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Ever since Sonic the Hedgehog came along, competing against Super Mario in the first major edition of the console wars, Mario has been seen not as the brilliant games character he was when he faced Donkey Kong, or Gordon (later renamed Bowser - King of the Koopas) but as a short fat plumber in dungarees with a street cred not much better than Gary Linekers. Many people, including loyal fans of Nintendo have confronted Nintendo over the issue of having Mario as their mascot, yet Nintendo have stuck with him over the years. So why is this? And who could replace him?
Well Mario was Nintendo's very first super hero. Be him a carpenter called Jumpman at the time, he was the character you could control in Shigeru Miyamoto's first major game title in 1981, Donkey Kong. He didn't look much at the time, but the game was a major coin-op success, and was released on Nintendo's NES system. Jumpman, as you know, was renamed Mario, and was given a more modern occupation, a plumber. Now in Donkey Kong II/Donkey Kong Jr, Mario played the bad guy, caging Donkey Kong's son and trying to prevent Donkey Kong from saving him.
As I said before, Sonic the Hedgehog came on the scene in the days of the SNES and the MegaDrive. Instantly, everyone thought he was the coolest dude around! He was faster, slicker, and had the right attitude to be decent competition for the most popular games character. To Nintendo and SEGA, it wasn't just about high sales and making games, it was about being the best, it was war. That's when people started to realise how lame Mario's character was. All he was was a plumber. Nothing more. A short fat plumber. SEGA tried to make that point ever more clear by competing in the animated market against Nintendo's Super Mario Bros cartoons, and you've got to admit the Sonic cartoons were more action packed. Yet Mario is still considered as Nintendo's mascot!
Well, now in the 21st Century, SEGA are more or less on the same side as Nintendo, and Sonic is even on a GameCube exclusive edition of Sonic Adventure 2. However, Nintendo can't really let SEGA's character become a Nintendo mascot. For a start they'd have to pay SEGA for the rights, and Nintendo would be admitting defeat if they did so. However, Nintendo has many other characters that could be considered as Mascots in the future:
Luigi:
Luigi will never overtake Mario as a Mascot. He may not be short and fat, but he's still an Italian Plumber in denim dungarees. He looks too similar (exactly the same in Mario Bros on the Atari and arcades) and he belongs to the same games as Mario.
Donkey Kong:
Now, although Donkey Kong is a Nintendo character, and Nintendo own the name, the actual character model we see from Donkey Kong Country and later belongs to Rareware. Nintendo could buy the look of Donkey Kong off Rare, as if Rare do go multi-platform, I'm sure they wouldn't be able to use that character model on any games other than Nintendo exclusives anyway, and then they'd be able to use him as their mascot. However, Donkey Kong's N64 game didn't go too well, so Nintendo and/or Rare would have to create a GameCube adventure featuring Donkey Kong that needs to become a smash-hit first.
Pikachu:
"Oh god, not more Pokémon!" That's exactly what people would say if the adorable Pikachu became the main mascot for Nintendo. Nintendo would seem more of a 'kiddies company' than ever before and would probably lsoe money. Fans of the series are disappointed already by the new Game Boy Advance title, and the majority of gamers who aren't well experienced with Nintendo's games really hate Pokémon, despite many of them never playing the original games.
Link:
Link, in my opinion would be one of the main contenders for becomming Nintendo's new mascot if they decided to replace Mario. He's by far one of the coolest characters, starring in many a fantasy RPG, though his new 'Celda' look will ruin his chances. I've nothing against the game, I'm sure it'll be great, but he doesn't look so good as he does in Super Smash Bros Melee and the N64 games.
Starfox:
We all know him from his Space-faring adventures and we'll soon be playing Starfox Adventures on our GameCubes. He's a cool fox, who ain't no vixen to be toyed with. He's got a laser-pistol and flies a starship, and can be adapted to fit many a style of game, whether it be Adventure, RPG, space-shooter, or even maybe an FPS title! He would be competing against Link and Mario for mascot supremacy I reckon, and would make things real close between the three.
