from the camera angle flipping, to Mario transforming into a Goomba, to warp pipes moving sentiently. This game truly adheres to Miyamoto’s principle of technological integration with the Mario franchise, as it has broken barriers only possible with the creativity that modern-day inventions provide.
Though Mario became renowned for his 2-D style, other genres of games have further fueled his relevance for decades. The “Every Mario Game Ever” IGN video describes that Super Mario Kart, a racing game featuring the characters in the Mario universe as playable avatars, released in 1992, launching the Mario Kart series that continues today. With 1996’s Super Mario 64, according to IGN, a 3-D setting was introduced to the franchise, which few other games at the time could successfully accomplish. IGN notes that this 3D play style was replicated in Super Mario Odyssey, a 2017 release in which Mario could control hostile NPCs, like Goombas and Koopa Troopas, using his hat named Cappy. Super Mario Party introduced a multiplayer aspect to the Mario genre since it allowed a maximum of four participants to engage in concise minigames, as IGN points out. Incorporating new variety into the brand with different types of video games has allowed Mario to inspire creations that are renowned today.
Besides video game potential, Mario’s modern relevance is largely attributed to different media forms, especially films. An IGN video titled “The Evolution of Mario on Screen” denotes that the first full-length Mario film, known as Super Mario Brothers: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!, was released in Japan in 1986 and featured the Mario Brothers as protagonists alongside game staples like Goombas, the Bowser villain, and Princess Peach. IGN emphasizes that 1989 displayed Mario’s sheer popularity with numerous Japanese films like “Super Mario Bros.” and “The Wizard.” Kyle Chayka, writing for The New Yorker, highlights that The Super Mario Bros. Movie, released in 2023, achieved such success that it surpassed one billion dollars in ticket sales, breaking Frozen 2’s record of the biggest opening week of any animated movie ever. Mario movies play a major role in the character’s global fame and perception.
Nonetheless, not all Mario films have garnered positive reviews and stardom. Darryn King, in an article published by The New York Times that discusses the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, highlights its seemingly detrimental effect on future major Mario productions. As King puts it, the movie, with a dystopian, dull-colored environment opposite to the Mario games, was an infamous disaster, adding that even Bob Hoskins, the Mario star actor, expressed that it was a “nightmare.” King emphasizes that the dystopian aesthetic is caused by the shoot’s confinement to an abandoned cement factory set to replicate a gloomy New York region named Dinohattan, governed by the evil King Koopa. Basically, King believes that the film directors purposefully opposed the colorful, vibrant setting of the original Mario games. The movie tainted the careers of its directors, as well as the future for well-received commercial Mario films. Nonetheless, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s ground-breaking prosperity serves as a clear indicator of Mario’s outstanding global acclaim in multiple entertainment forms despite his atrocious film predecessor.
While the newest Mario film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, achieved immense success regarding sales and numbers, the story itself was not focused. Rather, it was more of an amalgamation of references related to Mario, rather than a plot narrowed on something like his origins. For instance, Mario fights Donkey Kong, an event that does not particularly advance the overarching predicament of saving Princess Peach or helping the Mario brothers’ plumbing business during the movie intro.
The major picture accelerated the Nintendo Land theme park’s launch in California’s Universal Studios, which transports park-goers into a world of Mario attractions. Oliver Wainwright, writing for Guardian News and Media, emphasizes that the park features Universal Studio’s first augmented reality ride, and a purchasable wristband that allows visitors to participate in minigames throughout the park. An IGN video in which Shigeru Miyamoto himself gives a park tour displays many park elements that further immerse the participants into the Mario universe, like moving Goombas and Piranha Plants, Peach’s castle, a cave maze that parallels the games’ caves, and mystery blocks that, when hit with a wristband, give digital coins. As Shigeru Miyamoto explains, getting three digital keys from the activities that the wristbands activate opens the door to the final minigame, a boss battle with Bowser Jr. Nintendo’s ability to fit its mascot’s universe into a theme park illustrates Mario’s adaptability across several media forms.
Though entertainment franchises in the modern day evolve and progress, few can out-pace the Mario character’s evolution and Nintendo’s imaginative capability. Considering that Mario’s origins as a simple video game character has advanced to theme parks, the Mario franchise will likely keep evolving alongside untouched entertainment forms, such as virtual reality, or even a modern multi-episode show in collaboration with a prominent streaming company. Nintendo’s doctrine of revitalizing old franchises with innovative ideas and technology indicates that its golden child, Mario, will continue to be a global staple of not only video games but entertainment overall.
Additional Sources Used in this Article
Guy Julier. “Nintendo (f. 1933).” The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of Design since 1900. 2004. Found on Credo Reference.
Gene Park. “Every Mario game, ranked.” Washingtonpost.com. 2020. Found on Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints.
Keza MacDonald. “Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto: What we owe the world’s most influential game designer; The legendary designer behind Super Mario, Zelda and many other Nintendo classics understood how technological innovation and sharp ideas could work together. At 70, he’s lost none of his sense of fun. Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here.” Guardian News and Media. 2022. Found on Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints.
Oliver Wainwright. “ ‘Like eating one of the game’s magic mushrooms’: Super Mario comes to California; Bringing the iconic video games into reality, Super Nintendo World is a spectacular feat of design that will overload your senses faster than it empties your wallet.” Guardian News and Media. 2023. Found on Gale in Context: Opposing Viewpoints.
