I recently watched this DYKG video on Super Mario 64. They posted some facts on the development of Super Mario 128 and one of these caught my interest. Apparently during early 00s, Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to shake off Mario's reputation of being a kid-friendly character. I could not find the source of this alleged statements on the video description but they might have come from the infamous Japanese Playboy interview he did in 2003.
Skip to 11:49 in case it starts from the beginning.
Miyamoto wanted Mario to ditch the iconic V sign he always did back then and make him laugh and smile less.
I post this thread because i suspect that this manifested during the Gamecube era as a sorta milder edgy phase for Mario.
Hear me out. The very first proper Mario title released on the Gamecube was Super Mario Sunshine.
Every region had this Mario render front and center on the box cover so this wasn't merely just a case of pandering to western audiences.
Why isn't he smiling? What is he pointing to? Was this pose meant to make Mario look more determined and tougher than usual? This is strange coming from the happy-go-lucky and smiling Mario featured prominently on the box art of previous mainline Mario entries.
With the exception of most the Mario Party games, there are very few Gamecube game featuring Mario that have him smiling on the boxart.
Now this may be of a reach, but during the majority of the 00s, you can see a rise in this more stoic looking Mario in official 3D renders. Because its hard to pinpoint the exact year these renders of Mario originated from, I usually base their age on the quality of the renders. Back in the 20000s, Nintendo used more harsher lighting and shadows when rendering 3D Mario character art.
The Super Mario Wiki has a pretty large gallery of 3D Mario art used for games and promotional purposes.
If you skim through the 3D sections of the gallery, you can see how a rise of the renders of Mario from the 2000s that had him looking more stoic and cooler looking than usual. More so than in later and earlier eras of 3D Mario.
Again, I say this is a reach because you can see just as much of not more renders of Mario from this era smiling and giving off his classic jovial appearance.
My main gist of this is that there was a time where Nintendo wanted to portray Mario and the Mario series as being more mature than in previous eras of the franchise. Miyamoto had a lot of influence in the direction of the franchise at that time. If he wanted Mario to stop throwing his once-iconic V sign...
Then you damn sure we'll never see Mario do that ever again.
If he wanted Mario to appeal to a wider audience, then perhaps this manifested in how Mario is depicted in promotional art and marketing.
I doubt Nintendo today would feature Mario with a tattoo to advertise a special edition of the Switch,
2000s was a really weird time for Mario.
Skip to 11:49 in case it starts from the beginning.
Miyamoto wanted Mario to ditch the iconic V sign he always did back then and make him laugh and smile less.
I post this thread because i suspect that this manifested during the Gamecube era as a sorta milder edgy phase for Mario.
Hear me out. The very first proper Mario title released on the Gamecube was Super Mario Sunshine.
Every region had this Mario render front and center on the box cover so this wasn't merely just a case of pandering to western audiences.
Why isn't he smiling? What is he pointing to? Was this pose meant to make Mario look more determined and tougher than usual? This is strange coming from the happy-go-lucky and smiling Mario featured prominently on the box art of previous mainline Mario entries.
With the exception of most the Mario Party games, there are very few Gamecube game featuring Mario that have him smiling on the boxart.
Now this may be of a reach, but during the majority of the 00s, you can see a rise in this more stoic looking Mario in official 3D renders. Because its hard to pinpoint the exact year these renders of Mario originated from, I usually base their age on the quality of the renders. Back in the 20000s, Nintendo used more harsher lighting and shadows when rendering 3D Mario character art.
The Super Mario Wiki has a pretty large gallery of 3D Mario art used for games and promotional purposes.
If you skim through the 3D sections of the gallery, you can see how a rise of the renders of Mario from the 2000s that had him looking more stoic and cooler looking than usual. More so than in later and earlier eras of 3D Mario.
Again, I say this is a reach because you can see just as much of not more renders of Mario from this era smiling and giving off his classic jovial appearance.
My main gist of this is that there was a time where Nintendo wanted to portray Mario and the Mario series as being more mature than in previous eras of the franchise. Miyamoto had a lot of influence in the direction of the franchise at that time. If he wanted Mario to stop throwing his once-iconic V sign...
Then you damn sure we'll never see Mario do that ever again.
If he wanted Mario to appeal to a wider audience, then perhaps this manifested in how Mario is depicted in promotional art and marketing.
I doubt Nintendo today would feature Mario with a tattoo to advertise a special edition of the Switch,
2000s was a really weird time for Mario.
