Super Mario Bros.

[KidMan]

I recently played Super Mario Bros. for the original Nintendo while stoned and it got me thinking about the game a lot. I realized that the concept of Mario going to a world, based on mushrooms made me think that the creators of this game, were frequent drug users.

Now, I'm not advocating drug use, I'm just saying that the entire idea of the game is really weird. You get bigger when you eat a mushroom. You shoot out fire from your hand when you get a white flower. You fight turtles with attitude. Stars make you invincible, you break blocks with your head/fist, you jump on things heads, and green pipes transport you to other parts of the world. It sounds like one giant trip the creators were having.

Also, the new PS3 commercial got me thinking about this also.

 

[Hitokiri]

Spot on, they were all drug-addled Communists. Mario was the hero of the proletariat.

 

[KidMan]

You got to be pullin' my strings Hito....

 

[Hitokiri]

Mario's distinctive look is due to technology restrictions in the mid-'80s; with a limited number of pixels and colors, the programmers could not animate Mario's movement without making his arms "disappear" if his shirt was a solid color; they did not have the space to give him a mouth or ears; and they could not animate hair, so Mario got overalls, a mustache, sideburns, and a cap to bypass these problems. Mario's creator Shigeru Miyamoto has also stated when interviewed that Mario wears a cap because he finds it difficult to draw hair.

..........................................................

Miyamoto created many of the elements in the Mario world from ideas he had seen in other media. One of his most recognizable contributions to his Mario universe is the Super Mushroom, which enlarges Mario until he is damaged by an enemy. There is also a Poison Mushroom, which is darker than the Super Mushroom and featured in the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, and consequently in the western Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Bros. DX. When Mario takes it, he is either returned to small Mario (if he is Super Mario) or killed. The item makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee, wherein it shrinks any combatant that touches in, with a resultant loss in power and weight.

These ideas were derived from the "Eat me" cakes and "Drink me" potions in the Lewis Carroll story, Alice in Wonderland, after Miyamoto was forced to shrink the original sketches of Mario because they were too big.[3] The concept behind warp pipes, colored tubes which sometimes transport Mario to another area, was inspired by Star Trek.

Well, I was close.

Anyway, I guess Kidboy, if you consider that *Alice in Wonderland* is basically a big drug trip metaphor, you're right. Mario is sort of indirectly inspired by it.