With March here, many special dates are on the horizon such as the beginning of spring and national pi day. For gamers, however, one of the most important dates is Mario Day on March 10.
Mario, originally known as Mr. Jumpman, was a carpenter and the main protagonist in Nintendo’s “Donkey Kong,” released in 1981.
In 1983, Mario and his brother Luigi were given their own game titled Mario Bros. Two years later in 1985, they were placed in an even bigger game titled “Super Mario Bros.” This was the beginning of Mario’s fame.
Mario is often considered to be the most iconic video game character of all time. Not only does he have dozens of games within different genres such as role-playing games, sports games, party games, racing games, adventure games, and more, but his reach also expands past games into the form of shows and movies. His newest venture is in cinema, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” is being released in theaters April 7.
The idea of a Mario Day started to gain traction when people noticed that the abbreviation for the date “Mar. 10” looked like the name Mario. In 2016, Nintendo officially endorsed the day and it has been celebrated yearly ever since.
Related article: The Story of Super Mario Brothers 2
This year, Sinclair is bringing the celebration to the campus. March 2, 2-4 p.m. in the game room of building 8, students can join in to play games, take selfies, and buy treats from the bake sale.
“If they got Smash Bros. or Mario Kart, I’ll be there. Trust me.” said Richmond Jones, a Sinclair alumni.
“Smash Bros,” a fighting game with dozens of different characters from Nintendo and other game publishers, is just one of many games you can find with Mario in them.
This year Mario Day is looking up to be a grand event and the Tartan Gamers Community hopes to keep it going and make it even better.
Dion Johnson
Intern