Mario Bros. Retrospective Part 6: Into the Third Dimension
In this episode, of our Mario Bros. retrospective, Mario enters the third dimension, in more ways than one! Yoshi takes center stage on the Super NES, Mario sees red in a retro throwback on the Virtual Boy, and revolutionizes the entire world of gaming in the premiere title for the Nintendo 64.
These are some of the invaluable sources that this project wouldn't have been possible without:
Video Works: https://youtu.be/cdUDvoGFp8s?si=8tZLecvzwVAtWLIJ
The Super Mario Wiki: https://www.mariowiki.com/
The Gaming Historian: https://thegaminghistorian.com/
Leonard Herman: http://www.rolentapress.com/
Supper Mario Broth: https://www.suppermariobroth.com/
Supper Mario Broth: https://www.suppermariobroth.com/
Ben Briggs: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRC_MIZGejtGSsM8AE6GNwQ
Watch more Stone Age Gamer Archeology: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoWJAVdwC7Z_CCqXEIJTcDQhVoxTcmPU7
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Transcript of the video:
For nearly as long as video games have existed, developers have been trying to make them work in three dimensions. As early as the 1970s, games used three dimensional perspectives to simulate a 3D experience, but true 3d gaming, where players could move around freely within a 3d space, was the ultimate destination, and the path would be paved with polygons.
Games capable of rendering polygons could be found as far back as the 1980s. The wireframe tanks of Atari’s Battlezone and the rudimentary shapes of I, Robot were important first steps, which led to consistent gradual evolution on various personal computers for years, but it wasn’t until the approach of the 1990s when polygonal gaming truly began to take shape, particularly in the broader public eye.
Breakout hits like Atari’s Hard Drivin and Sega’s Virtua Racing gave arcade-goers an exciting look into the future, but it was Nintendo, by way of Argonaut Software, who first successfully popularized making polygons work on a home console, with a game called Star Fox. Building off their impressive work with a Japanese Game Boy game called X, Argonaut developed the Super FX chip which effectively allowed the Super NES to be able to render polygons in real time. This naturally wasn’t a perfect solution, thanks to the inherent limitations of the Super NES hardware, but by containing Star Fox’s gameplay to a guided “on rails” experience, the teams at Nintendo and Argonaut were able to create a breathtakingly impressive game that seemed lightyears ahead of its time. Naturally, Nintendo quickly set its sights on figuring out how this could be applied to Mario.
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Unfortunately, the Super NES, as well as its controller, weren’t up to the challenge of making a game where moving Mario around in 3D space felt intuitive and fun. Achieving this was going to require new technology, and Nintendo was already in the process of creating a new platform that would be more than up to the task.
In August 1993, Nintendo announced that they were teaming up with Silicon Graphics to create the successor to the Super NES, a 64-bit machine codenamed Project Reality. In the November 1993 issue of Nintendo Power, they pulled back the curtain even further to show off the impressive 3D visuals their new system would be able to deliver. But Nintendo was far from the only ones working on new hardware capable of bringing 3D games to the masses, and for as great as Project Reality’s prospective visuals were, that console wouldn’t hit shelves for another few years. So while the world waited to see what the future of Nintendo had in store, the rest of the industry moved forward without them, bringing more major players than ever before.
By the end of 1994, the Panasonic 3DO, Atari Jaguar, and Sega 32X had made it to market. But the true Next Generation console war wouldn’t begin in earnest until 1995 with the release of the 32-bit Sega Saturn in May, and the Sony PlayStation in September. And right between them Nintendo launched their very own 32-bit machine, and in true Nintendo fashion, it was anything but conventional.
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At the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1995, Nintendo held their first North American playable demonstration of their other new platform, the Virtual Boy. Unlike their upcoming 64-bit Project Reality, this unusual system was more in line with a Virtual Reality helmet than a traditional home console, allowing players to experience true stereoscopic 3D gameplay, but with a few sizable drawbacks. The system couldn’t be worn as a helmet like other contemporary VR devices, instead forcing players press their faces into it to see the gameplay which could only be displayed in a single color, red. Also, while the images themselves were presented with a 3D effect, the games remained largely two dimensional. But regardless of its limitations, Nintendo had some big plans for the system, showing off a number of demos, including a brand new Mario title referred to as VB Mario Land. Players would guide Mario through a traditional 2D landscape with the new ability of walking into the background, as well as traveling down pipes to explore overhead segments similar in style to The Legend of Zelda. The short demo was very impressive, but unfortunately, the game never came to be, leaving the Virtual Boy’s launch lineup without a new Mario platformer. Instead, the systems included the game Mario’s Tennis, a shockingly adept showpiece for the Virtual Boy’s unique capabilities, but a far cry from a proper Super Mario adventure. Two months later, the Virtual Boy would finally get something a bit more traditional, but instead of a new game in the same vein as Super Mario Bros., this was instead, an evolution of what came before it.
