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To be perfectly honest, you're probably not prepared for how amazing tomorrow, October 9 is going to be. Reason being, we're launching our interactive Museum of Mario feature. More on that tomorrow, but just know that the Museum is a piece we've been working on for months, and it's easily one of the most amazing projects you'll see all year.
But that's tomorrow. Today, to celebrate the eve of the Museum of Mario, we gathered a ton of developers, Nintendo folks past and present, and IGN editors to talk about their fondest memories of Nintendo's plucky little mascot. And that, dear reader, is where you come in.
Tweet at @IGN using #MarioMemories and #HTML5Hub, and share your fondest Mario memories with us for a chance to win a ton of great prizes, including Intel Developer Ultrabooks and copies of Nintendo's best 3DS and Wii U games. We'll gather the best responses, round them up in a feature later on this week, and choose the winners from there. Check out this page for more details.
And without further adieu, here are our fondest Mario memories.
Cliff Bleszinski, Co-Creator of Unreal and Gears of War
I have always loved videogames from the first time I saw the Atari 2600 and Space Invaders. However, I, much like most of the world, fell out of love with them briefly after the big video game crash in the 80's. It was when I saw the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Mario Bros in particular that that love was re-ignited. I couldn't believe the graphical fidelity of the NES and the scrolling screens on Mario as well as the fantastic design of the entire experience. (A whole generation of mothers were tortured with the music whereas a generation of gamers wax nostalgic about it.) I eventually got so good at the game that I was able to max out the scoreboard at 9,999,950 and I took a Polaroid (the original Instagram!) and mailed it to Nintendo who then printed my name in the Nintendo Fun Club and then eventually in the very first issue of Nintendo Power.
I have that page framed in my home and I'm still proud of it to this day!
Greg Miller, IGN Host and Producer
I don't play games over and over again. Ever. It's just not my thing. However, Super Mario World is one of those rare exceptions. I was a SEGA kid. I made the mistake early of getting hooked up with a Master System, and I never looked back. But in one of those sticky Chicago summers, I found myself in Matt Noel's basement on a daily basis playing Super Mario World. Over and over again.
When I'd go home, I'd think about Mario's cape. When I'd close my eyes, I'd see question mark blocks. The breakdown was inevitable, and one day I packed up some SEGA junk, headed to FuncoLand, and came back with an SNES and Mario.
Here's where my Mario memory actually begins. See, I'd play Super Mario World over and over again, but I did so listening to Weezer's Pinkerton album over and over again in the comfort of my home. 'Pink Triangle,' another 1-UP. 'Tired of Sex,' Mario leaping across treetops. 'Across the Sea,' that beautiful hub world. It was a peanut butter and jelly combination the likes of which my gaming days had never seen.
To this day, I can't play Super Mario World or listen to Pinkerton without thinking back to that yellowing, used SNES that captivated me with a little Italian plumber.
Steve Gaynor, Co-Founder of The Fullbright Company
My fondest memory of the Mario series centers on SMB2, which I know is a less popular pick than SMB3, Mario World, etc. But this is less about the game, and more about my mom.
When I was little, like 5 or 6 years old, I'd play Super Mario Bros. (the first one) on the NES while my mom sat in a recliner in the room with me and would do sewing or cross-stitch. And, like little kids do, I'd get to a part with a tricky jump and say 'Mom, watch me do this part!!' and then proudly nail the jump. Of course looking back on it I'm fully aware she would probably just continue sewing without looking up, then say 'Nice work, honey.' But at the time, well, kids aren't so perceptive.
Anyway, when Super Mario 2 came out it wasn't near my birthday or anything, but I wanted the game so bad, and all I had to go on was the coverage in Nintendo Power Magazine. I was going bonkers over it, reading and re-reading the SMB2 articles, drawing pictures of the maps with colored pencil in my notebooks, talking about it all the time while out with my mom at the grocery store, playing SMB1 but imagining it was 2, etc. After weeks (months?) of this, I came home from school one day, and when I walked in the front door my mom said, 'Hey, could you show me that one part in Super Mario again?' Excitedly, I ran upstairs-- mom actually wanted to see me be good at Mario!-- plopped down, and turned on the NES... and to my shock, amazement and wonder, what shows up on the TV screen isn't the familiar Super Mario Bros. logo, but instead the title image for Super Mario Bros 2. I couldn't believe it. I never saw it coming. As noted: kids, not so perceptive.