Samus:
Why not have a female mascot? It's not like she wears pink, has flowers in her hair, and is completely feminine. Quite the opposite! She wears very un-flattering red-orange bodyarmour and a helmet which means you rarely see what she really looks like anyway. Like Starfox, she's a spaceage gal, who fires her weapons at bugs, or so it seems so far from the footage we've seen of her GameCube Metroid game. Many consider Super Metroid to be the best game ever on a Nintendo system, and Samus is the favoured character by many in Super Smash Bros on the N64. She's not exactly a cute and cuddly games character either. She's be the one to up Nintendo's cool factor and make Sony and Microsoft Zealots reconsider what they're saying when they call Nintendo a 'kiddies company'.
So that means we've got three men and a little lady* who could all compete to be Nintendo's next mascot. However, I personally believe we'll be stuck with Mario for a long time. Everyone knows who he is, and his games are still some of the best yet, despite people poking fun at them, and the sales back this up. That's why he's stillthe mascot, because he's recognised all over the world as that 'short fat plumber' and despite that not sounding very cool, it sells games and that's what is most important for any games company, especially Nintendo who have been around for over 110 years entertaining the world.
Who do you think could compete against Nintendo for head-mascot?
* Yes I know that was a film title :)
Well Mario was Nintendo's very first super hero. Be him a carpenter called Jumpman at the time, he was the character you could control in Shigeru Miyamoto's first major game title in 1981, Donkey Kong. He didn't look much at the time, but the game was a major coin-op success, and was released on Nintendo's NES system. Jumpman, as you know, was renamed Mario, and was given a more modern occupation, a plumber. Now in Donkey Kong II/Donkey Kong Jr, Mario played the bad guy, caging Donkey Kong's son and trying to prevent Donkey Kong from saving him.
As I said before, Sonic the Hedgehog came on the scene in the days of the SNES and the MegaDrive. Instantly, everyone thought he was the coolest dude around! He was faster, slicker, and had the right attitude to be decent competition for the most popular games character. To Nintendo and SEGA, it wasn't just about high sales and making games, it was about being the best, it was war. That's when people started to realise how lame Mario's character was. All he was was a plumber. Nothing more. A short fat plumber. SEGA tried to make that point ever more clear by competing in the animated market against Nintendo's Super Mario Bros cartoons, and you've got to admit the Sonic cartoons were more action packed. Yet Mario is still considered as Nintendo's mascot!
Well, now in the 21st Century, SEGA are more or less on the same side as Nintendo, and Sonic is even on a GameCube exclusive edition of Sonic Adventure 2. However, Nintendo can't really let SEGA's character become a Nintendo mascot. For a start they'd have to pay SEGA for the rights, and Nintendo would be admitting defeat if they did so. However, Nintendo has many other characters that could be considered as Mascots in the future:
Luigi:
Luigi will never overtake Mario as a Mascot. He may not be short and fat, but he's still an Italian Plumber in denim dungarees. He looks too similar (exactly the same in Mario Bros on the Atari and arcades) and he belongs to the same games as Mario.
Donkey Kong:
Now, although Donkey Kong is a Nintendo character, and Nintendo own the name, the actual character model we see from Donkey Kong Country and later belongs to Rareware. Nintendo could buy the look of Donkey Kong off Rare, as if Rare do go multi-platform, I'm sure they wouldn't be able to use that character model on any games other than Nintendo exclusives anyway, and then they'd be able to use him as their mascot. However, Donkey Kong's N64 game didn't go too well, so Nintendo and/or Rare would have to create a GameCube adventure featuring Donkey Kong that needs to become a smash-hit first.
Pikachu:
"Oh god, not more Pokémon!" That's exactly what people would say if the adorable Pikachu became the main mascot for Nintendo. Nintendo would seem more of a 'kiddies company' than ever before and would probably lsoe money. Fans of the series are disappointed already by the new Game Boy Advance title, and the majority of gamers who aren't well experienced with Nintendo's games really hate Pokémon, despite many of them never playing the original games.
