September marks the beginning of the world's most iconic video game character: Mario. To be specific, the world famous Italian plumber debuted on September 13, 1985 on Nintendo's NES. The world celebrates the 30th birthday of the character that is quintessential to video gaming history.
There may have been a lot of characters from video games that are memorable for both young and old. Mario is arguably the reason that video games are a pop culture force today, according to Fortune. The report looked back to a time when the industry was hitting rock bottom. Earnings were dropping from $3.2 billion in 1983 to a mere $100 million in 1985. In fact, Atari filed for bankruptcy due to these circumstances when they were one of the U.S.'s fastest-growing companies.
The fateful day of September 13, 1985 showed the world a spunky Italian plumber that became an instant hit. Sales for the Nintendo NES went through the roof. Now, Super Mario Bros. celebrates its third decade in the industry since its Japanese release, and still remains as the best-selling game title of all time.
In an interview with BBC's Newsbeat, Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed why the character is still popular. "The basic game play hasn't really changed much," he explained. "Mario still jumps and he still runs, but as time and the hardware have evolved, we've tried to tweak and improve the controls." It would seem that staying true to his (Mario) code was the secret to the character's seemingly unending fame. Game consoles may change and gaming systems may have evolved, but this did not stop Mario from advancing with the times. Whenever there's new hardware, we try to make a new Mario game to go with it and we try to reflect that platform in the games," said Miyamoto. "We've had him try sports and karts; we've tried to evolve him, so there's lots of variety."
For the new generation of gamers, Mario may have little significance. To those who grew up playing the plumber, Mario has changed gaming in more ways than one, according to Redbull.com. Mario has proven that everyone can be a hero. One doesn't need the super powers of high-tech gadgets to do the right thing. Although considered "old school," Mario reintroduced 2D platform gaming to a new generation of gamers. This is true to a point that there are even new games that are in 2D.
The list about how Mario changed gaming could go on and on. It will still lead to the same conclusion: without the iconic Italian plumber, video games wouldn't have progressed the way they have today. Happy birthday, Mario!