Open Forum: Celebrating 30 Years of Super Mario

Love him or hate him, it’s hard to deny that Mario has more than lasted the test of time. Yesterday, Sunday 13th September, marked the 30th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. arriving on the Famicom/NES. It was the start of what became by far the largest selling franchise of all time.

Beyond the simple figures, Mario has touched millions of gamers, being one of the first entry points into gaming for many. While gaming in general may have trended towards increased realism, violence and story telling, Mario has remained a bastion of simple mechanics and the importance of just having fun when playing games.

While I actually grew up as a Sonic fan, it’s hard to deny that Sega’s hedgehog mascot star has faded significantly, where Mario has been one constant in an ever-changing gaming landscape. Even playing Super Mario Bros. now, the game remains an almost perfect example of how to build a 2D platformer, and New Super Mario Bros. U continues that tradition of 2D excellence right through to the modern day.

However, it was the 3D Super Mario games where I really started to pay attention to the long lived series, with both Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine showing both me and the world how 3D platforming should be done. While many early 3D platformers were absolutely awful – in fact you can look at literally every 3D Sonic game for a perfect example of that – Nintendo somehow managed to make it control near perfectly, while also maintaining everything about the game’s world and aesthetics.

While you can certainly argue about the relative quality of some of the spin-offs from the core Super Mario series, the platformers has shown a level of consistency that I don’t think any series in any medium has managed over that length of time. Long running comic series have had massive dips in quality, read almost any DC book from the 1960s for example, TV shows like Doctor Who and Star Trek have had some pretty big blips, and there’s certainly been James Bond films that haven’t really hit the same level as the others. I’d be hard pressed to think of a Super Mario game I could say the same about though, and that may be the most impressive element of all.

Blair | Although Mario is perhaps best known for paving the way for 2D side-scrolling platformers, the first Super Mario game that stole my affection was Super Mario 64. This took some of the 2D Mario concepts and threw them into a 3D world – or lots of 3D worlds – and had a seemingly endless amount of gameplay for my younger self to explore with family and friends alike.

And although I’ve grown to appreciate the hardcore 2D platforming that can be found in later levels of the side-scrolling titles, it’s the 3D ones that always make me the most happy. Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel often blend these styles together, and while 64 may have more nostalgia attached to it, these are truly my favourite Mario titles.

Naturally, given that he’s a multi-genre icon, the gameplay extends beyond these incredible platformers and to two of my favourite multiplayer titles: Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. These games have brought my friends and I together more than they’ve pushed us apart over cheap wins or blue shells, and the hours spent racing around tracks or throwing each other off battlefields have been fantastic.

It’s safe to say that none of these experiences would exist without the success of Mario. And while he’ll never be my first choice on the character selection screen, there’s no denying that we have a lot to thank him for, defying the odds of success and becoming a true icon despite being a relatively unappealing Italian plumber.

Teflon | The first Mario game I played probably wouldn’t even break into most people’s top ten lists, but even Super Mario Land 2 on the Game Boy was an outstanding platformer. That’s really been a defining feature of the long standing series, that even when Mario hasn’t been reinventing himself, the core gameplay has been so refined that it’s still so very good.

Yet it’s not often that there’s a Super Mario game that isn’t trying to do something new, even to this day. Super Mario Bros. 3 added the overworld, 64 set the benchmark for 3D world building, Galaxy took Mario into outer space to explore different and constantly inventive new environments, they’ve perfectly captured multiplayer in NSMB Wii and 3D World, and even the much maligned Sunshine tried to do something interesting with the water cannon on Mario’s back.

There really is no other game franchise that has been able to sustain itself for such a long time and with such a steady influx of new ideas. So, a hearty Happy 30th Anniversary is in order for Mario, but so too is a hope that the next 30 see just as much invention and innovation as the last.

Dave | One of the first games I played when I was younger was Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES. The first few levels eased me into the concept, but it was World 4 that set it apart from previous games thanks to its sense of scale and giant enemies.

But then you go even further with levels that take place in the sky and a world filled with a maze of pipes, before culminating in some of the most tense levels in 2D Mario history with World 8.

The affect this game has had with the design is remarkable. It has the famous Tanooki suit that has reappeared throughout the franchise since. It’s certainly the best of the NES era and one of Mario’s finest in his 30 years.

And now it’s over to you, to share your thoughts on Mario and his 30 year tenure as gaming’s preeminent plumber. Let us know your best memories from the series, tell us what you’ve been creating in Super Mario Maker, say what your favourite Mario game is, or you can even let us know why you’ve tired on his appearance within Nintendo’s release schedule. The Open Forum is a place to air your thoughts on a subject, however they may fall.