Link:
Link, in my opinion would be one of the main contenders for becomming Nintendo's new mascot if they decided to replace Mario. He's by far one of the coolest characters, starring in many a fantasy RPG, though his new 'Celda' look will ruin his chances. I've nothing against the game, I'm sure it'll be great, but he doesn't look so good as he does in Super Smash Bros Melee and the N64 games.
Starfox:
We all know him from his Space-faring adventures and we'll soon be playing Starfox Adventures on our GameCubes. He's a cool fox, who ain't no vixen to be toyed with. He's got a laser-pistol and flies a starship, and can be adapted to fit many a style of game, whether it be Adventure, RPG, space-shooter, or even maybe an FPS title! He would be competing against Link and Mario for mascot supremacy I reckon, and would make things real close between the three.
Samus:
Why not have a female mascot? It's not like she wears pink, has flowers in her hair, and is completely feminine. Quite the opposite! She wears very un-flattering red-orange bodyarmour and a helmet which means you rarely see what she really looks like anyway. Like Starfox, she's a spaceage gal, who fires her weapons at bugs, or so it seems so far from the footage we've seen of her GameCube Metroid game. Many consider Super Metroid to be the best game ever on a Nintendo system, and Samus is the favoured character by many in Super Smash Bros on the N64. She's not exactly a cute and cuddly games character either. She's be the one to up Nintendo's cool factor and make Sony and Microsoft Zealots reconsider what they're saying when they call Nintendo a 'kiddies company'.
So that means we've got three men and a little lady* who could all compete to be Nintendo's next mascot. However, I personally believe we'll be stuck with Mario for a long time. Everyone knows who he is, and his games are still some of the best yet, despite people poking fun at them, and the sales back this up. That's why he's stillthe mascot, because he's recognised all over the world as that 'short fat plumber' and despite that not sounding very cool, it sells games and that's what is most important for any games company, especially Nintendo who have been around for over 110 years entertaining the world.
Who do you think could compete against Nintendo for head-mascot?
* Yes I know that was a film title :)
Samus rules!
She could whupp Lara Croft or Solid Snake anyday.
What's more, she appeals to the "adult" market.
And she's the ultimate character anyway.
Space Bounty Hunter who can do all sorts of aerobatic tricks while blasting the hell of giant ugly alien creatures at a lightening pace.
Why someone decided to waste such a magnificent character on a first person shooter (lets face it, what's the point in having a great game character if you only see them in odd FMV sequences!!!) is beyond me.
RETRO!! MAKE METROID MY WAY!
:-D
She could whupp Lara Croft or Solid Snake anyday.
What's more, she appeals to the "adult" market.
And she's the ultimate character anyway.
Space Bounty Hunter who can do all sorts of aerobatic tricks while blasting the hell of giant ugly alien creatures at a lightening pace.
Why someone decided to waste such a magnificent character on a first person shooter (lets face it, what's the point in having a great game character if you only see them in odd FMV sequences!!!) is beyond me.
RETRO!! MAKE METROID MY WAY!
:-D
Mario will probably be around for a long, long time yet. Even if he does get replaced as mascot in the future, he will still be around in the games we play.
The difference with Mario in comparison with other male characters is that he's not super-fit, he isn't the strongest of characters, and he runs around screaming with his hands on his backside when he catches fire!
He is, in a sense, Nintendo. Nintendo is an entertainment company that specialises in videogames. Nintendo's aim (apart from to make money) is to produce good quality, fun games that will bring smiles to the players faces.
I don't know about you, but that feature in Super Mario 64 where you could toy with his face made me laugh, especially when it would all bounce back in on itself like rubber if you released the button.
Over the years, Mario's look has altered slightly, especially when he went from Jumpman, made of a few large pixels, to Mario. Then when he changed from 2D Mario to 3D Mario, his appearance altered making him look older, more mature, yet still just as entertaining for anyone to play his games.
If I was to be eating a bag of hoola-hoops and Pikachu starting mouthing out against Mario to boost his own popularity, I would slam my fist on the table and shout, "Oi, Pikachu! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You should be so luckoi! I respect the fact you boosted the Game Boy's popularity in the last couple of years, but what did you do for the Nintendo 64? NOTHING! Mario is here to stay! And he'll be staying around FOREVER!"