Mario Clash released on the Virtual boy in October 1995, bringing classic arcade Mario Bros. action into the third dimension for the very first time. Set inside an immensely tall building called the Clash Tower, Mario had to clear 99 stages by defeating all of the enemies on each given one. The general stage layouts were similar to those in Mario Bros., except this time there were two parallel playfields that had to be managed at once. Instead of punching the ground beneath enemies, Mario now had to throw projectiles at them from the background to the foreground, or vice versa. In place of Mario Bros.’ Shellcreepers were traditional Koopa Troopas whose shells were used as Mario’s primary source of ammunition. Other classic enemies from the arcade original like Sidestepper crabs, fireballs, and icicles made return appearances, but the rest of the cast ranged from recurring Super Mario adversaries like Pokey and Para-Goomba to new foes like Thorny and Lobb.
Utilizing the Virtual Boy’s unique 3D display, throwing shells at enemies was surprisingly intuitive, but the game’s overall challenge level was also surprisingly high. In an effort to discourage longer play sessions due to the Virtual Boy’s reported penchant for causing headaches and other forms of discomfort over long periods of time, Nintendo allowed players to begin from any of the game’s first 40 stages. A traditional save or password system, though, was notably absent.
Also absent was a proper final stage or ending. Instead, when a player’s score reached 999,999 points, they were treated to a looping cinematic of the various enemies surrendering with presumably white flags raised. Afterwards, the game picked up right where it left off, sending Mario back to Level 1 upon the completion of level 99, and continuing until the player lost all of their lives.
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Like the Virtual Boy itself, Mario Clash was not a very successful game, and didn’t even rank among the system’s top 5 selling titles. Still, it’s often considered a must own game by fans of the platform, thanks to its attractive visuals and inventive reimagining of the classic Mario Bros. gameplay.
But while the Virtual Boy struggled to find its footing, Nintendo’s existing Super NES continued to thrive, regardless of its only original Super Mario platforming adventure still being the system’s launch title, Super Mario World.
Rumors of a Mario World sequel had circled the video game industry for years, but nothing ever materialized, that is until January 1995. In volume 68 of Nintendo Power, while all eyes were still on Donkey Kong Country, Project Reality, and the Virtual Boy, Nintendo slipped an unexplained screenshot into the cover page of their Super Power Club preview section. This small image depicted a red Yoshi jumping over some donut blocks, with what looked like a baby wearing Mario’s hat on his back. But this lone image didn’t correlate to any games mentioned in the entire issue.
For six long months, readers waited for any new information on this mysterious new supposed Mario project, and in the July 1995 issue, they finally got their answers. In a half page spread between Donkey Kong Country 2 and Virtual League Baseball, Nintendo officially unveiled their first look at Super Mario World 2. While the 3D rendered images of Donkey Kong Country had become the new trend in the industry, Super Mario World 2 boasted a radically different style, with the few screenshots on display showcasing visuals that appeared to have been drawn with markers and crayons. The resulting style was incredibly striking, but Nintendo knew that pictures alone could only do it so much justice. To properly showcase the game’s graphics, they distributed a VHS tape so as many people as possible could see in motion. Even amidst the hype of the numerous impressive-looking projects for both current and next generation hardware, Super Mario World 2 stood out, and audiences were more than ready to play a new home console Mario adventure. After years of expectations, fans were finally about to be treated to the long awaited official sequel to Super Mario World. And like so many adventures before, it would once again defy expectations.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island released for the Super NES in October 1995, delivering one of the most technically advanced games to ever grace the platform.
