mario: pop culture

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November 15th, 2011

MARIOA look at the history of the video game icon

1985 199119901988

2D ERAtHE

Nintendo and Super Nintendo

In 1985, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Enter-tainment System; introducing the video game character Mario to the world. The video game recieved critical aclaim after it’s release; having sold 40 million copies world wide. By the time Super Mario Bros. 3 was released, Mario had became an icon in the video game industry. Later, the plumber appeared again in the fourth game in the Super Mario se-ries called Super Mario World; which was the the first Mario game for the Super Nintendo. Super Mario World was given positve review apon it’s release and eventually became the best selling game on the Super Nintendo. This was also the last Super Mario game released in the two dimensional gaming era. It would be a while before Nintendo released another Super Mario game; this time on a brand new console.

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200720021996

3D ERANintendo 64, Nintendo Gamecube, and Nintendo Wii

In 1996, Nintendo released Super Mario 64 on the new Nintendo 64 console; which was the first three demensional Super Mario game in the series. Just like it’s predecessors, Super Mario 64 recieved great re-views and became the best selling game on the Nintendo 64. Six years later, Nintendo released Super Mario Sunshine on the Nintendo Game-cube; which unsurprisingly received praise from many fans and critics. Super Mario Galaxy, Mario’s biggest game to date, was later released in 2007 on the Nintendo Wii. The game recieved massive amounts of praise and was incredibly sucessful; having sold nearly 9 million cop-ies world wide. It is being hailed as one of Nintendo’s best games of all time.

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Fun Facts• Super Mario Bos. 3 appeared in the movie The Wizard before the game was actually released in the United States.• A nation survey the the 1990’s showed that Mario was more recognizable to American kids than Mickey Mouse was.• A live-action movie based on the Super Mario Bros. video game was released in 1993. It recieved very poor reviews from fans and critics, however, and still does to this day.• Mario, along with Luigi and Peach, appeared in NBA Street V3 and SSX on Tour as playable characters.• Mario also guests stars in Punch-Out!! as the referee in the game.

“Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock-n-roll.” - Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario)

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