So, that's stuck with me for something like 25 years. Sometimes a surprise like that can really stick with you... and I think it's those kinds of memories that lead to becoming a lifelong gamer.
Samuel Claiborn, IGN Executive Editor
On a wintery day in 1986 I played Super Mario Bros. for the first time, along with Excitebike, at a cousin's house over winter break. I remember moving very slowly, unaware of the run button. I was shocked when a flower appeared instead of a mushroom, but I didn't know I could throw fireballs. I had never heard of 'Nintendo,' I didn't know how to hold the controller, and I probably talked about the experience every day for the next year. To put a stop to that, I received an NES for Christmas in 1987. It was my family's first video game system, and my grandfather, an engineer, was enlisted to navigate wires and ports to hook it up. That's the final memory I have of my pre-NES life. After that, everything changed. Warp zones, 'turtle tipping' for infinite lives, and sequels were the subject of every conversation with anyone my age. 'Nintendo' and 'Mario' were synonymous with 'video games,' but Super Mario Bros. was the only video game that mattered. And then, one summery day in August of 1988, someone brought a magazine to school with Super Mario Bros. 2 on the cover.
Perrin Kaplan, Former VP of Marketing and Corporate Affairs for Nintendo of America Inc.
I have so many memories of life with Mario. To many of us he was half digital and half real human. He was respected by every single employee. I think the most amazing Mario moment was the day we launched Super Mario 64. It was the first time any video game could be played 90 degrees and it was incredible to watch him fly up into the air. We knew we were onto another industry first. The innovation at that time was astounding.
Mitch Dyer, IGN Associate Editor
When Nintendo 64 launched, my best friend's mom rented the console for a weekend. We played Mario 64 from dusk 'til dawn every day, got yelled at when the parents woke up, and got back to it after half-hearted 7am naps. I remember, more than anything, loving the variables and discovery in replaying levels. Exploration didn't exist like this in other games, never mind having to think differently to accomplish new goals. Its mission design was as three-dimensional as its brilliant, sprawling levels, and it was instantly clear to our per-adolescent minds that nothing we played would ever be the same from here on out. Mario 64 just barely makes my top five favorite Mario games list, but it's easily the one that resonated with me most, and proved that the franchise wasn't going anywhere.
Ryan Payton, Designer at Camouflaj
Seeing Super Mario Bros. footage used as PSAs inside Japanese commuter trains is my most treasured encounter with the series. Without any fanfare or justification, it was encouraging to see a seminal video game included in the country's cultural zeitgeist like that, and made me long for a day when video games get the same treatment in the United States.
Jared Petty, IGN Associate Editor
My sixth birthday party was held at the Carnival of misspent American childhoods, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater. I can still hear the skeeballs rolling up the ramps behind me as I approached the strange game cabinet, its matte gray finish mutely contrasted against the garish arcade machines surrounding it. Etched where the side art should have been was a single stylized logo: 'Nintendo.' The word meant nothing to me.
I dropped a quarter in the slot and my life changed forever.
Someone had created a new reality, crammed it inside the boundaries of a television screen, and given me the means to explore it through a simple medium of control. Super Mario Brothers is a crowning achievement of human creativity, a pure and whimsical expression of invention. It is a bookmark in history cataloging the day when people first created their own interactive realities. Thirty years later, we still haven't fulfilled the potential Super Mario's grand design challenged us to achieve.
Henk Rogers, Managing Director of The Tetris Company
I made a rule for my sister's kids that they would have to get their own stars in Super Mario. One day I found the cartridge with all of the saved games played to the end. I almost erased them thinking it was her boyfriend trying to prove his Mario prowess. Turned out it was his cartridge not mine.
Brendan Graeber, IGN Associate Editor
The Mario franchise has given me many fond memories over the years, and I find that some of the earliest are the ones that stick with me the most. The game was Super Mario Bros 3, and I had a long way to go to master hand-eye coordination. I was determined to show my mom that I could be just as good playing Mario as my older sister was, and my mom never stopped encouraging me to keep trying on that one tough level (and look what I do for a living now!). Once I could race through levels like a pro, I couldn't wait to teach my mom how to play as well - although I was always a bit late on giving out the lifesaving tips ('oh you were supposed to jump over that pit'). I'm still wary to tease her on her Mario platforming skills, as the threat remains of a very incriminating photo of a 4 year old boy who was too absorbed in a Mario game to get dressed.
