Super Mario comes to the Wii

To have a successful brand you must have a recognizable icon. For Nintendo that icon for the last thirty years has been a little Italian looking plumber named Mario. Mario is well known around the world and by generations of gamers who have spent good portions of their childhood, adolescence, teen years and probably parts of their adulthood helping him navigate mushrooms, fireballs, Koopas and encounters with Bowser, the huge dragon like creature to save his beloved princess.

To say Mario is Nintendo’s biggest star is an understatement, as the Mario themed games perennially top the best selling Nintendo games. From the beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System, through the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo 64 and Nintendo Game Cube, Mario themes games and more accurately the Super Mario games were best sellers by large margins for the Japanese gaming company.

It is not an overstatement to say Mario build Nintendo into the video game power it is today. No other game system manufacturer can claim such an iconic character with such a success filled resume. The little guy who sports the blue overalls, redshirt and cap has etched his image into the history of video games for countless millions of gamers over the decades he has been bouncing jumping and bopping his way across screens in living rooms, bed rooms and college dorm rooms to the delight of all.

If you look at the top sellers for all the older Nintendo game systems you will see the Super Mario Brothers name at the top of every best sellers list. The adventures of Mario and Luigi captured the imagination of gamers with every iteration. The challenge of playing against another to try to get the highest score was something all gamers loved.

Another positive for this series was the familiarity from system to system. Although enhancements in each system gave the game designers more liberties to improve the interfaces and graphics, the theme stayed familiar, which drew fans of the older systems to purchase the new platform and a copy of their favorite to play with it.

So it is with New Super Mario Brothers for the Wii. The classic game translates well for the Wii. The graphics are even more vibrant on the Wii as they were on any other platform and on the LCD televisions of today the field of vision is just fantastic. The Wii generation is quickly becoming familiar with Nintendo’s long time hero as the parents who played the game in their youth relive past glories as they compete with the IPod generation.

Why would Mario not continue to ride the wave of popularity? With a high definition Wii coming soon there will be no end to the possibilities for all the Mario games, such as Mario Galaxy, Mario Cart, Super Smash Brothers Brawl and Mario Party. The future for Mario and Nintendo seems very bright!