Mario more recognizable in Canada than Prime Minister

59 Comments by Ross Miller Nov 13th 2007 4:25PM
Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Politics

We're not sure if it's a testament to Nintendo's popularity or yet another sign of voter apathy, but a Harris/Decima survey found that more Canadians can identify a photo of flagship character Mario than they could current Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose held that post since January of 2006. ~~(To be fair, that's less time than the Wii has been available in the territory.)~~

Of course, this Nintendo-commissioned survey just happens to coincide with the release of Mario Galaxy. We don't think the game company's Canadian branch will be receiving a Christmas card from Harper this year. Then again, if Canadian politicians are looking to cater to the much-coveted gamer demographic, perhaps they should lobby to undo this last-minute Rock Band delay.

[Thanks, Ninja-bot]

Tags: canada, mario, nintendo, politics, prime-minister, stephen-harper

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Donald: Nov 13th 2007; 4:27PM

Vote Mario in 2008!

And again in 2009!

... god, this country is screwed up politically...

Yuccadude: Nov 14th 2007; 12:34AM

Oh my God! Al Gore is president of Canada!!!

Bluebrake: Nov 13th 2007; 4:31PM

"(To be fair, that's less time than the Wii has been available in the territory.)"

Somebody needs a new calendar. Wii launched in November 2006.

Your Ad here 555-1923: Nov 13th 2007; 4:31PM

Lets see how many games have the Prime minister of Canada as a playable character: 0

I rest my case.

Bluebrake: Nov 13th 2007; 4:36PM

Damn, a Smash Brothers-type game featuring world leaders past and present would be just about the greatest thing ever.

danny. (fdf.): Nov 13th 2007; 4:41PM

John Adams for the win.

Clack: Nov 13th 2007; 4:45PM

"Damn, a Smash Brothers-type game featuring world leaders past and present would be just about the greatest thing ever."

Only if it was terribly violent and bloody. And after the fight, the 'winner' gets smashed to a bloody goo pile by a giant hammer with razor blades embedded in it.

samfish: Nov 13th 2007; 4:46PM

I'll school ass your asses with Amir Ahmad Muhammad Amin Didi.

(A cookie for whoever identifies what country he used to lead)

brandon_r87: Nov 13th 2007; 4:53PM

Amir Ahmad Muhammad Amin Didi was the president of the Maldives.

Wikipedia'd it for the cookie!

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME): Nov 13th 2007; 5:16PM

That idea is so brilliant. We should just make a crappy free flash version right now. I got dibs on Napoleon. And Nero's final smash is summoning his horse/senator/wife, and riding it into battle while he throws flaming Christians at you.

gonk: Nov 13th 2007; 5:35PM

gogo Time Lincoln! and teddy roosevelt!

and give FDR some psychic powers like professor X since they both used wheelchairs

gonk: Nov 13th 2007; 5:41PM

seriously someone make this game, it would sell like hotcakes

Count Noobula: Nov 13th 2007; 5:49PM

If he was selectable I would pick Ghandi in the next Smash Bros game.

Tango Charlie: Nov 13th 2007; 6:16PM

"Spitting Image" for the Amiga.

http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=990

Could use an update...

ThornedVenom: Nov 13th 2007; 10:10PM

I'd buy that if Bush was the training dummy. ;P

Ethan: Nov 13th 2007; 11:06PM

I don't think I've ever been so excited for a fighting game.

It'll have tag team so you can have a bushes vs clintons ultra-match. Ghandi might be a bit of a bother though. And the Dalai Lama is, of course, undefeatable.

Final Boss!

E. Campbell: Nov 13th 2007; 4:32PM

"To be fair, that's less time than the Wii has been available in the territory."

Do what now? Are they saying the Wii has been around in Canada since before January 2006? Damn Canadians! And here we had to wait until November of last year to get one! :-P

arrrgh: Nov 13th 2007; 4:34PM

We're alllll trying to forget about mr harper.

samfish: Nov 13th 2007; 4:36PM

Most Americans can identify Mario over George W. Bush, too.
...until you draw horns on him. THEN they recognize him immediately.

And I'm staying away when Joystiq eventually posts that liberal/conservative/moderate gaming preferences story. That one'll turn into a clusterfuck of epic proportions.

Brello: Nov 13th 2007; 5:06PM

Shh, don't tempt them!

