Happy Mar10 Day!

Today is National Mar10 Day, so I decided to write a little something:

Mario has always been my best friend for as long as I remember, ever since I was 2. His adventures had always been enjoyable for me to experience throughout good times and bad, even if he was only saving the same princess from the same fire-breathing gargantuan over and over.

Mario taught me a lot about the world. He taught me how golf worked, he taught me how tennis worked, and he also taught me how soccer worked. I remember developing an Italian accent I learned from hearing his opening catch phrase from Super Mario 64 before even finding out I was part-Italian.

I remember the first Mario game I had ever beaten was either Donkey Kong on Game Boy or Super Mario Land 2. (The first video game I had ever beaten overall was Donkey Kong Jr. on NES, except that featured Mario as the antagonist, and is only considered a spin-off of the Super Mario franchise.) I memorized Wario's Castle which, today, is considered one of the hardest Mario stages of all time until I could beat it like it was second nature.

Even when I was being judged and criticized for continuing to like the franchise, I continued, ignoring my critics. I played Mario Kart DS on the school bus all the time with two of my friends, and I was VERY competitive.

I beat Super Paper Mario with a friend a couple years ago as an adult, and my first time beating it was as a teenager. The story turned out to be a hell of a lot deeper than I remembered it, and with my developed empathy, the ending had far more of an emotional impact on me, with an incredibly deep message about life and knowing who or what you care about and defending it each day.

Meeting Charles Martinet last year, was one of the most thrilling and happiest moments of my life. The man who breathed life into the character who helped me identify myself, and I got to pose right beside him. On the inside, I felt like jumping up and down like a kid at Chuck E. Cheese, but I kept it just back enough that I rambled partly on how much I would ramble to my Mom in the car about Mario when I was a kid, non-stop, no less.

In the end, I understand Mario is obviously a fictional character, but what is absolutely real about him is what he represents and how he makes me feel. That is who Mario is to me, and why I consider him my best friend.

Happy Mar10 Day! Can't wait until Smash Switch comes out!