Jim Merrick, Former Technical Director of Nintendo of America
I came to think of Mario as a colleague, not in the facilities management sense as a plumber, but as the guy who brought to life so many of Nintendo's new products and technologies. When we talked about stereoscopic scanning LED arrays in Virtual Boy, Peer's eyes glazed over until he saw Mario playing tennis; when we waxed poetic about tri-linear MIP map interpolation and Non-Uniform Rational B-spline Surfaces (NURBS) in the Reality Engine, Matt nodded his head appropriately, but he didn't get it until Mario stood in Super Mario 64 and scratched his 3D butt. Nothing really launched at Nintendo without Mario's approval, he is as much a part of the executive team as much as anyone.
That said, probably thing I most remember about Mario--that I really can't get out of my head no matter how hard I try--is his voice (played by Charles Martinet): 'Itsa me, Mario!' 'Hoo Hoo! 'ere we go!'
Ryan McCaffrey, IGN Executive Editor
Like many people in my generation, the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES was my introduction to video games. I'll never forget it, of course, but it was Super Mario Bros. 3 that will forever be held nearest and dearest to my heart. Yes, I fell hook, line, and sinker for the Fred Savage-powered marketing magic of The Wizard. After that my kid-tastic hype levels went through the roof, and so one day when my mother bought the game for me at K-Mart - something she never did unless it was under the pseudonym 'Santa Claus' - it made it all the more special for me. And then, of course, Miyamoto's opus proved to be the greatest game I'd played in my entire life up to that point. Tanooki suit, Frog suit, Boot suit! It took everything about the original SMB and elevated it to a level I could've never imagined. It still makes me happy anytime I see (or even hear) it.
Keiji Inafune, Creator of Mega Man and Mighty No. 9
If any creator has not played Mario, then they're probably not a good creator. That's something I can say with 100 percent confidence. Mario is, for game creators, the development bible. There are so many hints about good design, about cute characters, about innovation in using an existing gameplay system. It's something you have to constantly look at and examine and take hints from as a game creator. It's the anchor that grounds almost all games. I have total respect for Miyamoto, to the point where... It's very strange that there are national cultural treasures - they're traditionally sportsmen. I think it's very strange that somebody as famous as Miyamoto hasn't been designated one of those people. He's talked about in all different countries. Lots of people know him. He's pushed forward Japanese culture and interest in Japan all over the world. He's somebody that deserves everyone's ultimate respect, and a lot of that is due to being able to create Mario. And Super Mario Bros. 3, of course, within that, was a fantastic game.
Robin Mihara, 3rd Place Winner of the Nintendo World Championship
I distinctly remember being newly popular when I was the one kid on the block with Super Mario Bros. I also remember those kids who were at my home waiting to play Luigi. They would leave and play outside when it was my turn to go because I would never die. Who would have thought that me being good at Mario would bring me my first taste of loneliness.
Justin Davis, IGN Executive Editor
I've been a Mario fan my entire life - ever since 5-year-old me discovered the Warp Zone in the original Super Mario Brothers and I realized that games could have secrets. But it was playing Super Mario 64, in all its 3D glory, that changed the direction of my entire life.
I ran around outside of the castle for literally hours, because I didn't know I was supposed to jump through the Bob-omb painting to access World 1. I wasn't making any progress. I was criss-crossing the same small spaces. But it didn't matter. The 3D was so incredible and felt so freeing. I had never played anything like it. The moment I found the secret slide hiding behind an unassuming stain glass window sealed it. I knew I had to be involved in the video game industry when I grew up. Just a few short years later I started writing for Nintendo fansites. Then I started getting paid to write for bigger sites. Eventually I ended up here at IGN. I genuinely believe that Super Mario 64's perfect, magical opening moments set the course for the rest of my professional life to date.