LaughingTarget: Nov 13th 2007; 5:29PM

I was about to mention how folks outside the US like to make fun of Americans for not being politically aware.

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME): Nov 13th 2007; 4:38PM

Who the hell is that cartoon guy standing next to my dog Stephen Harper?

Your Ad here 555-1923: Nov 13th 2007; 4:40PM

The Prime Minister of Italy?

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME): Nov 13th 2007; 5:11PM

Hm, I czeched Wikipedia and you're totally right. I should pay more attention to foreign politics.

LaughingTarget: Nov 13th 2007; 5:31PM

Dang, he's so unpopular you had to go to the Czech Republic version to find him?

Mr Khan: Nov 13th 2007; 4:47PM

Harper hasn't really been around long, if he had been PM for the 20 years that Mario has been extremely recognizable, then it would be even

Really though, what has he done (good or bad) to really merit notice?

d-pad: Nov 14th 2007; 9:10AM

arrrgh,

Oh I see, because Canada has elected a Conservative government and has committed troops to Afghanistan (A Liberal decision by the way), Stephen Harper by default is the puppet of George Bush.

Get off my Joystiq you assclown.

Ethan: Nov 13th 2007; 4:52PM

Hopefully his think tanks will recommend that Mr Harper grows a moustache. I'd personally recommend that Canadians pay some bloody attention.

Negativecool: Nov 13th 2007; 4:55PM

Who's Canada?

kinshadow: Nov 13th 2007; 5:07PM

It's like the USA, but everything costs more.

I'm not sure, but it might also be a Bluray player.

rodan32: Nov 13th 2007; 5:59PM

America Jr, just to the north.

Jouten: Nov 13th 2007; 6:12PM

The United States of America's 51st state of the union...

hvnlysoldr: Nov 13th 2007; 7:02PM

He's the scapegoat. BLAME CANADA!

Anticrawl: Nov 13th 2007; 8:41PM

Canada are those people who live above the party in an apartment building. Sure the party isn't that great, but they are pissed that they weren't invited.

Brello: Nov 13th 2007; 5:03PM

Well come on, people have had to stare at Mario for over 20 years now. How long have they looked at this dude? This isn't surprising.

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME): Nov 13th 2007; 5:15PM

Rubang B (BRUSH WITH FAME): Nov 13th 2007; 5:17PM

Screwy reply again. Help me make these 2 invisible!

WiNG: Nov 13th 2007; 5:21PM

Dick Cheney would be awesome with his hunting rifle, except he starts with 50% less health than the other fighters.

Wolfrider: Nov 13th 2007; 5:47PM

And will randomly attack his teammates. :P

generic: Nov 13th 2007; 5:40PM

"...more Canadians can identify a photo of flagship character Mario than they could current Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper..."

That's because in the photo shown, he's wearing a human's skin as a mask.

"ROBOT HARPER, SMASH!"

Mr Khan: Nov 13th 2007; 5:58PM

His initial career was Computer Programmer

....why do i know that?

Andrew R: Nov 13th 2007; 6:03PM

HAHAHA. That's hilarious.

I really wish I was one of the lucky many who couldn't recognize Mr. Harper.

CanadianZero: Nov 13th 2007; 6:24PM

LMAO

+1 Awsome Points for Air Farce referance

generic: Nov 13th 2007; 11:00PM

Air Farce? No, I don't watch that exclusionist, racist crap.

If what I said sounds similar, it's by coincidence, though I think it's quite notable that more than one person eventually made the tie between Steven Harper and an oppressive robot overlord.

Lemmiwinks: Nov 13th 2007; 6:46PM

According to the dojo, Harper's been confirmed as an assist trophy in Brawl.

Your Ad here 555-1923: Nov 13th 2007; 6:54PM

Well he can't be worse than the Nintendog...right?

moominsean: Nov 13th 2007; 6:47PM

mario is more recognizable than who?

hvnlysoldr: Nov 13th 2007; 7:04PM

Exactly!

Clack: Nov 13th 2007; 7:05PM

Galaxy looks to be selling like hotcakes. I went after work and got mine from Best Buy. They had about a dozen left out of eighty, and said other stores (not other BBs) had been calling to see if they had stock because they were sold out and they were looking for a place to send people trying to get the game.

steve: Nov 13th 2007; 7:42PM

Mario has been around and popular for ~20 years, so being more recognizable than Canadian PM is not surprising

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