However the chances of me seeing Pikachu whilst eating a bag of Hoola-Hoops (oh look, a square one!) are very slim.
Anyway, as I said, Mario is here to stay, but it would be nice to see Nintendo promoting some of the other characters, like Link, Starfox and especially Samus who we haven't seen on any console in a good many years.
The difference with Mario in comparison with other male characters is that he's not super-fit, he isn't the strongest of characters, and he runs around screaming with his hands on his backside when he catches fire!
He is, in a sense, Nintendo. Nintendo is an entertainment company that specialises in videogames. Nintendo's aim (apart from to make money) is to produce good quality, fun games that will bring smiles to the players faces.
I don't know about you, but that feature in Super Mario 64 where you could toy with his face made me laugh, especially when it would all bounce back in on itself like rubber if you released the button.
Over the years, Mario's look has altered slightly, especially when he went from Jumpman, made of a few large pixels, to Mario. Then when he changed from 2D Mario to 3D Mario, his appearance altered making him look older, more mature, yet still just as entertaining for anyone to play his games.
If I was to be eating a bag of hoola-hoops and Pikachu starting mouthing out against Mario to boost his own popularity, I would slam my fist on the table and shout, "Oi, Pikachu! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You should be so luckoi! I respect the fact you boosted the Game Boy's popularity in the last couple of years, but what did you do for the Nintendo 64? NOTHING! Mario is here to stay! And he'll be staying around FOREVER!"
However the chances of me seeing Pikachu whilst eating a bag of Hoola-Hoops (oh look, a square one!) are very slim.
Anyway, as I said, Mario is here to stay, but it would be nice to see Nintendo promoting some of the other characters, like Link, Starfox and especially Samus who we haven't seen on any console in a good many years.
I think that it will always be Mario - he was the first and best. The others don't have the widespread recognition or instant appeal of Mario - to me, he is synonymous with Nintendo.
Do I have to choose one of the above? I dunno, maybe Link. He rocks :D
Definatly not the Pokémon guy. Great post there Edgy, prehaps post it in FOGchat for a better response.
Definatly not the Pokémon guy. Great post there Edgy, prehaps post it in FOGchat for a better response.
Ever since Sonic the Hedgehog came along, competing against Super Mario in the first major edition of the console wars, Mario has been seen not as the brilliant games character he was when he faced Donkey Kong, or Gordon (later renamed Bowser - King of the Koopas) but as a short fat plumber in dungarees with a street cred not much better than Gary Linekers. Many people, including loyal fans of Nintendo have confronted Nintendo over the issue of having Mario as their mascot, yet Nintendo have stuck with him over the years. So why is this? And who could replace him?
Well Mario was Nintendo's very first super hero. Be him a carpenter called Jumpman at the time, he was the character you could control in Shigeru Miyamoto's first major game title in 1981, Donkey Kong. He didn't look much at the time, but the game was a major coin-op success, and was released on Nintendo's NES system. Jumpman, as you know, was renamed Mario, and was given a more modern occupation, a plumber. Now in Donkey Kong II/Donkey Kong Jr, Mario played the bad guy, caging Donkey Kong's son and trying to prevent Donkey Kong from saving him.
As I said before, Sonic the Hedgehog came on the scene in the days of the SNES and the MegaDrive. Instantly, everyone thought he was the coolest dude around! He was faster, slicker, and had the right attitude to be decent competition for the most popular games character. To Nintendo and SEGA, it wasn't just about high sales and making games, it was about being the best, it was war. That's when people started to realise how lame Mario's character was. All he was was a plumber. Nothing more. A short fat plumber. SEGA tried to make that point ever more clear by competing in the animated market against Nintendo's Super Mario Bros cartoons, and you've got to admit the Sonic cartoons were more action packed. Yet Mario is still considered as Nintendo's mascot!
