From 8-bit to 3D: Nintendo’s iconic ‘Mario’ games turn 40 • FRANCE 24 English

Kikai is officially Mario’s biggest fan. He was born in 1985, the same year as Super Mario Bros., and has been playing for as long as he remembers. As a teen, he started spending pocket money on Mario merch. Now he’s got the world’s largest collection. It’s not like I was thinking, I have so many, this is amazing. It’s just that I loved it and I kept buying more and more and the collection just grew. I didn’t have the goal of getting into the Guinness Book of World Records. It just happened. With Super Mario Bros., plumbers Mario and Luigi hopped from arcade to console and started adventuring through a scrolling 2D world in 40 million living rooms worldwide. Since then, Mario’s become a cultural bayamoth, inspiring everything from a massive theme park in Japan to a film grossing more than a billion euros to humble street art in France. When people see my work in the street, it often reminds them of something. It takes them back. It’s always about conveying positive messages and positive emotions. The 1985 platformer was developed by just eight people. Sequels continued to push the envelope. Every generation of Nintendo console has seen a Mario Smash hit. Nintendo says the franchise, not including spin-offs like Mario Kart, has now sold almost half a billion copies. [Music]

Surrounded by thousands of objects bearing the likeness of Nintendo’s moustachioed plumber, 40-year-old Kikai reflects that his “life would be totally different without Mario” who also marks four decades this week. The colourful “Super Mario Bros.”, released for Nintendo’s home consoles in Japan on September 13, 1985, was a landmark of early video gaming.
#Nintendo #Mario

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3 comments

  2. I'm just waiting for France 24 to get a takedown notice from Nintendo for the thumbnail, and the depiction of SMB being played…..I haven't bought any of their products for over a decade and a half because of their anti-consumer practices….

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