The topic was that we were supposed to analyze an icon of some sort. Some people picked simple icons like the Ying Yang or Tostitos' dip bowl icon but I wanted to go bigger. It's always been my dream to write a serious, college-level paper on Mario so I finally found an excuse to. I know I'm not the first to do it but I figure some of you might like to read it for kicks. Anyway, enjoy it.
Super Mario, Super Icon Thousands of businesses fight an ongoing battle to sell their merchandise, yet despite this, each class of products achieves the same fate as always, resulting in a select handful of companies who dominate their market. This of course is the goal of any large corporation, to attain such popularity as to reach this status. More often than not, to achieve this goal, the commercialism of the product is a key element in sales. For example, the video game company Nintendo is represented by their own iconic mascot, Super Mario. Like all companies, they have created an icon for themselves which is both memorable and appealing to consumers. An icon must be easily recognizable, yet, not necessarily associative with what it represents. However, once an icon has been perfected, the results are always beneficial to what it stands for. In Nintendo’s case, Super Mario has become one of the most successful business icons of all time.
In the early 1980s, Nintendo entered this market and released their own game titled Donkey Kong, in which a gorilla, Donkey Kong, has escaped from the zoo and kidnaps the main protagonist’s girlfriend. This main character’s appearance was shaped almost entirely on technical limitations at the time, yet this very appearance is one of the reasons he has become so recognizable. For example, animating hair was too difficult, so developers instead chose to design a character wearing a hat instead. For this same reason, he was also given a mustache so facial expressions would be unnecessary as well. In order to help him stand out from the background, overalls were chosen as his choice of clothing. Finally, his entire ensemble was red, the same color as the platform he walks on, as a limited amount of colors could only be used in arcade games. Soon, this character, named “Jumpman” at the time, would soon become known as Mario.
Mario’s appearance has not changed drastically since the 1980s. The most notable example is his red overalls being changed to blue jean overalls, while his shirt is now red. He is always portrayed in games as a very quiet, solemn hero, yet still retaining a kind heart. This of course runs in tow with the fact that many video game players are children, and can view him as a sort of role model. Mario was revealed to be of Italian-American heritage and has a younger brother Luigi. Incidentally, they are referred to as the “Mario Bros.” which alludes to the fact that their full names, strangely, are Mario Mario and Luigi Mario. This idea of kinship that Mario shares with his brother is another reason why many people can relate to him on a personal level. Finally, in the late 1990s, Mario was given a voice in the popular video games Super Mario 64 by voice actor Charles Martinet. Upon turning on this game, players were greeted with a fully rendered Super Mario where he boldly declared “Hello!” This cheerful tone has become a staple of the Super Mario video game franchise. Most people will instantly recognize his voice upon hearing his trademark “It’s-a me! Mario!”
(Side note: Yes, I know Martinet's first performance was in that PC Mario Clubhouse Games game or whatever, but I figured that was getting too nitty gritty for this essay)
Super Mario has often portrayed in many advertisements for Nintendo’s products, ever since adopting the role as their icon. His popularity has grown tremendously since his first video game, now that he has appeared in over two hundred other games worldwide. There are countless types of Mario games, which has helped his fan base grow. He has starred in nearly every genre of video game on the market, including sports, racing, puzzles, party, fighting, educational, adventure, and many others. Nintendo created him to be a very simple character in that he is a plumber from Brooklyn, New York and despite appearing cartoon-like, is very human too. This fits well as they tend to market themselves as a very casual video game company as compared to their rivals. However, at the same time because Mario has starred in such a diverse array of video games, cartoons, and books, he has an even greater chance of appealing to many audiences. For example, if one person does not like adventures but is a fan of sports, they may like Super Mario for his sports games. Though some see this as a cheap form of marketing, regardless it is a very smart, efficient way to promote your products.
Super Mario as an icon is interesting in that he says so little, yet stands for so much. He does not “look like” a Nintendo, and yet most people can instantly recognize him as the mascot of that company. Another very peculiar aspect of Mario is his Italian-American heritage. Today’s society typically sees stereotyping as bad, shunning it as a discriminatory act. Ironically, Mario is more or less the ultimate stereotype of Italian-Americans. He is short and stout, with a bushy mustache. He dreams of pasta and other foods and speaks with the stereotypical Italian accent. This actually says something about Mario as a character, though. He is so popular and highly regarded by so many people, in fact, that this act of stereotyping is forgiven, if even recognized at all. Perhaps because he is always portrayed as a hero, or simply because he is such a fun character to behold, he is never criticized by the public, while more violent games are looked down on by many. Ironically, in recent years, video games as a whole have begun to embrace an entirely new audience, namely young adults. As a result, the mainstream game market has become more mature. While these adult-oriented games have become more popular today, Super Mario games continue to outsell many of their more mature counterparts. As recently as last year, the highly anticipated video game Super Mario Galaxy was rated “Game of the Year” in 2007 by many critics, and the original Super Mario Bros. video game is still considered the greatest game of all time by many fans and members of the electronic entertainment industry. Despite the fact Super Mario appears to be aimed at children when compared to more violent games, the truth is that he is simply a timeless character that can be appreciated by people of any age or background.
In the early 1980s, video games were a dying business and merely a passing trend until Super Mario Bros. arrived to revitalize both Nintendo and the game market as a whole. In a nationwide survey during the 1990s, Mario was shown to be more recognizable than Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. The Super Mario series has at the same time become the highest selling video game franchise of all time on a worldwide level. Because of this, Mario is not popular in only America or Japan, but is a well-known icon around the world. These figures, along with the fact that Mario is such a distinct character as both an icon and mascot, are no coincidence. To be an effective icon, something must be recognizable and memorable, yet not actually having to look similar to what it represents. Mario is both a game and an icon. He is cartoon-like and at the same time very relatable. There are countless reasons why he is an effective icon, but in the end, all that matters is his success. After all, two hundred million sales cannot be a passing trend, now can they?
Figure 1: One of the most recent art renders of Super Mario.
Figure 2: Super Mario as depicted in the "Paper Mario" series.
Figure 3: Character art from the game "Mario & Luigi: Supertar Saga".