The Third Coming of Mario

Posted by Nostalgiaholic | on February 6, 2008

Every kid that you, me, or anyone knew had this game. It was the one accessory you HAD to have as we dove collectively into the 90s.

It was X-Mas 1990 when I and a billion other young geeks all over the world awaited the coming of a video game revolution. We drooled beside our Nintendo Entertainment Systems awaiting our messiah to leads us from the late-80s slump of too many crappy looking Gradius clones into an 8-bit golden age !!!

Super Mario Bros. 3 Cartridge CaseOur prophet’s name…? Mario… Super Mario.

The third installment of the “Super” Mario Brothers series of video games was soon to be released in N. America (it was already available in Japan). Since pretty much every kid on earth begged his or her parents for an NES for Christmas that year, the programmers at Nintendo knew they needed a flagship game to rise above the sea of second-rate arcade-knockoffs. It was time to set the benchmark for quality 8-bit games, and who better to do it, then the character that had launched the NES back in 1985. Following in the footsteps of the legendary first Mario game, (and it’s LSD-inspired radish-throwing follow-up that everyone avoids like my crazy uncle Norbert) Super Mario Bros. 3 had to impress big time.

The reason for all the blood vessel-popping anticipation was Nintendo’s enormous advertising campaign aimed right between the eyes of teens and tweens like me and my friends. It was the largest video game-based marketing campaign to date, encompassing all forms of media, and including such heavy-weight partners as McDonald’s, Mattel, and DIC Entertainment. Waaaaaaaaaaay before the game was actually released, we were swimming in oceans of merchandise like Scrooge McDuck and killing brain cells glued to our TVs for any hint of Mario-related news. Here’s some of the swag:

  • Mario StickersGas stations started selling Mario Bros. sticker packs featuring new characters and enemies from the upcoming game, hidden just underneath the label… sneaky buggers.
  • Nintendo Power, the magazine dedicated to… you guessed it, Nintendo, offered tantalizing snippets and screenshots of the upcoming game, and ran contests in each issue for Super Mario toys and apparel. Peek if you dare at the Nintendo Merchandise Database in all it’s nerdy glory!
  • McDonalds was all in with a line of plastic wind-up toys available in Happy Meals that could hop, flip, spin, and cause accidental blindness if aimed improperly. Check out the original MCeeDees Mario Commercial on Youtube.
  • A syndicated part-live action, part-animated Super Mario Bros. Super TV Show hosted by (hold on to your brain-stem) Pro Wrestling legend “Captain” Lou Albano aired right up until the release of SMB3 (after which it was changed to The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3). I remember watching the show back in theThe Wizard movie cover day, but sweet zombie geezus, it hasn’t aged well… This has to be one of the scariest, most embarrassing, and uproariously funny TV shows of the late 80s ! You can click your way to hilarity @ Youtube’s Super Mario Bros. Super Show to watch the badly hip-hop-infused intro… but be warned, you WILL need new pants!
  • Probably the biggest publicity stunt of ‘em all was the release of the movie The Wizard in 1989 just months before the SMB3 game hit American supermarket shelves. Starring Kevin from the Wonder Years, and some other people, the movie was a ludicrously-plotted epic of 80s camp that actually featured more video game previews then actual acting. Both Nintendo’s SMB3 and the Power Glove were heavily plugged, and the movie went on to become a cult classic among Morlocks everywhere…. I love the Power Glove, It’s So Bad!

We had been hyped to the point of no return, our dreams were invaded by overweight Italian guys with red ‘n blue suits and raccoon tails. My neighbor’s kid was threatening Hari-Kari if Santa didn’t drop the Power Glove down the chimney. Thankfully, Nintendo pressed a billion or so cartridges into being and made ten times more cash then any video game company had a right to. Just about every household in N. America awoke to the sound of teenage offspring sobbing with joy on Christmas Day. Mario bless us… everyone.

