Four decades of Mario: What the industry has learned from one of gaming's most iconic characters

• “The gameplay will always be the most important thing and that is where Mario rules!” – Jacki Vause
• “What Mario represents to me is a commitment to quality and constant innovation.” – Will Luton
• "It was there my destiny was clear. I had to become a game developer or die trying." - Kelly Vero

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros, released initially on September 13th, 1985.

From the early days on the Famicom all the way to being one of the most recognisable characters in games, Mario has pulled in fans across the generations and left its mark on the industry. A Nintendo console staple, he's even made the jump to mobile a few times.

With such a significant milestone approaching, we asked our Mobile Mavens to reflect on Mario's legacy, drawing on personal memories, their favourite games in the series, and design lessons learnt from playing.

Kelly Vero

CEO and CTO at NAK3D

This little girl got into games because of arcade machines that needed to feed on pesetas - you can read about it here.

From Pole Position to Donkey Kong, I felt the awesome power of Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe like when Superman had a brawl with Superman in that junkyard. 

In 1980, someone was selling some hooky Game & Watch around the back of the pub on our council estate. Naturally my grandma cut the geezer a deal and I went from being a kid who wore birthday shoes from the local skip to being the coolest kid in class.

Being a Mario dealer was a tough life, the kind you might see in The Wire, or New Jack City; but because Cash Rules Everything Around me. I survived the street, no pizza needed, I saw the film, no, not that one, the Bob Hoskins one and I knew what I had to do. Get a NES.

It was there my destiny was clear. I had to become a game developer or die trying. Now Gen Z deals with me around the back of the pub and by pub I mean Pocket Gamer Connects London.  

Oscar Clark

Chief Strategy Officer at Fundamentally Games

I literally have no interest in Mario - it leaves me cold.

I totally appreciate the impact Mario has on game design and development, but I just don't enjoy the character or the main games. Mario Kart is something I enjoy, to be fair.   

There are lessons from Mario I do appreciate, not least the lessons on onboarding, where you introduce a new thing, you let the player master that, then you challenge them. A really important design lesson.

But as someone who experiences dyspraxia, I can't execute platform games in the perfect way they often require.

For those who love Mario, great. Good for you... I'm more interested in Lara Croft, Master Chief and the characters I create in Skyrim or Baldur's Gate.

Konstantinos Zarkadoulas

Games M&A Lead

Despite Mario being the first ever big gaming IP I got involved with as a kid, and the second game I picked in my Nintendo DS (first was an Asterix and Obelix game), I wouldn't say that Super Mario has influenced or inspired my gaming path professionally. Not consciously, at least!

My favourite Super Mario game is still that first game I picked up as a kid. The New Super Marios Bros on Nintendo DS.

Jacki Vause

CEO at Dimoso

I remember when Super Mario launched: it was a revelation with amazingly captivating gameplay and my initial memories are of a colourful, noisy feast of fun.

Now, four decades on, I've seen my sons and their cousins grow up with it and experience an evolved but no less attractive game, with its many spin-offs. Having worked in the games industry for decades on the PR and marketing side of the business, I can appreciate the power and success of the franchise.

I've been lucky enough to work on huge franchises like Harry Potter, Lego and Angry Birds, and I know how complex these businesses are. The overriding success factor, however, is always the game: no matter how many brand extensions it brings, the gameplay will always be the most important thing and that is where Mario rules!

Will Luton

Founder/CPO Village Studio Games

Like many in the UK in the 90s, I grew up as a SEGA kid, so Nintendo was always a second choice. But it still held a fascination, if not a direct inspiration. Really, it’s only in recent years that I’ve been able to appreciate the genius of Miyamoto and his team.

What Mario represents to me is a commitment to quality and constant innovation. There has never been a bad mainstream Mario title. In fact, every single one has been a banger, simply because they are always moving forward and surprising. The games always feel like they have had love poured into them and a huge respect for the player. 

It speaks towards the creative bravery of the team, making big, bold decisions, like leaping from 2D to 3D or linear progression to overworld maps. But the games always embrace the unexpected and the weird, Power-ups that turn you into a flying raccoon or a giant elephant. Water-filled backpacks that clean up ooze. There is a delight in those odd moments and gameplay twists.

That is the creativity, innovation and bravery that is so sorely missing in modern, product-managed mobile gaming. There is too much focus on optimisation and rationalisation, forgetting that our primary job is to delight and entertain. Everything else comes later.

Ever the contrarian, my favourite is Mario Sunshine. In part, it was the first mainstream Mario title I played at launch and got to experience the innovations before they trickled out everywhere else. It was the first time I fell in love with a Mario game, so it colours my view. But in retrospect, it’s probably the Mario game that is thematically and mechanically the most consistent.

Firstly, I love the sun and the brightness of the game, it feels like being on a holiday on the Isle Delfino, rather than being on a world tour. Secondly, it is based around one gameplay gimmick, F.L.U.D.D the water spraying backpack, much like Cappy in Mario Odyssey, rather than a bunch of powerups.

And the way in which they unfold the F.L.U.D.D. mechanics are so interesting, with constantly surprising uses. Also, the idea of altering an environment like you do in the game, by sucking up water and cleaning away goop, was so unique at the time. It was two years before Half Life 2’s gravity gun and it just felt like magic.

I think a lot of people were down on Sunshine because it didn’t offer the huge leap that the previous game (Mario 64) did. That was a once in a lifetime innovation and an impossible follow-up, so it was bound to draw criticism. 

But what it did over 64 was so much quality of life improvements that made it way less frustrating to play, like how they used techniques of rendering Mario through blocking walls to overcome occlusion and using F.L.U.D.D. To hover jump. Both of these took a lot of the frustration out of 3D jumping as a newer player, and you see this stuff still now. Astro Bot is very much standing on Sunshine’s shoulders in this regard. It even has a goop-sucking backpack.

Stuart De Ville

Director at Fribbly Games

I first played Mario Bros on a friend’s NES when I was young, and I played pretty much every Mario game I could after that. These days, I’m actually more of a Luigi fan. I like how he moves, and as a brother myself, I connect with having that energy-filled sibling you sometimes find a bit annoying.

I learnt a lot from Mario games, like how pressing jump allows for player imprecision, so it always feels good. For me, that’s best shown in Mario 64, which I still love watching speedrunners crack in ways I never could. That game really stood out with its freedom of movement, exploration, and those parkour-like jumps. And of course, the characters felt more alive than ever, and that Bowser fight was iconic.

The Mario series has given us decades of great games and a legacy that keeps pushing forward. They always feel brave and innovative, never like cash grabs. They’re built on player-first thinking; it’s about feel and experience above all else.

And being only a few years older than Mario myself, it feels like we’ve grown up together. His games have always been there alongside me, reminding me what life is really about: play.