Utilizing the new Super FX2 chip, Nintendo pulled out every trick their 16-bit machine was capable of in order to deliver a colorful living world filled with never before seen levels of imagination and spectacle. Its crafting-inspired art direction was by design in stark contrast to the 3D rendered visuals of Donkey Kong Country, and because of their less detailed nature, allowed Nintendo to deliver on showstopping setpieces with advanced scaling, and even polygon rendering techniques. Butterflies flapped their wings in the foreground, enemies attacked from seemingly miles away, and even the world itself was capable of bending and distorting with unbelievable style.
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This magnificent new world wasn’t being traversed by Mario, though. At least, not alone. As Yoshi’s Island served not just as a sequel to Super Mario World, but a prequel to the entire Mario series.
A long long time ago, a stork was traveling through the sky to deliver a set of twins to their expectant parents. When out of nowhere, he was attacked by a magikoopa named Kamek who snatched one of the babies while the other fell into the open sea below. The baby didn’t land in the water, but instead directly on the back of a Yoshi. Upon bringing him to his Yoshi friends, the dinosaurs decided that they would help the infant find his twin brother, and deliver them both to their rightful home.
As the game began, players immediately discovered that it played very different from any previous Mario adventure. There was no run button, with Yoshi automatically moving at full speed, and there were no traditional powerups like mushrooms or fire flowers. Similar to Super Mario World, Yoshi could still eat most enemies at will, but could now choose to either spit them out, or swallow them, turning them into eggs. These eggs functioned as Yoshi’s ammunition, and could be thrown at nearly any angle to hit enemies, break through barriers, or even unlock secrets. Yoshi also had what’s referred to as a flutter jump, where the player could hold the jump button down and gain a brief amount of extra air time.
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This was in addition to another new mechanic, transformations. Scattered throughout the game were special bubbles that allowed Yoshi to transform into a number of vehicles like a helicopter, mole tank, or car. These transformations only lasted for a limited time, but added a tremendous amount of variety to the gameplay.
Things also changed in terms of your character’s vulnerability. Just like in Super Mario World, Yoshi himself was nearly indestructible, but this time, instead of running away when taking damage, it was baby Mario who floated off, trapped in a bubble, crying one of the most memorably abrasive sounds to ever come out of a Super NES. In lieu of a traditional stage timer, Yoshi instead had to abide by a special clock that only counted down when Mario was knocked off of his back. If He wasn’t able to recapture the crying child before time ran out, Kamek’s henchmen, the Toadies, would take him away, resulting in the loss of a life. This timer could be refilled with stars, which could be found bouncing around the game, with a maximum amount of 30 stored at any given time.
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Also gone was the complex map system of Super Mario World. Instead, levels played out in a strictly linear fashion, with the exception of bonus levels that could be unlocked by meeting certain requirements. Each stage in the game contained 20 red coins and 5 flowers hidden throughout. If Yoshi could manage to find them all, as well as finish the stage with a full slate of 30 stars, he would earn a 100 point grade. Finish all stages in a given world with a perfect score, and the player would be treated to a special bonus level as well as an opportunity to replay various minigames.
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Aside from the creative level design and art direction, Yoshi’s Island featured some of the most inventive obstacles the Super Mario series had seen to this point. Old enemies looked better and exhibited more personality than ever, while new ones showcased complex attack patterns and challenges. The environments themselves were also filled with amazing visual effects like walls that crash down on Yoshi, platforms that rotate into the background and so on. But arguably the most impressive effects were saved for the game's memorable boss battles.
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Each world contained two castle stages, complete with their own unique boss encounter. These bosses always started out as standard enemies, but with a little help from Kamek’s magic, turned into enormous, technical marvels. Sluggy the Unshaven’s gelatinous form, Navel Piranha's wiggling vines, and Burt the Bashful’s enormous stature showed off visual effects far beyond nearly anything the Super NES had achieved before.
Every single facet of the game was carefully crafted with an astonishing degree of care, a fact that came through in everything from the catchy music to the minute details found in the backgrounds. There was even a message hidden in a secret room letting players know that the Mario team had poured their hearts and souls into the game, for the players to enjoy.
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But while the visuals may have been cute and welcoming, Yoshi’s Island wasn’t devoid of challenge, especially for those aiming for 100% completion. Some secrets were extremely well-hidden, often requiring high level tricks to access. It was tough, but it was fair, with a gradual difficulty curve that taught players how to get better as they progressed.
