Happy 30th Super Mario Bros.
I'd just like to take a moment and remind everybody that 30 years ago yesterday - September 13th, 1985 - Super Mario Bros was introduced.
30 years ago, an entire generation of gamers were born as they jumped over their first Goomba and hit their first question mark block. We invite you to celebrate with us and share in a very Happy Birthday Super Mario Bros!
Mario himself has been one of, if not the, best goodwill ambassadors video games could have ever asked for. Nintendo has been fairly consistent with how they treat the character and, in some ways, I feel like Nintendo doesn't even view Mario as a "character" so much as a family member. There's a level of reverence for Miyamoto's creation and I don't think it's unwarranted.
Of course, Mario isn't just a video game superstar. Captain Lou Albano portrayed him for the 90's cartoon/live-action Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Bob Hoskins took the Mario mantle for the entirely live-action Super Mario Bros. film; to this day NOBODY really understands how or why *THAT* happened. He's been a cartoon character, as seen above, and who could forget, a damn breakfast cereal (though, to be fair, a LOT of things were breakfast cereals back then).
Super Mario Bros. introduced us to Mario in a deeper, more meaningful way than Donkey Kong or even the regular Mario Bros. ever could. Those games, while fun, didn't have a whole world built around them. Super Mario Bros. did. You had a whole chunk of the Mushroom Kingdom to play in. You had the Overworld, where our intrepid hero's quest begins. The Underworld, with that dangerously-close-to-disco-theme music. There's the Underwater where we still wonder how in the hell Mario is able to create and use fireballs but we're doubly curious about their use under WATER! And of course, you had the ultimate challenge for each "World"...the Castle. A lava-filled machination straight from Tennyson's nightmares that would tease you and trick you to try ANOTHER castle in the hopes that you'd find the Princess you long to save.
It's a funny thing just how ingrained Super Mario Bros. has become. It's more than just a game. It's influential. It's comforting. It's become a part of so many of us.
So, please, take a moment and think about your time with Super Mario Bros. Maybe it was the first and only game you've ever played. Maybe you've gone back to it 100 times and finished it every way possible with every secret found. Or maybe you're somewhere in between. Regardless, Super Mario Bros. was, is and will remain one of the most important video games of all time. 30 years later, we're still watching people play through it, doing speedruns and of course, introducing it to our kids/younger generation. Remember how you felt playing it?
Super Mario Bros. makes me happy. From the moment I first heard that specific "pwing!" when Mario jumps to the annoyance of having to find a DIFFERENT castle. Super Mario Bros makes me happy. It makes me smile. I hope it makes you happy and smile too.
