Evolution of Mario: a Staple for Classic and Modern Graphics
The evolution of Mario dates back to the early 80s, in which Mario played a minor character. Over time, Mario had drastic changes, not only in appearance but also in the graphics department. Over the evolution of the game franchise, advancements in technology and graphics illustrated great changes from a 2D platform to a 3D platform. While initially having a minor role in an arcade game, Mario grew to become the best-selling video game franchise of all time.
During his creation, there were many limitations on pixelated images and Mario’s physical appearance is a result of that. Mario was drawn having a mustache and a hat because, during that time, those features were easier to make compared to giving him realistic hair or a mouth. His overalls were also created in order to more easily make out the swinging of his arms while walking or running. His entire appearance was made based on the limited graphical technology during that time.
Mario was first featured as a carpenter in 1981’s Donkey Kong. This game, created by young Japanese computer engineer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo, featured the protagonist, then named “Jumpman”, on a quest to rescue his girlfriend from the ape Donkey Kong. This game sparked the growth in popularity of Mario and led to him to later become the star in his own video game franchise. Not only was this game a huge commercial and critical success, but it has also been coined with being one of the games that brought us out of video game market crash of the ’80s and became one of the most popular arcade games of all time. It was also the first platform game to feature jumping. Donkey Kong changed the culture around video games, being the first game where engineers and developers focused on having a narrative and playfulness. This game had a substantial story along with a sense of humor, a foreign concept for games during this time. For example, the facial expressions made by Donkey Kong and the cries of help from the damsel in distress create a form of entertainment and the story-like game meant for the spectators, not the player.
After Donkey Kong, Mario transitioned from having a minor role to being the star in 1983’s Mario Bros. (arcade). This was the first game that featured Mario as the star and also was the first to introduce Mario’s brother, Luigi. In 1985, Super Mario Bros defined Mario and built him up to the video game superstar he is today. This game featured a side-scrolling platform, involving a side-view camera angle and the ability for characters to move left or right on the screen. While not the first game of this form, Super Mario Bros became the archetype for many technologically-similar games to follow. For example, Metroid, debuted in 1986, followed in Super Mario Bros footsteps by also incorporating a 2D side-scrolling game. This game was also considered by ING to have aided in resurrecting the video game market crash of the 1980s.
Along with becoming a huge success in the video game market industry, Super Mario Bros also recently sparked an interest for AI researchers. AI researchers were drawn to the game’s vast popularity and influence. Along with that, AI researchers found the game appealing for its perfect balance between simplicity and complexity, which you know if you’ve ever played a Mario game before. In their research, they developed an algorithm using computer software to play the game flawlessly as a way of having the machine learn how video games work. The way that AI can be used in simple, but legendary games like Mario set an interesting question of how AI can become tangled up with video games and how far this research can go and whether algorithms can be generalized to video games with similar strategies. Currently, the AI is limited to working with 2D platformers, but as machine technology advances, there is a possibility of machine learning being carried over to 3D games as well.
Throughout the ’90s, greater development in the Mario game franchise created well-known console games like Super Mario Kart and Mario Party. Both games were very well-received and regarded as one of the best console video games of all time. Along with that, a pivotal movement in video game history was marked by the release of Super Mario 64 in 1996. This was the first Mario game to be set in a 3D environment and gave the player more control over what Mario could do. In this game, Mario could swim, jump, walk, run, crawl, and even talk compared to the original only jumping and running actions. This video game was also the first to attempt a complex 3D platformer, in which an external adjustable camera was used. This was the first time the camera moved independently from the character. The game had an interactive camera system, in which the player was responsible for adjusting in order to see different viewpoints of the game’s world. This form of visual technology was standardized and popularized for many later games. The success of the first 3D platformer game with an interactive camera system sparked the inventions of many similar games, like Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Donkey Kong 64, and Banjo-Kazooie, all of which followed the path in the open-world platform genre.
The 2000s gave way to many successful Mario games that were a childhood marker for many kids from this generation. The 2000s resulted in more experimentation between 2D and 3D graphics. In 2006, New Super Mario Bros came out on the Nintendo DS and became the best-selling Nintendo DS game of all time. In this game, Nintendo returned back to the original 2D world. In the later 2000s, Mario games shifted platforms from console to Wii. In 2007, Super Mario Galaxy was released on Wii and a new trend for the later Mario games. The change in console added a new dynamic to playing the game, with a Wii remote and a Nunchuk. This marked a stark change from the earlier Mario games. Continuing through the 2000s, many other successful Mario games on Wii followed, like Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros.
In 2011, Super Mario 3D Land was released on Nintendo 3DS. This was a very interesting game that contained elements of 2D and 3D platforming. In this game, Nintendo brought back elements from the classic 2D Mario games, like time-limits, flagpoles, and linear and relatively short stages. The graphics in this game were also exceptional, with great attention to detail. It was the first 3D Mario game where light and shadows were fully taken into account. Along with that, texture is used with lots of detail, with close attention given to how each texture interacts with different surfaces. The clean visuals and spectacular artwork make the game come alive and vibrant for the player. This game is very interesting because unlike New Super Mario Bros, they incorporate 2D level design into a 3D Mario game rather than making a 2D Mario game with 3D graphics. It is also known for being the fastest selling Mario handheld game in history. The 2000s were a marker for many great successes in the Mario game franchises and played well with 2D and 3D graphics.
Mario not only managed to be a success over three decades but also managed to become increasingly more popular over time through changing tastes and technology. Its first game, Donkey Kong, was a great success and is even considered to turn around the terrible market crash of 1983. Ever since then, Mario has been featured in over 200 video games and has managed to keep up with the times and develop successfully through the technological advances. There are many factors that allowed Mario to become the continuing success that it is today, from its charming characters to its perfect level of difficulty. Mario games do a spectacular job of keeping players motivated to keep playing, through different obstacles and levels of increasing difficulty. Along with the good design for difficulty, Mario games are also known for their unmatched level of polish. As a QA tester working at Nintendo, their base salary ranges from $17-$19 an hour. Many reviewers of the job were happy with the work environment and the types of people around them but complained about the long hours of work. This is not very surprising, as Nintendo works hard to make sure to eliminate any game-breaking bugs or graphical glitches after the release of every game. While no game is perfect, Nintendo goes the extra mile to give players a fully functioning bug-free experience. The Mario game franchise has grown in popularity greatly since its initial release and it seems that this pattern will continue on as well.
Sources:
https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/14/16303016/metroid-nintendo-influence-legacy
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-vs-super-mario-3d-world
https://web.stanford.edu/group/htgg/sts145papers/mtong_2001_2.pdf
https://www.jotform.com/blog/the-evolution-of-mario/
https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/evolution-super-mario-bros-decades-article-1.2790113
http://tonsoffacts.com/30-fun-interesting-facts-mario/
https://games.avclub.com/super-mario-64-introduced-the-camera-as-a-friend-and-fo-1798250469
https://www.gamecrate.com/look-history-and-legacy-mario/18441