The Evolution of Mario
This entry was created by a student in Stanford's Rhetoric of Gaming class. For more about the class and the assignment, click here.
I'm thinking about writing a paper tracing the evolution of Mario, from his first appearance in 1981 in Donkey Kong to current games like Super Mario Galaxy, along with the reason why Mario games have risen to become so popular. Mario is one of the most famous and well known video games characters, and has a huge number of games focused on his story. There are also an enormous amount of Mario products other than games, like wrist bands, stuffed animals, action figures and more. Mario has become a major celebrity in video game culture, so much so that almost anyone that knows anything about video games is able to immediately recognize him.
I found a great source on www.Gamecubical.com that discusses how Mario was created. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, started working for Nintendo of America after graduating from Kanazawa Munici College of Industrial Arts and Crafts in 1977. At the time, Nintendo was having financial troubles while trying to enter then American video game market by designing a co-op arcade game. Miyamoto "conceived a story involving an angry gorilla that escapes from his master, kidnapping the master's girlfriend and taking her to the top of a construction site. Players control the master as he ascends the building, a factory, and a steel foundation, trying to save his girlfriend. " He decided to create a "silly character with whom gamers could connect." Thus Mario was born. This new game called Donkey Kong became "the fastest selling game that the arcade industry had ever seen, eventually selling 65,000 units." With the creation of Mario, Nintendo of America established its place as one of the most well known video-game companies in america.
actual source: http://www.gamecubicle.com/features-mario-nintendo_shining_star.htm
Comments
Tracing the evolution of Mario is quite interesting, which would give us a lot of insights into what makes a successful game that has become an icon of Nintendo. Perhaps you could try to narrow down your focus and develop the idea of how Mario spread into popular culture and trace the history of Mario merchandise or spin offs.
Posted by: Kee Wui Huang | October 13, 2009 09:46 PM
I find this topic very interesting. It touches base on the history of Mario mainly focusing on how his popularity and appearance grew over the years. I have played Donkey Kong several times, but I never knew that that was the first appearance of Mario. This is quite a fun topic!! Engaging in the research on how this character created hope and overall fun for others. Should be fun! Look forward to reading it.
Posted by: Jules Sharpe | October 13, 2009 09:47 PM
You and Shayon should definitely talk about how to approach this sort of topic -- he is working on a similar project, but about Pokemon, and I think you both will face a lot of the same challenges.
The primary challenge for both of you will be to make an ARGUMENT and not just create a detailed research report on the changes in Mario. As you research, keep thinking about what claim you will make. I think you are moving toward it with your reference to his popularity in the first paragraph of your blog post, but you'll need to ask some hard questions: what is it that makes him popular? why has his popularity endured? does his cross-over to other aspects of popular culture have anything to do with it? I would definitely use the library resources available (i.e. the info desk or e-mailing Chris directly) to help you look for analytic articles on this or a related topic to keep your research on track.
On a separate note, have you seen the trailers for the new Wii Super Mario Brothers? You can find it here (http://www.gossipgamers.com/new-gameplay-trailers-for-new-super-mario-bros-wii/) if you're interested :)
Posted by: Christine Alfano, Stanford | October 17, 2009 06:53 AM
I think this is an interesting topic since Mario is indeed a very famous video game character, that has spread to many different people around the world. Mario has been incorporated into many different kinds of video games, and is loved by people of all ages. The history of Mario is also an interesting one because I'm sure no one would have been able to anticipate the success that was Mario in Donkey Kong. I believe Mario changed the gaming industry for Nintendo because it allowed them to create a game that was innovative and fun to play. Mario has also influenced other video game characters, and games as well. Since Mario has been such a huge success with many games named after him, and more to come I'm sure I think that this would be an interesting paper to read to see how Mario garnered such success. Mario has been Nintendo's baby over all these years, and he will only continue to get more popular with more and more people playing video games. Overall I believe Mario to be a fun topic to write and read about, due to the fact he is widely known, and on a count that Mario games are fun to play.
Posted by: Christopher Torres | October 19, 2009 03:06 PM
I think this is a great topic, because you're right, it's such a famous video game. I don't even play video games, but I can tell you about Mario. There is no way to dispute that, so I also agree that there would be a problem making an argument.
Maybe you can talk about what it is about the video game that makes it so much fun, but also, why is it that people never get bored of it? It has come a long way, but the story always remains the same. In a world where people drop everything for what's new, it is difficult to pin point what makes this one video game great. It's just like there is a different Madden every year.
I think it's a great topic also because it sounds like a lot of fun. I hope it goes well!
Posted by: Marlen Tello | October 30, 2009 09:03 PM
Mario certainly has come a long way. it incredible to see one character make it big over so many platforms through so many years. Everyone in the gaming community definately knows about Mario, and its pretty safe to say everyone who is a gamer has played at least 1 Mario title throughout their time.
Its definately a good topic to look into.
Posted by: Game Lover | November 16, 2009 03:06 PM