Super Mario Bros Movie: From a plumber to a global sensation, the fascinating origin story of Mario

The Super Mario Bros Movie is almost here. The film is an animated adaptation of Nintendo's video game franchise of the same name. The movie has Chris Pratt voicing the titular character, while Anya Taylor-Joy voices Princess Peach. Charlie Day is Luigi, Mario's brother. Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen have also lent their voices. The film has received mixed reviews thus far, with 53 per cent on the review aggregation site, Rotten Tomatoes. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic have directed the film from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel. Super Mario Bros, the game, has been around in one form or another for more than four decades. But how did it come to be in the first place?

In the early 1980s, Nintendo was just a small-time company struggling to make a name for itself. The video game industry was still in its nascent stages, and the big names were Atari and Intellivision. However, Nintendo's then-president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, had a visionto create a game that would appeal to everyone, not just gamers. Enter Shigeru Miyamoto, a young designer who had just joined the company. He was tasked with creating a new game that would replace Nintendo's previous flagship game, Radar Scope, which had failed to make a splash in the market.

Miyamoto's idea was to create a game that would feature a character who would run and jump through various obstacles, collecting items and defeating enemies along the way. He was inspired by his childhood memories of exploring the forests and caves around his home, and he wanted to create a game that would evoke that sense of adventure and exploration.

And so, the character of Jumpman was born. He was a carpenter who had to rescue his girlfriend, Pauline, from the clutches of a giant gorilla named Donkey Kong. The game, of course, was Donkey Kong, and it was an instant hit.

But Miyamoto wasn't done yet. He felt that Jumpman had more potential, so he created a new game featuring the same character, this time called Mario. The game was called Mario Bros., and it featured Mario and his brother Luigi battling against various creatures in the sewers of New York City.

It was a quirky game that became a cult classic, but it was the next game in the series that would really put Mario on the map. That game was called Super Mario Bros., released in 1985. It was a game-changer (pun intended), introducing new concepts like side-scrolling levels, power-ups, and boss battles. It was an instant sensation and is still considered one of the greatest games of all time.

That's how the Mario game came into existence. From humble beginnings as a carpenter trying to save his girlfriend from a giant gorilla to a mustachioed plumber fighting evil turtles and saving princesses, the character has become a cultural icon beloved by millions around the world. He didn't just stay in the gaming world. He became a pop culture icon, appearing, as we know,in movies, TV shows, and even on lunch boxes. He has become a symbol of gaming history, a character that people of all ages know and love. Many of us born in the 1990s can remember stealing away to play Mario on our cheap Nintendo knockoffs that flooded Indian markets

And to think, it all started with a simple idea and a talented designer with a passion for adventure.

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