Summary
Who would have guessed that a plumber in red overalls would be an iconic character over thirty years later?Mario, as Jump Man, fought a big ape, Donkey Kong, and somehow he became the cornerstone of Nintendo’s enterprises. Since his arcade debut, Mario has graced every Nintendo platform under the sun.
There are evenMariogames on phones now so thatMario as a charactercan never leave the side of fans. There have been many big reveals in the franchise over the years from Space World to E3. These announcements rank up there as some of the wildest and they include everything from main entries to spinoffs.
New Super Mario Bros.was a big win for the2D Mario fansout there in 2006 for the DS. It had been a long time since a 2D game came out and it received a good amount of positive press. ThatNewconcept was used for one of the biggest jumps in Mario’s history: multiplayer.
New Super Mario Bros. Wiiwas demoed live onstage with four players at Nintendo’s E3 2009 press conference. It was released for the Wii that following Fall. It was a big deal because no mainlineMariogame had simultaneous multiplayer at that point. Players could mostly switch off between rounds in older games likeSuper Mario World. Since then, manyMariogames have featured co-op.
Super Mario Makerwas another big leap forward because it gave fans the ability to craft their own levels. It was first unveiled at E3 2014 asMario Makerwhich was then changed toSuper Mario Makerin 2015 when it also launched on Wii U. The sharing aspects are what really attracted fans and the Wii U interface made customization a breeze.
One of the coolest aspects was using Amiibo to play as characters likeMarth fromFire Emblemin levels. The game got a 3DS port followed by a sequel on the Switch and that has been it as of 2019. Right now, fans are hoping to see other franchises get this treatment likeThe Legend of ZeldaorMetroid.
By 1995, Mario had starred in a variety of game genres including puzzle games, racers, platformers, and so on. He had yet to star in an RPG and that changed with the unveiling ofSuper Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Starsin 1995. It was during the V-Jump Festival in Japan which was not available in North America at the time but there has seen been an upload ofthe promotional VHSonline for those curious. There is some interestingbeta footage of Mario’s first RPG.
North American fans would get the news in theOctober 1995 issue of Nintendo Powerwhich had a whole spread on the game although the cover story was aboutSuper Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island. The RPG spinoff would release on the SNES a year later and it changed the franchise forever.
While wild in 1996,Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Starsis not the oddest RPG spinoff to date. That honor would go toMario + Rabbids Kingdom Battlewhich was announced during Ubisoft’s E3 2017 event. It wasa tactical RPGmore in line withX-ComthanFinal Fantasy. Rumors were swirling about the idea of a crossover between the two franchises in late 2016 but most chalked it up to bad intel. Oh how wrong the nay-sayers were.
The best part about the announcement was Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo and Yves Guillemot of Ubisoft posing with replica guns from the game. It was too precious for words and it was easy to tell how excited the pair were to be working with each other.Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battlewas a success which led to a Switch sequel in 2022.
The N64 was a revolution on its own as an early supporter of 3D gaming. Of course, the PS1 and Sega Saturn beat it to launch, but Nintendo had a killer app in 1996 that no one else could compete with:Super Mario 64. It was made available to play at Nintendo’s Space World even in 1995 and it got an even bigger presence at E3 1996.
The non-press world would get a taste ofSuper Mario 64and the N64 in general in theJanuary 1996 issue of Nintendo Power. Kiosks around the nation featuredSuper Mario 64at Targets, K-Marts, Walmarts, and so on. It was a big attractor for kids. It standardized 3D platforming for generations to come even though by today’s standards it can be clunky.
Super Mario Galaxy 2for the Wii was the last 3D game in the series for seven years.BothSuper Mario Galaxygameswere big deals on the Wii. There were plenty of Mario games to follow but they didn’t have that same 3D quality. Things changed at the reveal event for the Switch in January 2017. That’s when Super Mario Odyssey was announced. Here’s the clever thing Nintendo did though.
While they showcased plenty of weird environments in that reveal trailer from cities to jungles, they did not show Mario using Cappy. That was saved for E3 2017 and that trailer really made fans pop off. It is the wildest Mario has ever been in his games from turning into a Goomba to possessing a real human. Plus the theme song “Jump Up, Super Star” was beyond catchy. 2017 was a banger year for Nintendo which included this game’s launch alongsideThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,showcasing the competitive staying power of Nintendo’s handheld console in the modern market.