The Yoshis carried Baby Mario across flowery fields, snowy mountains, dangerous caverns, and more, all leading to an enormous castle with a rather menacing-looking playroom, where the final boss awaited. A grand showdown with none other than Baby Bowser. As the story goes, Kamek had intentionally targeted that specific stork because it carried a pair of twins that were destined to be troublesome for his royal highness. But as he was still a mere toddler, all Baby Bowser seemed to care about was getting a ride on Yoshi. After putting the petulant child in his place, Kamek worked his magic one last time, turning his master into a massive, towering monster, which Yoshi had to fire special eggs at in the background to avoid being trampled by the beast.
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As expected, Yoshi eventually triumphed over Baby Bowser and Kamek, reunited the twins, and delivered them to their parents.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island may not have found the same sales success as Donkey Kong Country, but it was clearly a very special game that resonated with a great deal of players. It reviewed extremely well, and quickly became a multi-million seller. But for as wonderful as the game was, it left some Mario fans still wanting more. Yoshi’s Island was a brilliant game, but just like Super Mario Land 3 before it, Super Mario World 2 was a Mario game in name only, serving more as a starting point for Yoshi’s solo career. Similar to Wario, Yoshi had already starred in a few spinoff titles before like Yoshi’s Cookie and Yoshi’s Safari, but it was Yoshi’s Island that cemented his unique playstyle of flutter jumps and egg tossing that functioned as the core mechanics in numerous Yoshi-centric games for generations to come.
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Ever since the character’s inception, Mario has been a part of some of the most influential video games ever released. The core mechanics of Super Mario Bros. in particular had changed the way people designed games, and it was that exact kind of revolution that the industry was in desperate need of again. As 3D gaming continued its evolution, one problem existed that nobody seemed to be able to solve, how to make moving a character around in 3D space feel intuitive, and more importantly, fun. Creating a solution was at the very core of Project Reality’s design, one that Nintendo had been focused on for a number of years, and just one month after the North American release of Yoshi’s Island, they were finally ready to show the results of their hard work. It was time to introduce the world to the Nintendo 64.
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At their annual Shoshinkai trade show in Japan, Nintendo at long last fully unveiled Project Reality, announcing its official name, and allowing attendees to go hands on with its flagship title, Super Mario 64. For the first time since Super Mario Land 2, Mario was once again starring in his very own platforming adventure, except this time it was a sprawling 3 Dimensional affair. With a combination of inventive camera and character controls, Nintendo appeared to have finally cracked the code to making a 3D platformer fun, and it was all made possible thanks to not just the system it was created for, but its controller. The input device Nintendo came up with was wildly different from anything they had produced in the past. The traditional D-pad and face buttons were still present, but it featured a three pronged design intended for multiple grip options, with the primary one centered around their all new analog stick. Nintendo was by no means the first company to create an analog controller, but they were the first to build a modern game console around its inclusion in every box. This stick was what allowed Mario to control as smoothly as he did, and the people attending the event were immediately impressed. At long last, Nintendo was primed to enter the next generation console war, and regardless of the competition’s head start, they now seemed more than ready to tackle Sony and Sega head on.
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But the Nintendo 64’s journey to North America still faced some challenges. As the modern internet was still in its infancy, most people only saw Super Mario 64 in screenshots in magazines, limiting Nintendo’s ability to properly convey just how impressive the game was in person. There was also a great deal of concern regarding Nintendo’s decision to stick with cartridge based media instead of the vastly higher capacity, and considerably less expensive, CD-ROM format. In addition, confusion around the system’s branding arose when the North American version of the platform was announced as the Nintendo Ultra 64, with even a pair of arcade releases bearing the name as a sort of preview of what the hardware would be capable of, but then changed in order to keep the console’s name consistent across all regions. The hype for Super Mario 64, though, remained incredibly high, but these mitigating factors were undeniable, as was the meteoric rise of their newest competitor, Sony. The PlayStation was selling extremely well, and its less expensive development ecosystem had successfully lured away a number of Nintendo’s most important 3rd party developers. And to make matters worse, Sony released their own wildly popular mascot platformer Crash Bandicoot, just over two weeks ahead of the Nintendo 64’s North American launch. But even in the face of these obstacles, as the N64’s release date drew ever closer, it seemed that no odds were too difficult for the system to overcome, as anticipation for Mario’s latest adventure refused to slow down. Nintendo once again distributed a promotional VHS tape showcasing the strengths of the Nintendo 64, which was just one part of their massive 54 million dollar marketing campaign. As for longtime Mario fans, the anticipation of a new proper game had reached a fever pitch. Since 1992, the plumber had starred in puzzle games, racing games, sports games, art games, educational games, Role playing games, everything but his very own, original platforming adventure.
