WaPo looks at Mario Bros. with doe eyes
by Christopher Grant 
{ Aug 8th 2006 at 8:00AM }
Sure, it's not hard hitting investigative journalism looking into whether or not Mario is a licensed plumbing contractor, but this puff piece on Nintendo's mascots in Sunday's Washington Post is still far more palatable than another misguided mainstream op/eds detailing the vagaries of those darned video games.You'll recognize all sort of familiar names like Wedbush Morgan's omnipresent analyst Michael Pachter, EGM's footwear-homophonous editor Dan Hsu, and the now mythical Seattle landlord Mario is purportedly named after. Alright, so there's really not much here for the Joystiq reader to enjoy, but we can all admire how effortlessly Nintendo seems to get positive mainstream press; full page articles in major metropolitan papers of record about how great your franchise characters are sure ain't bad for business.
[Via Evil Avatar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
T-Bag @ Aug 8th 2006 8:15AM
I'm sorry? I was distracted by the mate1 ad.
Good job Nintendo?
32_Footsteps @ Aug 8th 2006 9:31AM
I wonder how long it will be until someone posts here with the standard "I'm a teenager and thus have to pretend to hate Mario" phase that I've seen most teen gamers go through (and sadly, I did this too back in the day).
You know what's funny? For all the talk of Mario oversaturation, there's only 10 classic platformers starring Mario, only two of which (New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Sunshine) that have come out in the last five years. Maybe there is some truth to the idea that Mario as a brand has been a bit too diluted - which would partly explain why people are so thrilled with New Super Mario Bros. and are so eagerly awaiting Super Mario Galaxy.
Namely, they're reminding us why Mario became such an icon in the first place.
someone @ Aug 8th 2006 9:56AM
Mario wasn't named after a Seattle landlord. The landlord was from New York (or possibly New Jersey), but definitely not Seattle.
T-Bag @ Aug 8th 2006 10:30AM
Who's bagging on Mario? I said good job didn't I? I wasn't being sarcastic in the least, so please, next time don't jump to conclusions so quickly.
32_Footsteps @ Aug 8th 2006 10:36AM
T-Bag, I didn't accuse you of anything. I just wondered how long it would be until someone would come up and go on an anti-Mario rant.
J B Cougar @ Aug 8th 2006 11:27AM
Guys, chill out. Have a fire flower or two, I'll bring the Nintendo Mario/Zelda cereal and we'll have a party. As far as jumping to conclusions is concerned, I think they have a special mat for that now, don't they?
MetaHuman @ Aug 8th 2006 11:28AM
Mario's the Superman of videogames. He ain't always the most popular (next to characters like Link) like Superman to Batman, he might be in the most cheesy situations compared to more mainstream videogame characters, newer or more recent gamer generations will probably not understand his significance for being exactly what he is as a character, but he's always had a huge following and he's clearly always got a future.
Anyways, another question...
What do people think that 2 of the 8 Drawn Together houseguests are inspired by Nintendo, with one of them representing the medium of videogames as a whole?
To be honest I think Mario's a little glad that he doesn't have the sole spotlight. :P
32_Footsteps @ Aug 8th 2006 11:42AM
Wait, Drawn Together is still on the air? I suppose a network that keeps showing the same damn Ron White comedy special once every other week like clockwork doesn't exactly have a ton of programming to replace it with.
Judd @ Aug 8th 2006 1:16PM
#7 Wait I'm confused. I know that Xandir is supposed to be Link, and Ling-Ling is supposed to be Pikachu, but who represents video games as a whole?
Anyway back to the article, I thought this was the truest line.
"The game world, like other entertainment media, is an industry built on brand loyalty -- there are 'Legend of Zelda' people, 'Final Fantasy' people, 'Madden NFL' people, 'Halo' people, 'Grand Theft Auto' people and the folks who sweat and swear and live by 'World of Warcraft.'
Me I'm a Xandir person, I mean Legend of Zelda person.
don't hate me for my opinion @ Aug 8th 2006 1:38PM
Mario is tired and should be retired.
cringer8 @ Aug 8th 2006 2:05PM
I think the most important thing we should get out of this is the fact that Nintendo is in the Washington Post.
This sounds like Reggie's doing.
Hey Joystiq, when are you going to sit down with him again? I guess anytime after Aug. 23rd would be a good idea.
MetaHuman @ Aug 8th 2006 3:12PM
JUDD:
Xandir [Link] represents the field of videogames in the world of the show. Therefore Link is the inferable representative of videogames, spoofing really any aspect of videogames mentioned.
Like Spanky Ham represents Flash animaiton, Ling-Ling represents Anime, Cap Hero represents the successful DC Animated Universe [Bruce Timm's style] and Tootie represents black and white moves from the 30s and such.
The part of the article you replied to I agree with. However, I also wish there was a category for the people who had an uncategorical preference, such as myself. :P