Well, now in the 21st Century, SEGA are more or less on the same side as Nintendo, and Sonic is even on a GameCube exclusive edition of Sonic Adventure 2. However, Nintendo can't really let SEGA's character become a Nintendo mascot. For a start they'd have to pay SEGA for the rights, and Nintendo would be admitting defeat if they did so. However, Nintendo has many other characters that could be considered as Mascots in the future:
Luigi:
Luigi will never overtake Mario as a Mascot. He may not be short and fat, but he's still an Italian Plumber in denim dungarees. He looks too similar (exactly the same in Mario Bros on the Atari and arcades) and he belongs to the same games as Mario.
Donkey Kong:
Now, although Donkey Kong is a Nintendo character, and Nintendo own the name, the actual character model we see from Donkey Kong Country and later belongs to Rareware. Nintendo could buy the look of Donkey Kong off Rare, as if Rare do go multi-platform, I'm sure they wouldn't be able to use that character model on any games other than Nintendo exclusives anyway, and then they'd be able to use him as their mascot. However, Donkey Kong's N64 game didn't go too well, so Nintendo and/or Rare would have to create a GameCube adventure featuring Donkey Kong that needs to become a smash-hit first.
Pikachu:
"Oh god, not more Pokémon!" That's exactly what people would say if the adorable Pikachu became the main mascot for Nintendo. Nintendo would seem more of a 'kiddies company' than ever before and would probably lsoe money. Fans of the series are disappointed already by the new Game Boy Advance title, and the majority of gamers who aren't well experienced with Nintendo's games really hate Pokémon, despite many of them never playing the original games.
Link:
Link, in my opinion would be one of the main contenders for becomming Nintendo's new mascot if they decided to replace Mario. He's by far one of the coolest characters, starring in many a fantasy RPG, though his new 'Celda' look will ruin his chances. I've nothing against the game, I'm sure it'll be great, but he doesn't look so good as he does in Super Smash Bros Melee and the N64 games.
Starfox:
We all know him from his Space-faring adventures and we'll soon be playing Starfox Adventures on our GameCubes. He's a cool fox, who ain't no vixen to be toyed with. He's got a laser-pistol and flies a starship, and can be adapted to fit many a style of game, whether it be Adventure, RPG, space-shooter, or even maybe an FPS title! He would be competing against Link and Mario for mascot supremacy I reckon, and would make things real close between the three.
Samus:
Why not have a female mascot? It's not like she wears pink, has flowers in her hair, and is completely feminine. Quite the opposite! She wears very un-flattering red-orange bodyarmour and a helmet which means you rarely see what she really looks like anyway. Like Starfox, she's a spaceage gal, who fires her weapons at bugs, or so it seems so far from the footage we've seen of her GameCube Metroid game. Many consider Super Metroid to be the best game ever on a Nintendo system, and Samus is the favoured character by many in Super Smash Bros on the N64. She's not exactly a cute and cuddly games character either. She's be the one to up Nintendo's cool factor and make Sony and Microsoft Zealots reconsider what they're saying when they call Nintendo a 'kiddies company'.
So that means we've got three men and a little lady* who could all compete to be Nintendo's next mascot. However, I personally believe we'll be stuck with Mario for a long time. Everyone knows who he is, and his games are still some of the best yet, despite people poking fun at them, and the sales back this up. That's why he's stillthe mascot, because he's recognised all over the world as that 'short fat plumber' and despite that not sounding very cool, it sells games and that's what is most important for any games company, especially Nintendo who have been around for over 110 years entertaining the world.
Who do you think could compete against Nintendo for head-mascot?
* Yes I know that was a film title :)
Well Mario was Nintendo's very first super hero. Be him a carpenter called Jumpman at the time, he was the character you could control in Shigeru Miyamoto's first major game title in 1981, Donkey Kong. He didn't look much at the time, but the game was a major coin-op success, and was released on Nintendo's NES system. Jumpman, as you know, was renamed Mario, and was given a more modern occupation, a plumber. Now in Donkey Kong II/Donkey Kong Jr, Mario played the bad guy, caging Donkey Kong's son and trying to prevent Donkey Kong from saving him.
