The original Super Mario Bros turned forty recently. Everyone knows about the game’s massive influence, but what, exactly, makes it so much fun to play? Of course, you could point to the catchy music, the colorful graphics, and the overall sense of adventure, but there’s another element you might not always think about. You might not always think about mechanics when playing a video game, but movement heavily contributes to a game’s fun factor.
Super Mario Bros and the Jump
According to GamesRadar, former Rare programmer Chris Sutherland recently discussed exactly why Mario’s movement in Super Mario Bros is so satisfying. He stated,
“In Donkey Kong, Mario would jump in an arc, but you had more control in Super Mario Bros. There was also risk/reward, because you had to get close enough to the enemies to jump on them, but if you mistimed it you might get hit. You had control over the height of the jump too, depending on how long you pressed the button. Then with Koopas, jumping on them knocked them to one side instead of destroying them. So the same move had various different outcomes.”
Indeed, when you play Mario’s early arcade outings such as Donkey Kong and Mario Bros, the jump feels stiff. Those accustomed to Mario’s usual fluid jump might get frustrated when they try to get Mario to jump sideways and he jumps vertically instead. Mario’s NES outing gave his jump flexibility and fluidity, giving the player more control over the arc of his jumps and where he would land.
Mario’s Mechanics Over the Years
As Mario games evolved, so did his mechanics. Many games introduced new abilities for the plumber. For example, in Donkey Kong 94, Mario could do backflips. In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario utilized his FLUDD water squirter to squirt and hover. Super Mario Galaxy had a gravity mechanic, allowing Mario to run and jump on the underside of planets. However, through all these years, Mario’s jump remains his most iconic movement, and it remains satisfying to stomp on a Goomba or land on a perilous platform.
Conclusion
The next time you play a Mario game, give some consideration to the amount of thought that went into designing his mechanics. You don’t notice how natural his jump is when playing, which is exactly how things are supposed to be. Super Mario Bros made video games cool again, but it also let players enjoy the full experience of jumping. If that jump hadn’t worked so well, we might be in a very different gaming world today.
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