03-10-2014, 01:13 PM
It's hard to say what draws people to mario, other than the game play, since mario has been an icon since before most of us even started playing games.
Mario really isn't an exceptional character, and really the most interesting thing about him is how he is perceived by other characters in the rpgs. You could try to apply a bunch of traits to him, like he's heroic or hard working, but as a character he isn't faced with the trails or challenges for these things to be applicable. I'm pretty confident that if he was replaced with another character in his original appearances, we'd have pretty much the same perception of that character if the game play was the same in those games.
Some people would probably argue that he's a good role model for uniquely heroes, but that's only if you really don't think about things like character motivation and the means and difficulty by which mario accomplishes his achievements.
My favorite mario game is the original smb on nes, and in that game the palette, music, and control are all seem to matter more than the specific characters. The only one that really matters is the princess, since she gives the player a goal. Mario serves as a basic humanoid that we can attribute traits to, but doesn't really have any by default.
Mario really isn't an exceptional character, and really the most interesting thing about him is how he is perceived by other characters in the rpgs. You could try to apply a bunch of traits to him, like he's heroic or hard working, but as a character he isn't faced with the trails or challenges for these things to be applicable. I'm pretty confident that if he was replaced with another character in his original appearances, we'd have pretty much the same perception of that character if the game play was the same in those games.
Some people would probably argue that he's a good role model for uniquely heroes, but that's only if you really don't think about things like character motivation and the means and difficulty by which mario accomplishes his achievements.
My favorite mario game is the original smb on nes, and in that game the palette, music, and control are all seem to matter more than the specific characters. The only one that really matters is the princess, since she gives the player a goal. Mario serves as a basic humanoid that we can attribute traits to, but doesn't really have any by default.