As I said before, Sonic the Hedgehog came on the scene in the days of the SNES and the MegaDrive. Instantly, everyone thought he was the coolest dude around! He was faster, slicker, and had the right attitude to be decent competition for the most popular games character. To Nintendo and SEGA, it wasn't just about high sales and making games, it was about being the best, it was war. That's when people started to realise how lame Mario's character was. All he was was a plumber. Nothing more. A short fat plumber. SEGA tried to make that point ever more clear by competing in the animated market against Nintendo's Super Mario Bros cartoons, and you've got to admit the Sonic cartoons were more action packed. Yet Mario is still considered as Nintendo's mascot!
Well, now in the 21st Century, SEGA are more or less on the same side as Nintendo, and Sonic is even on a GameCube exclusive edition of Sonic Adventure 2. However, Nintendo can't really let SEGA's character become a Nintendo mascot. For a start they'd have to pay SEGA for the rights, and Nintendo would be admitting defeat if they did so. However, Nintendo has many other characters that could be considered as Mascots in the future:
Luigi:
Luigi will never overtake Mario as a Mascot. He may not be short and fat, but he's still an Italian Plumber in denim dungarees. He looks too similar (exactly the same in Mario Bros on the Atari and arcades) and he belongs to the same games as Mario.
Donkey Kong:
Now, although Donkey Kong is a Nintendo character, and Nintendo own the name, the actual character model we see from Donkey Kong Country and later belongs to Rareware. Nintendo could buy the look of Donkey Kong off Rare, as if Rare do go multi-platform, I'm sure they wouldn't be able to use that character model on any games other than Nintendo exclusives anyway, and then they'd be able to use him as their mascot. However, Donkey Kong's N64 game didn't go too well, so Nintendo and/or Rare would have to create a GameCube adventure featuring Donkey Kong that needs to become a smash-hit first.
Pikachu:
"Oh god, not more Pokémon!" That's exactly what people would say if the adorable Pikachu became the main mascot for Nintendo. Nintendo would seem more of a 'kiddies company' than ever before and would probably lsoe money. Fans of the series are disappointed already by the new Game Boy Advance title, and the majority of gamers who aren't well experienced with Nintendo's games really hate Pokémon, despite many of them never playing the original games.
Link:
Link, in my opinion would be one of the main contenders for becomming Nintendo's new mascot if they decided to replace Mario. He's by far one of the coolest characters, starring in many a fantasy RPG, though his new 'Celda' look will ruin his chances. I've nothing against the game, I'm sure it'll be great, but he doesn't look so good as he does in Super Smash Bros Melee and the N64 games.
Starfox:
We all know him from his Space-faring adventures and we'll soon be playing Starfox Adventures on our GameCubes. He's a cool fox, who ain't no vixen to be toyed with. He's got a laser-pistol and flies a starship, and can be adapted to fit many a style of game, whether it be Adventure, RPG, space-shooter, or even maybe an FPS title! He would be competing against Link and Mario for mascot supremacy I reckon, and would make things real close between the three.
Samus:
Why not have a female mascot? It's not like she wears pink, has flowers in her hair, and is completely feminine. Quite the opposite! She wears very un-flattering red-orange bodyarmour and a helmet which means you rarely see what she really looks like anyway. Like Starfox, she's a spaceage gal, who fires her weapons at bugs, or so it seems so far from the footage we've seen of her GameCube Metroid game. Many consider Super Metroid to be the best game ever on a Nintendo system, and Samus is the favoured character by many in Super Smash Bros on the N64. She's not exactly a cute and cuddly games character either. She's be the one to up Nintendo's cool factor and make Sony and Microsoft Zealots reconsider what they're saying when they call Nintendo a 'kiddies company'.
So that means we've got three men and a little lady* who could all compete to be Nintendo's next mascot. However, I personally believe we'll be stuck with Mario for a long time. Everyone knows who he is, and his games are still some of the best yet, despite people poking fun at them, and the sales back this up. That's why he's stillthe mascot, because he's recognised all over the world as that 'short fat plumber' and despite that not sounding very cool, it sells games and that's what is most important for any games company, especially Nintendo who have been around for over 110 years entertaining the world.
Who do you think could compete against Nintendo for head-mascot?
* Yes I know that was a film title :)