So I’m watching this retrospective on Super Mario World, from a youtuber called The Gaming Historian. It’s a good watch, and you should watch it, but I’m not here to advertise it.
At 11:53 in the video, he begins to talk about how Mario games are about freedom. If you want to speed through the levels without picking up coins or powerups, you could. If you want to take your time and explore, you could.
And that got me to thinking about the 1980s, when I was a kid. I remember being drawn to it, and really connecting to it. It’s only now that I’m piecing the psychology together. My dad is a bit of a control freak. He’d rather something be accomplished poorly, and with less benefits, as long as he’s the one in control of other people doing the task.
In the 1980s we only had 1 TV. It’s not like now, where they give away TVs for sneezing in public, and everybody has 847 TV’s throughout their house. We had ONE tv, and the whole family had to share. Which meant when I played video games, usually mom and dad and my sisters would watch. Sometimes my sisters would play too, but mostly me.
I have vivid memories of me playing the game, and my dad wanting me to go down the pipe in 1-1. I instead got the hidden 1-up, but in doing so I passed the pipe. My dad was furious. I tried telling him “If I went down the pipe, I’d get like 15 coins. Coins are only good for collecting 100 of them, to get the 1-up. I skipped the coins to get the 1-up directly!”
And he’s yelling “BUT NOW YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE TURTLE AND THE GOOMBAS!!! THE PIPE WOULD HAVE LET YOU SKIP IT!!!”
With me being 5 years old, I was getting very upset at being yelled at. Then my mom stepped in and started yelling at my dad. “IT’S JUST A DAMN GAME (his name)!!! LET HIM PLAY THE GAME HOWEVER HE WANTS!!! IT DOESN’T EVEN AFFECT YOU!!!”
Which made me really happy. I was free to get the 1-up anytime I wanted. I could search the stages for secrets. My friends would come over and during 1-2 they’d say “No no, jump OVER the top, you can run past the whole stage, and there’s a secret!” and so I did. My dad was yelling “NO! YOU GOTTA GO INTO THE PIPE!!! THAT’S HOW THE STAGE ENDS!!!” and my mom again would step in “IT’S A DAMN VIDEO GAME!!! YOU LET THEM PLAY HOW THEY WANT!!!”
And my friend later was like “Your dad is weird…”
Now, you can see the pattern I have with my dad. I try to do MY stuff, and he insists on getting his way. So when I was younger, that’s just how it was.
As we moved into the 90s though, we got a second TV. My mom left my dad for being a control freak, and she wasn’t in a place to financially support me. So I lived with my dad alone. My only time being NOT controlled is when I went into the other room and played video games. He would watch sports on his main TV. I would play Super Mario Bros on the second TV.
Suddenly I’m in a world where nobody is telling me where to go, or what to do. I can go as slow or as fast as I want. I can go down pipes, and explore underwater and jump on goombas.
Today it all sounds very very tame by comparison, and I’m not sure kids today would understand the concept of that eye opening experience. I liken it to being similar to when a teenager gets their first car. It’s a whole new set of freedom.
And all of this flashed before my eyes just now, watching The Gaming Historian talk about Super Mario World. Yes, I realize the game I was playing was the ORIGINAL Super Mario Bros, but they showed that game on screen for a few moments as a way to compare Super Mario World to the origins of the series. And just from a brief shot, I was transported back to the 1980s on that ugly red carpet we had before the fire. In front of that massive TV that would best be described as furniture, which would have been a 2 man lift if someone wanted to move it. Sitting there in what was probably pajamas or sweatpants. And getting yelled at because I got a 1-up instead of an underground secret to get 10 coins.
And just piecing it all together now as an adult.
Mario for me isn’t Charles Martinet. Mario for me isn’t about the story, or the graphics, or even to some extent about the games themselves. It’s always been an outlet of freedom. Even when life is at it’s worst, I can play Super Mario Bros, and be transported to a place where nobody can tell me no. Nobody can have control over who I am. I can explore as freely as I want. I can choose my own path, even though in the real world you’re always getting told what to do, where to go, and when to be there. You always had school. You always have work. You always had parents. You always had teachers. You always have a boss. I mean, I guess you could be an independent contractor, or the owner of your own business…but then you have customers who tell you what to do, and where to go. You’re ALWAYS on someone elses time. Except in the mushroom kingdom. And I guess it also explains why I cried the first time I saw “Jump Up Superstar” a few years ago. I remember feeling in the moment of playing it, that it was a celebration of 30 years of gaming that came before it. It was like it was a celebration of MY life in way too. Most people in my life see me as this unemotional guy who just shows up to work, does a job, and makes sure no problems happen. Just a steady reliable guy. And maybe those people would be very very confused at me crying over Jump Up Superstar. But that scene in Mario Odyssey is strangely the most emotional I’ve ever felt in a video game.
I can only think of one other time in video games that got me emotional, and that was Mother 3 when the mom dies, and Flint has to deal with the loss of his wife. THAT got me, but at least people would understand that. Jump Up Superstar is just a woman in red dress singing about letting your cares fade away, as they show video game references to the history of Super Mario Bros. I remember not being able to understand why I was crying at that. Now I understand it was more about reconnecting with your first ever freedom in life. I think I was about 35 when I played that? But it was bringing me right back to my childhood.
It’s just strange that a 10 second clip, inside a retrospective which is 1 hour and 10 minutes long, made me instantly throw myself into a rabbit hole of realization. Much of which I started piecing together as I typed THIS message.
This message initially was very short, and lighthearted in a fun way. Then I started exploring what I was actually saying. And inside my game room, I swear at LEAST 50% of the stuff is Mario themed in some way. I was just at 5-Below a week ago, and picked up 3 of these little light up characters. I got the mushroom, the goomba, and the fireflower. Apparently I’m missing the star.
