30 years is a long time.
In 1985, there were only three Star Wars films, one Back to the Future, and Alf wasn’t even a thing yet. It’s also the year that the wreck of the Titanic was found, the first Blockbuster Video store opened (RIP), and New Coke was introduced (and discontinued).
Arguably the biggest, most important, and most culture defining moment in 1985 was the introduction of Super Mario Bros. for the NES / Famicom. It’s the title that made people fall in love with video games all over again, fall in love with a myriad of quirky characters, and become enamoured with a unique platforming formula that is still beloved today.
We want to wish Super Mario Bros. a very happy 30th birthday, and what better way than to share our favourite Mario memories from the past 30 years. With the just-released Super Mario Maker and beyond, we can’t wait to see what memories we’ll create next.
Read on for our memories, and be sure to share your own below!
Daniel Campozano
This may come as surprise to some, but I’ve actually only played three iterations of the Mario franchise. Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. So I have short list to pick from for my favorite moments with the franchise.
I would have to say my favorite Mario memory is with the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES. I remember getting it in the late 80’s as a Christmas gift and just being a natural at it. Everyone gathered around the television taking turns to see who could get the furtherest. As I’m jumping around and trying to figure out the mechanics I accidentally find the hidden warp room on level 1-2 and everyone screams in delight that I found a secret board and transported to another far away Mario land.
My favorite of the franchise would have to be Super Mario World. It was the only game I completed without the help of a warp or a magical flute. Though to get the full completetion I did use a strategy guide. The aspect that I enjoyed the most from the game was just the updated graphics and soundtracks from the prior gaming consoles. It almost reminds me of when I first saw an HDTV after decades of standard visuals, all the bright colors were mind blowing.
Gabriel von Grünbaum
Apparently, the saying might not be entirely accurate but parts of my childhood remind me of what I’ve heard is an old Chinese curse—”May you live in interesting times.” I’ve heard some tales from folks about troubles they endured while they were growing up that would rank as far more difficult than my own experiences; those occurrences that carved me into who I am today. I’m quite content now to think of my more tender years as interesting.
As my own interesting times began to develop, I remember that one of the highlights of any day—that I was able to wander off on my own—was to find myself at the arcade. It’s where I first met one of my oldest friends, Mario. He was just a young scrapper then, climbing up in the world, facing challenges like any of us do. . . especially like any of us who faced barrels hurled at us by a giant gorilla dabbling in human trafficking while we tried to balance on steel I-beams. Donkey Kong easily encapsulated the big scary world outside the doors of the arcade while Mario helped teach me that determination can payoff. Plus, blocky little Pauline was rather captivating and absolutely worth all the quarters.
Not too much later, as life got so much more interesting—and opportunities to visit the arcade became harder to come by—Nintendo offered a solution, the. . . Nintendo. Now the arcade could be right in the living room. The thought of it was like a dream within a dream within a Round Table Pizza. My father was pretty firm about his “no” on the subject of bringing such magic home. Magic where my new friend Mario wasn’t just climbing beams in a dark void—he had an entire world to explore!—an army of turtles to fight and a princess to save! It may have been only days but, honestly, I’m not sure how long it was that I languished after asking him for this magical arcade machine that I’d heard and read about, because it felt like eons upon eons.
I still remember coming home from school one day and he wasn’t there to greet me as usual. I just heard his voice from the living room, “Come here. I want to show you something.” I moaned reluctantly feeling confident I was in trouble for something—probably the grape juice I’d spilled and covered up by scooching the potted plant over it. So much for the perfect crime.
As I entered the living room, there it was on the coffee table, the cardboard box that held unspeakable wonders within. “I waited to open it so that you could help me set it up,” he explained. And so we did—through my squeals of delight. And so we didn’t get much sleep that night or many other nights after. Super Mario Bros. was far better than I’d imagined. We’d trade off playing Mario and his brother Luigi, milking every ounce of adventure, three lives at a time—hurtling down pipes, hunting down mushrooms, turtles and 1-Ups.