Yoshihiko Maekawa, Producer of Mario & Luigi: Dream Team
I don't know if [Super Mario Bros 3] was a direct influence on how I was thinking about game developer in general, but I can say that it did have a specific impact on one of the very early planning meetings that we were holding when we were talking about what sort of RPG we would create for a Mario world. We'd been talking back and forth, and none of us were coming up with any really good ideas. The whole time through, though, we were playing the action Mario games, because we wanted to get a feel for it and generate some ideas. And we'd gotten so tired of playing those games over and over again that we got to a point where we said, 'You know what? Maybe we should play two-player together for a while.' It was that moment, when we saw Mario and Luigi working together in the game, that we thought, 'This would be a really good are to focus on in creating this RPG series.' So that might have been the biggest influence here.
Jose Otero, IGN Associate Editor
She probably didn't realize it at first, but my Mom changed my life forever when she brought an NES and Super Mario Bros. into our home. I would try so hard to show her I was good at video games, and I thanked her all the time for that gift. Honestly, Mario changed the way I looked at the world. And, every few years, his new Nintendo adventures would offer a glimpse into the potential of great game design.
Marc Nix, IGN Database Manager
Sometimes it's easiest to say that your favorite Mario is the one you're playing right now, because Nintendo has never made a bad one. Still, my tastes in Mario games tend to lean towards the weirder ones. Nobody was more excited than me when Super Mario Advanced was announced to be a return to Super Mario 2's Subcon (too bad it was a remake and we still haven't seen a sequel -- where's Wart in Super Mario 3D World?) And when I think of Mario adventures that are more than just a good time, but that really formed memories that stick with me throughout life, the one that comes to mind is Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. The first GB Mario Land was a disappointment on every level, and made me doubt the Game Boy's power to deliver much more than pale imitations of NES games and simplistic puzzlers. (In fact, it made me not buy a Game Boy for a long while, and I held out for years trying to afford enough batteries to buy a Lynx instead.) But 1992's Super Mario Land 2 opened my eyes to what was possible on even the most underpowered of gaming hardware when creative minds put their all into it. There was a whole Mario world to roam, filled with expressive characters and creative levels that constantly surprised. Between this game and Zelda: Link's Awakening (which came out a year later,) I formed a deep love for handheld game systems, and 20 years later, you'll still find my consoles collecting dust at home while I'm outside lounging with a portable game.
Akira Ohtani, Producer at Nintendo
One thing that really struck me when I was playing Super Mario Bros. 3 was the addition of the Tanuki Mario and Kuribo's Shoe. I loved how cute those elements were, and how easy they were to play with. I was working somewhere else at the time, but I'd always been interested in the action Mario games, and I really liked to see how the gameplay had evolved, from a game that was only about jumping and running to suddenly having new elements where you could hop into a shoe and not take damage or put on this furry suit. I felt like it really expanded the gameplay concepts in an interesting way.
Bob Fekete, IGN Associate Editor
I remember the first time I beat the original Super Mario Bros. My sister and I would play 2-player all the time (and since I was the younger sibling, I had to play as Luigi) and we would always compete to see who could go furthest before we lost our lives. I would always end up getting stuck on earlier levels like 7-2, but one time I cracked through that threshold and made it all the way to 8-4. I was not about to let this moment go, so I doubled down on my focus. Man, that last level gets crazy weird. I'll never forget the excitement we shared as I made my way through the dungeon, dodging fireballs and cheep-cheeps until I finally reached the Princess, who was NOT in another castle.
We celebrated for MINUTES on end!
Ted Price, President and CEO of Insomniac Games
Speaking on behalf of many long-time Insomniacs, our passion for creating platformers has been fueled by Mario. It's not just the constant innovation in the series or the rock-solid core mechanics. It's not just the make-you-smile-every-time humor or the mélange of wacky characters. It's not just the vibrant colors and whimsical worlds. It's a lot more.
Way back in the winter of 1996 when we were prototyping Spyro the Dragon I vividly remember the day we got Super Mario 64. We all huddled around the company N64 and watched as Brian Hastings our Chief Creative Officer put Mario through his paces. He was effortlessly flipping, sliding, circling, skidding, running, climbing. I think a collective light bulb lit up for all us as we saw the magic of a truly pick-up-and-play experience unfolding in front of us. That mustachioed little guy is still a source of inspiration for us at Insomniac almost 30 years after his birth.
Now that you've heard our memories, share your own! Tweet at @IGN using #MarioMemories and #HTML5Hub, and share your fondest Mario memories with us for a chance to win a ton of great prizes. We'll gather the best responses at 11:59 pm PST on October 15, 2013, round them up in a feature later on this week, and choose the winners from there.