MARIO is an iconic figure in the world of video games. People who have never even picked up a controller or used a mouse and keyboard for anything other than office work can easily identify the famous Italian plumber.
Mario was one of the pioneers of the platforming genre (a game that entails using jumping and traversal to reach a goal), first appearing in his own game called Mario Bros, in 1983.
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This gave Nintendo the upper hand against its competitors as they simply had more time to experiment with what works and what does not in a platformer.
Although platforming went on a massive hiatus after the early 2000s, it has experienced somewhat of a revival with other publishers remastering and re-releasing some of the older titles to capitalise on nostalgia.
Nintendo and Mario did not partake in this hiatus, being one of the few companies to continue spewing out quality platformer after quality platformer over the years.
This is evident when you pick up more recent titles such as Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario 3D World. These titles take advantage of the technical capabilities of the Nintendo Switch by offering nearly seamless transition from stage to stage.
The controls feel crisp and tight, with the little red plumber feeling exceptionally responsive to your every movement on the controller.
Collecting coins and jumping on blocks gives the controller a satisfying vibration while emitting a sound that makes the player want to go back for every collectible.
Many games still cannot capture the essence of what a good platformer feels like, such as Yooka Laylee a crowdfunded platformer that fell way short of expectations.
It is a pity that Nintendo sells so poorly in South Africa as this means many local gamers will not experience how good it feels to bounce around stages with Mario, despite having seen the little Italian plumber throughout their lives.