Yes, the game was amazing but during such interesting times in our lives, the best part was how it brought us together. We were exploring this fantastic new world, side by side, with hard-headed Italian brothers serving as our guides.
My dad and I solidified a bond over Super Mario Bros. that stands to this day. We became a team in the face of those interesting times and I’ll never be able to thank Mario enough.
Shane O’Hare
My most memorable Mario moment is probably one of the most unconventional.
We all remember the first time we played Super Mario Bros 3., Super Mario World, and Mario 64. My most VIVID memory has to be playing Mario Paint on the SNES for the first time.
I was a huge computer nerd growing up, and always had a PC around. My first gaming memory was playing DOS shareware games. So when I visited my uncle’s house and he showed me Mario Paint I was blown away. The mouse controller was so familiar yet at the same time foreign to me, it being an SNES input device and all.
Playing around with the different stamps, canvases, music creator and that fly swatting game OH MAN! I wish I had a SNES and a copy of the game right now!
Juan Carlos Marquez
As a kid, I was lucky enough to grow up during the NES era. Having amassed a number of great memories involving my friends and family playing Nintendo–specifically Super Mario Bros. titles. From the Christmas of 1985 where I read the Super Mario Bros. manual cover to cover in anticipation of starting my adventure through the Mushroom Kingdom, to playing Super Mario 3D World with my wife who inadvertently caused me to die a number of times because she wanted to grab a Star Coin or a 1-UP mushroom,–Mario games are a constant when reminiscing about my beloved gaming moments. But one that stands out quite prominently is one involving the biggest Mario fan besides myself: my grandmother.
As a kid, my parents worked late into the afternoon and wouldn’t come home until 6 P.M., so for the better part of my childhood, my grandmother was in charge of watching over me when I came home from school–along with my sister and three cousins. Luckily for her, I owned an NES which kept my cousins and I inside the house which kept my grandmother’s nerves at ease. She would watch us play Super Mario Bros., listen to us yell and point out oncoming enemies to avoid, and question me why there was always a butter knife on top of the television (RF switches, right?). As much as she refrained from playing, she would always sit quietly behind my cousins and I while we played. It seemed like our pleas would never convince my grandmother to play, but that was quickly proven wrong when she forgot my cousin and I were coming home early from school.
Whenever we came home around 2 P.M., my grandmother would have lunch ready for all of us. While we were at school, my cousins and I imagined my grandmother was watching a marathon of game shows, Mexican novelas, or simply taking nap on the couch, so you can imagine my surprise when my cousin and I showed up to the front gate and heard the Super Mario theme blaring through the living room window. We peeked and saw our grandmother–the one who always refused to play video games with us–sitting dead center on the couch with her hands firmly gripped on an NES controller. Her eyes locked on the television as she made her way through World 3 of Super Mario Bros.
We just stood there and watched her play for another ten minutes–partly to convince ourselves that what we were seeing was real and to marvel at how she would frantically move the controller up and down whenever she wanted Mario to jump. It was incredibly hard to keep our laughter to ourselves. The muffled sounds of two kids giggling caught her attention and was surprised to see us outside the window.
After explaining why we were home early, she laughed and confessed that she has been playing for weeks and would watch us play to get tips on how to get passed certain areas of the game (she hates Lakitu and Spinys with a passion). Here I thought that my grandmother was spending her day watching Price is Right when in reality she’s been getting her Mario fix on.
To this day, my grandmother still plays Nintendo games, and I can’t wait to see what she creates when she gets her hands on Super Mario Maker. I guess I’ll have to keep the levels that I make for her Lakitu-free.
Karson Braaten
I was four when Santa Claus came down my chimney with a Super Nintendo and a copy of Super Mario World. My parents told me I played it a lot so it’s safe to say that Mario has been a part of my life for longer than I can remember. Speaking of not remembering, does anyone else play the Mario Kart drinking game?
All joking aside, here is a list of some of my favourite Mario memories:
– Loudly swatting flies with the Mario Paint mouse and pad and being jealous that my friend could compose songs on it that actually sounded like music. I couldn’t.