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But the wait was finally over. The stage was set, and regardless of the numerous delays, name changes, and an existing fiercely competitive market, Nintendo was about to revolutionize the gaming landscape in a way not seen since Super Mario Bros. in 1985. And it all started with three legendary words.
Super Mario 64 was released on September 29, 1996 as the premiere launch title for the Nintendo 64, and was every inch the innovation Nintendo had envisioned. Thanks to the power of the Nintendo 64, and the versatility of its controller, players were granted unprecedented control over Mario’s movement in 3D space, and were treated to a version of his world that was far more immersive than ever. Following the official debut of Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario accompanied by an amusing title screen where players were able to bend and deform Mario’s head in real time, the game kicked off with something else new to Mario platformers, a cinematic sequence. Mario had received a letter from the Princess, voiced here by Leslie Swan, inviting him to her castle for some cake. Where in Japan, the princess had always been named Peach, her commonly accepted name in North America was Princess Toadstool. Super Mario 64 marked the first instance in a mainline entry where she was referred to by her original name, a change that would carry forward in nearly every entry in the Mario franchise, as her signature on the letter read Princes Toadstool, Peach.
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Following the reading, the game showed a Lakitu flying around with a camera at the end of a fishing pole. This effectively made the game’s camera a character, acting as a sort of reporter, chronicling Mario’s visit to Peach's castle. Mario then hopped out of a pipe, ready to take center stage.
Control was finally given to the player in the grounds in front of Princess Peach’s castle, an environment unlike anything in Mario’s previous games. There was no time limit, no enemies, and not even any music. Just an open playfield designed to allow players the chance to learn and understand Mario’s basic movements in this new 3D world. Where in earlier titles, players would move Mario left or right by pressing the corresponding direction on the D-pad, Mario’s controls were far more nuanced in Super Mario 64 thanks to the implementation of analog movement. If the analog stick was pressed lightly, Mario would tiptoe, but if it was pressed full tilt, he would sprint. This negated the need for the player to hold down a specific button in order to make Mario run, instead dedicating the other primary face button on the controller to a melee attack, another feature new to Super Mario platformers. As for the other face buttons on the controller, the C-buttons, they were assigned to the player’s perspective, or in other words, controlling Lakitu. An intuitive camera system followed Mario’s movements automatically, but the 4 c-buttons also allowed players direct control over the camera when necessary. This newfound 3D movement also enabled Mario more acrobatic freedom, including being able to climb trees, swim in all directions, and even crash into, or jump off of, walls. These new skills, in addition to the triple jump and backflip maneuvers from Donkey Kong, and the ground pound introduced in Yoshi’s Island, made Mario himself feel just as revolutionary as his surroundings. But while the transition to 3D gameplay necessitated these changes to Mario’s movement, so did it necessitate a change in how the game was structured.
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In the past, stages had a clear beginning middle and end, but thanks to the nature of this game’s more circular 3D environments, finding a flagpole would no longer mean that a player had found the end of an area, so the conditions for completing a level became objective based, with areas able to be revisited as many times as the player wanted before moving on.
These objectives were tied to power stars. By meeting specific conditions in each stage, Mario would earn a star, which when obtained would end the stage. These objectives would be chosen in advance from a menu before beginning a level, altering certain enemy and item placements to suit each specific one. The stars themselves were also central to the game’s plot. Upon entry into Peach’s castle, Mario learned that Bowser had taken it over by stealing the Power Stars, which were now hidden within the castle’s various magical paintings that served as portals to other worlds. This made Peach’s castle act as a central hub world by which Mario could access whatever stages he wanted in a semi non-linear fashion. By collecting more Power Stars, new doors would open, allowing entry to numerous new areas throughout the castle. There were 120 stars in total, with three special areas blocked off by star doors which lead to the game’s challenging Bowser stages, where Mario would have to navigate a series of deadly traps in a somewhat abstract environment, in order to face off against the maniacal villain in an open arena.
