In honor of one of its most recognizable video game heroes, Nintendo of America is celebrating Mario Day today.
Mario Day, which is recognized by websites such as daysoftheyear.com and nationaldaycalendar.com, is derived from the abbreviation of the date — "Mar 10" — which resembles the spelling of the plumber protagonist's name. (It doesn't work, of course, if abiding by The Associated Press style guidelines, which require that "March" be spelled out.)
Mario, whose ancestor "Jumpman" appeared in the 1981 arcade classic "Donkey Kong," made his official debut in 1985's "Super Mario Brothers," which was later sold with the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Last year, game enthusiasts celebrated the character's 30th birthday.
Mario-themed video game titles have stacked up over the years, exploring varied formats such as sports, fighting and racing, along with the classic sidescroll and 3-D objective-based games. In recent years, Nintendo has released a number of Mario reboots for its high-definition console, the Wii U, starting with "New Super Mario Bros. U" in 2012 and its add-on "New Super Luigi U" the following year. The games are targeted to all ages and carry family friendly ratings in the E (everyone) territory, according to ratings given by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board.
"Mario Kart 8," described in a Deseret News review as "quirky, colorful, kid friendly, intuitive, witty and, most importantly, extraordinarily fast," debuted in May 2014 and gave the beleaguered Wii U console a big boost, selling 3.49 million units in the first six months, according to Polygon.com.
"Super Smash Bros.," described as the "ultimate video game battle royal," came later that year. "Mario Kart" and "Super Smash Bros." are the latest iterations in popular video game franchises. They were also among the 10 most critically acclaimed Wii U games, according to Metacritic.com.
The game that tops that list, "Super Mario 3D World," debuted prior to the holiday season in 2013.
Last year, Mario appeared in the 10th installment of the Mario Party franchise, where the familiar lineup of friends and foes compete in a board game-style competition. In September, Nintendo launched "Super Mario Maker," a game that allows users to create their own levels and upload them for the online community. And for the holiday season, Nintendo closed out the year with a new version of its tennis franchise, "Mario Tennis Ultra Smash."
And there's more to come. "Mario and Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games," a continuation of yet another Mario sports franchise, will be released for the Nintendo 3DS and the Wii U in 2016.
Email: ashill@deseretnews.com
Twitter: @aaronshill