– Being blown away that Super Mario All-Stars was four games in one!
– I spent years fascinating about owning an N64 before actually getting one. While my mom shopped in Zellers I would spend all my time with my neck tilted at an awful angle playing Super Mario 64.
– I enjoyed Super Mario 64 but the game my friend and I sank the most time into when I eventually got an N64 was Mario Tennis.
– Once upon a time there was a girl who 15-year-old me had a crush on but was too shy to talk to. I broke through my shyness by volunteering to help her beat a level in Super Mario World. We spent that summer playing Nintendo then became MSN friends shortly after. Ten years later, she is now my girlfriend.
– Luigi’s Mansion was the first game I played on day one of a console release.
– Crazy nights that began with one too many rounds of Beerio Kart. (Racing your friends in Mario Kart but you must finish a drink during the race. The catch? You can only drink while your vehicle isn’t moving).
I could go on and on. I think many people could. There is no measuring all of the good that Mario has brought to our society. However, I have a decent idea of the impact he has had on me. Mario has in one way or another brought joy to nearly every facet of my life and because of this, the little plumber will always be close to my heart.
Eric Francisco
I weirdly associate Mario with my mom.
My sister grew up with an NES and Super Mario Bros., but the console was pretty broken by the time I grew into gaming. So as a kid I knew Mario as this kind of — thing — that was just some kind of… game thing. Very descriptive, I know.
A few years later I’m playing Super Smash Bros. on my N64. I didn’t have many friends to play with, so my mom and I would play and she’d always pick Mario for whatever reason. Perhaps because he was the easiest to control and his moveset established the paradigm of Smash controls (Up+B gets you higher, Down+B is a baller ground attack, and B is projectiles).
I was never a huge Nintendo gamer. I liked the GameCube and Wii and stuff like Mario Kart just fine but I never played many Mario games, even now. So while most people see an Italian plumber, I see a middle-aged Asian lady who just finished the dishes and wants to play video games with her son.
Derek Kraneveldt
I really cannot believe its been 30 years since Super Mario Bros.
Heck, I’m only 25. I’ve never lived in a pre-Super Mario Bros. world. What was it like? It was awful, wasn’t it? I can’t even imagine.
Well, in my 25 years I’ve amassed a ton of memories in the Mario universe. It’s pretty tough to narrow it down to just one or two, so how about a RAPID FIRE BULLET POINT ROUND!?
– I think that I was a pretty good kid, but when I was little I was sent to my room a lot. In said room, I had an NES and a myriad of games for it, so I kind of loved being in there. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 (2 was a little strange for kid me) were my favourites, and by the age of 6 or 7 I was pretty much a pro.
– The time that I learned the upside down Koopa shell on stairs in Super Mario Bros. to gain tons of lives trick. I felt like a god.
– I don’t know how many hours I spent pinching Mario’s face on the Super Mario 64 title screen. Also climbing up hills and sliding down them. So fun.
– My dad was a gamer, and he seemed pretty good at most games when I was growing up. When Super Mario Sunshine came out, I actually had to help him complete a lot of the levels. That felt pretty cool.
– I ended up really good at Mario Kart. In a big media-only prerelease tournament for Mario Kart 8, I ended up in 2nd out of 32 very good players. That last match, I was in first until the last turn when a trio of red shells came towards me. That stunk, but second is still pretty great. Now, I have friends that have trained for 100+ hours that still rarely beat me. That feels good.
– Completing Super Mario 3D world with three friends is one of the best times I’ve ever had playing a video game. We’d play once a week, for a few hours at a time, and always try to get all three stars in each level. It was probably the thing I most looked forward to each and every week
– For some reason when I was a kid, I loved Mario Is Missing. It was pretty tough for me as I was so young, but I was pretty addicted to it until I finished it. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that Mario Is Missing was not a well received game. Haters gonna hate.
I also just realized that I’ve bought the Mario Amiibo seven times between the different versions. That’s how much I love the guy. I love Luigi too, but they’ve only released two Luigi Amiibo thus far.
Did our memories bring back some of your own? What we they? We want to know!