Peach’s castle was far more intricate than the maps found in Super Mario Bros. 3, or even Super Mario World, with secret coins, stars, and stages hidden everywhere, and Mario would explore the depths of both the castle itself and the levels it contained with a series of all new powerups.
Gone were the traditional Super Mushrooms, as Mario now had a health meter that would allow him to take several hits before losing a life. This also meant that he would never shrink or become Super Mario, with his size ramining a constant throughout the adventure. Fire Flowers, Super Leaves, and all conventional Mario powerups were now replaced by a trio of special caps Mario could don which would grant him temporary access to new abilities. The Wing Cap allowed Mario to glide through the air in a similar fashion to the cape in Super Mario World, the Metal Cap transformed him into Metal Mario who was invulnerable to toxic gas and fire, and gave him the ability to walk underwater instead of swim, and the Vanish Cap made Mario mostly invisible as well as semi intangible, allowing him to walk through certain enemies and barriers.
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The number of unique levels was considerably smaller than fans were used to, but while they were lesser in numbers, they were far greater in scope. From the cannon blasts of Bob-Omb Battlefield, to the beautifully serene music of Dire, Dire Docks, the environments of Super Mario 64, while ultimately less detailed, were much more tangible, with many elements grounded in real life physics. Mario could get stuck in the show in Cool, Cool Mountain. His vision could be impaired by the mists in Hazy Maze Cave. He would react to the extreme heat of Lethal Lava Land. And thanks to some impressive draw distances, players themselves shared in Mario’s awe of the extraordinary heights they were now able to climb. The inherent limits of the technology of the time resulted in blocky, somewhat indefinite designs, but the overwhelming degree of imagination on display was undeniable.
Once Mario had collected at least 70 Power Stars, he could climb the castle’s endless staircase to Bowser’s lair, a devious obstacle course that led the plumber to an enormous floating arena where he would have to face off against the King of the Koopas one final time. Unlike Bowser encounters of the past, all three of these battles required Mario to actually get up close and personal with the beast, grabbing him by the tail, and rotating the analog stick to twirl Bowser around and toss him into a series of explosives set around the perimeter of the arena. Upon Bowser’s third defeat, Mario obtained the final Power Star, and Bowser fled claiming he couldn’t stand the sight of Peace returning to the world. His evil magic was driven from the castle, and Mario donned a Wing Cap to fly his way back to the entrance, where Peach was returned, kissed Mario on the nose, and presumably delivered on her original promise of a freshly baked cake.
Super Mario 64 was a very complex experience with a notably steep learning curve considering very few games of its scale and style had ever been created before, but its vibrant, alive world was an absolute marvel, helping make Super Mario 64 one of the most iconic video games ever created. It set the new standard for 3D game development, and its influence can still be felt throughout the industry to this day.
Unsurprisingly, it was also a tremendous sales success, helping the Nintendo 64 console sell out in stores all over the world for months after its release, but underneath all the praise and spectacle of Mario’s groundbreaking adventure, there were a few unsettling issues just under the surface. Many players lamented the lack of a 2-player mode, as well as Luigi’s complete absence throughout the entire adventure. Yoshi was also notably missing, though the character could be found, but not used, if all 120 stars were recovered. But for some fans, the biggest issue of all came down to a lack of familiarity. For as great as the game was, it was still a fundamentally different experience from a traditional 2D Mario game.
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Also, while its initial success was overwhelming, it didn’t necessarily translate to long term sales for the Nintendo 64. Nintendo’s decision to maintain the cartridge format, coupled with the unbridled success of Sony’s PlayStation dealt Nintendo its most significant blow ever, officially toppling the company as the market leader, with the PlayStation selling over 102 million units to the Nintendo 64’s 32.9.
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The N64 was by no means a failure, but it began a tumultuous period for both Mario and Nintendo. Super Mario 64 would be the only original Mario platforming adventure released for another six years, and as the PlayStation continued to rise, Nintendo’s reputation continued to decline. But this was only part of Nintendo’s story. Their home console may have been struggling, but thanks to a certain monster collecting phenomenon, their handheld division was thriving like never before. So while Nintendo began work on how to compete in this new gaming landscape, they would maintain Mario’s popularity, and their own, by taking their mascot’s greatest hits on the road.
Join us next time as Nintendo once again retreads its history with portable power, and the Mario brothers embark on their own next generation adventures, both in darkness and in sunshine.