SMB3 Intro screen

Super Mario Bros. 3 was a revelation. The graphics, the controls, the level design… everything was superior to all the games that had come before it. No longer were Mario and his retarded-yet-underrated brother Luigi pixelized, they were chubby, fully rendered characters. The different worlds you could play in were actually scenic and unique (instead of just the same background with different coloured clouds ala Mario 1). The game mechanics had been tweaked, allowing for more control of your character. The controls for this game paved the way for how I play games to this very day (ie. my habit of always holding down the run button before I jump in platform games). Mario Magazine scan

Every kid that you, me, or anyone knew had this game. It was the one accessory you HAD to have as we dove collectively into the 90s. And every kid you talked to knew the lingo of the game and all the secrets, without the help of game guides or anything! ‘Course we actually witnessed the guy from The Wizard give away the biggest secret in the game (Warp Whistle baby!), but there was still so much more to explore in such an expansive game. For a couple of months there in early 1990, just about every kid in N. America with access to an NES was connected to a vast after-school video-game network of sunlight-hating explorers venturing into the heart of the Mushroom Kingdom. It kinda felt like Woodstock for gamers. It let us know how many of us there were out there, that we weren’t alone in our love for portly Italian plumbers… wait… that didn’t come out right…

Mario Sticker ScansSo yeah, go back and re-live the experience on your Wii (you can download the game for a buck ‘or two), or just download an NES Emulator for free. Heck, if you still have your old NES lying around somewhere (I think mine is propping up the BBQ), plug it in, blow the dust outta your SMB3 cartridge, and fire it up! You’ll re-connect to your inner nerd, and reminisce about the day you found salvation with the Mario Bros.

Much Love…

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Posted by Nostalgiaholic | Filed Under Geek, Video Games  

5 Responses to “The Third Coming of Mario”

  1. AvatarStephie
    Feb 17th, 2008
    at 5:36 pm
    1

    Mario 3 was my ultimate Mario video game. I absolutely loved it and yes it does make me want to break out my Nintendo again and hook that shit up :P!!!

    As for Wizard … frick I loved it as a kid, but I watched it again about two years ago with friends and well … it’s not as GREAT as I remember. Damn!

    Reply to this comment.
  2. AvatarChuck U Farley
    Feb 23rd, 2008
    at 1:11 pm
    2

    “Where are you going, Jimmy?”
    “Caaaalifooooria”
    “Jimmy? JIMMY!”
    “Caaaalifooooria”
    “I love the power glove.” *orgasmic shudder*
    “Caaaalifooooria”
    “You have to be very adult to live in Reno”
    “Caaaalifooooria”
    “JIMMY!! Jimmy watch for mushrooms!”
    “Caaaalifooooria”

    …that was the wizard that was…

    Reply to this comment.
  3. AvatarChuck U Farley
    Feb 23rd, 2008
    at 1:12 pm
    3

    “Where are you going, Jimmy?”“Caaaalifooooria”“Jimmy? JIMMY!”“Caaaalifooooria”“I love the power glove.” *orgasmic shudder*“Caaaalifooooria”“You have to be very adult to live in Reno”“Caaaalifooooria”“JIMMY!! Jimmy watch for mushrooms!”“Caaaalifooooria”
    …that was the wizard that was…

    …and if you add an “N” to all those californias, I look like even LESS of an efftard.

    Reply to this comment.
  4. Avatarjudy
    Mar 2nd, 2008
    at 7:28 am
    4

    I think Andrew loved Mario Brothers as much if not more than you did. He even looked the part of Mario.

    Reply to this comment.
  5. AvatarLarry "Liontamer" Oji
    Apr 13th, 2008
    at 3:29 pm
    5

    SMB3 was definitely my favorite game growing up. My mother got it for me for my 9th birthday in early 1991, along with the official Nintendo Power Strategy Guide. She’s always been a great mom, haha!

    Mario 3 was nothing short of the best.

    Larry “Liontamer” Oji
    Head Submissions Evaluator, OverClocked ReMix
    Creator, VG Frequency
    Staff, VGMdb
    http://www.ocremix.org
    http://www.vgfrequency.com
    http://www.vgmdb.net

    Reply to this comment.

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