And now I don’t even know how to wrap up this post, because it was never supposed to be this deep to begin with. This has been more like therapy with myself, in figuring myself out…and you’re all just here watching me descend into madness as I become gradually more and more obsessed with Nintendo, and grapple with the moral ramifications of my fandom of 80s/90s WWF wrestling.
But that’s a topic for a different day.
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Original Super Mario Bros was a lesson in design. It had almost flawless physics in what it attempted to achieve, not made to be realistic but primarily to feel fun, when most platformers were constant speed, fixed jump pattern.
You could learn how it works in seconds. The first level was made so you discovered the goomba stomp by accident. Shelled enemies behave the same. Enemies that do different things have visual cues to hint at it. When you can’t jump on something, it’s visually obvious because it’s pointy. Coins or pipes will never lead you into a trap. There is no dead-end.
They’re all pretty simple rules, but so many games from the era failed at tfinding theirs (and some after too). Mario is designed from the beginning to be fair to the player, even when it cranks up the difficulty, and that’s what makes the series so great to me.
Well, except SMB2 JP/Lost Levels. That one was a mistake.
Lost levels is the shit. My wife can beat every one. I struggle pretty bad. Why don’t you like it?
Precisely because they wanted to make it harder the bad way IMO, by not following the rules.
Mushrooms are good? Not anymore, this one wants you dead. Found a warp zone? Ah ah, it brings you back to world 1, unless you jump in that convenient pit and lose a life. Lots of cheap shots in that game.
I’m also not a fan of the super powered screen that sends you off screen and has you trying to guess where you’re falling back with scrolling and timing.
Kaizo levels. That’s what they’re called now in rom hacks. And SMB2(JP) was the inspiration for it.
There’s a reason Howard Lincoln played it, and IMMEDIATELY said no. Thats why we got Doki Doki Mario 2.
I’ve heard rumors that Howard Lincoln even contacted Nintendo of Japan, and inquired to see if Shigeru Miyamoto was feeling depressed when he made that game. You know, out of concern that THIS wasn’t a commercial release, but rather a cry for help. But I’ve never found credible confirmation of that.
Yeah, well I tend to be a SMB-style purist. They returned to those design rules with SMB3, and for all Mario games since, even Wonder despite the general weirdness, and that’s what I enjoy. I know what Kaizo looks like, and it’s definitely not for me.
I do judge Super Mario Maker (2) courses kind of harshly. When I give a thumb up to something it’s usually very much classic design (or trying to be).
Now, to be fair, EVERYONE knows that SMB2 USA is just a reskinned doki doki panic. What most people DON’T know, is that doki doki panic was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto, using the creative ideas he WANTED to put in SMB2, before it was decided that SMB2 would be basically an extention of SMB1.
So in that sense, doki doki panic was ALWAYS creatively what Miyamoto envisioned for SMB2.
So I consider it a valid take on the Mario series. It even spawned SEVERAL enemies that are with us to this day.
Shy Guys are just as valid of an enemy as goombas. Fight me!
…except don’t actually fight me. We’re all getting older, and back problems are a bitch! But 35 years ago? Oh you better BELIEVE 6 year old me would fight you for disrespecting Mario, son!
Now will you kindly pass the 4pm dinner specials? I need a cane…WHAT?
I can’t fight you over SMB2 USA canonicity anyway because I can’t imagine Mario without bob-ombs.
Don’t you love it when you start talking about a topic you find interesting as a post only to start to realize this is less about the topic but how you are processing personally traumatic events or similar and the epiphany only started because of it? It is a weird feeling.
Right??? It started off as a fun, short message about how much I’ve loved the freedom of Mario games.
Then as I was typing, my brain was like “Actually, hold on. It’s time to take the red pill…”
And then that long winded deep dive into my childhood exploded from my brain, and memories were flooding back, and my fingers were racing to keep up. I typed that whole thing freestyle in about 2 minutes.
This is wholesome in a way. I’m sorry you had to deal with this. But I’m glad you reconnected with your freedom in an emotional way.
There is no madness here, just your own way of dealing with the past. Just know that whatever Nintendo does, the Mario games never change. New games can be good or they could suck, who cares. The original super Mario bros. will always be what it has always been for you.
I get it. As someone who also grew up with a controlling father, can I kindly suggest talking to a therapist (that is, if you haven’t already)? Even if it’s a financial stretch, it’s worthwhile. Parents like that cast a large shadow and it’s easy to fall into unhelpful rhythms with yourself and others in your life.
Hey listen thanks for the write-up
I read every word up until the final summary regarding gaming historian which I just skimmed
Yeah me personally I never had that sense of freedom with Mario games specifically…
I think my introduction to this feeling was Oblivion. It was the first game I had on Xbox 360
And I couldn’t get one at lunch but my dad paid somebody $100 extra and I was able to get a console eventually.
That unfettered sense of freedom was so present for me when I played Oblivion. My first place it was annoyed then as a red guard and eventually of course Khajit stealth archer.
You have coin!!! Because KHAJIT has wares…
Damned powerful insight. I’m sure video games are much the same for many kids. It explains why they want to play them so often. They want to control the situation they’re in. I hadn’t thought of it that way before as my own connection with gaming started at Super Mario Bros on the NES in ‘85. My parents were (and still are) completely supportive but it still attracted me as a 4yr old too. I still like escaping and relaxing to video games and playing the, now retro, systems from my youth. Thanks for putting how you’re feeling about it into words. I can’t even remember what the OPs original post was about because yours is the highlight. Well done. Have a great holiday season!
