Mario made its debut as the hero in 1981’s arcade classic Donkey Kong. Although back then he was not titled as Marion, he simply goes by the name “Jumpman.” Over forty years of its journey Mario appeared in 200 video games, a cartoon and two theatrically released movies. And with Donkey King, creator and Nintendo game producer Shigeru Miyamoto not only gave the gaming world a star but also became a gaming legend whose track record few can rival. Not only Mario, he is the mastermind behind Zelda, Star Fox and more. Miyamoto is now the driving force of Nintendo for nearly five decades.
But Miyamoto wasn’t the sole driver, he rode along with Composer Koji Kondo who is behind the classic Mario theme that stayed in player’s heads for generations. Together they build a virtual world where melodies float in every element of living and the gameplay is so addictive that one may miss their job interview without any regret. They built the saga of Nintendo that we are cherishing today.
Now with The Super Mario Bros. Movie from Nintendo and Illumination, the gaming legends are ready to spread their legacy to the whole world.
In an interview with RollingStone Miyamoto revealed that they started planning for a movie over a decade ago because they didn’t want Mario to be a game only character. That’s when they started giving backdrops for the Gaming Star. “And about 10 years ago, after this time period where, ‘It’s either Nintendo, Sega, Sony or Microsoft,” after all of that ended, we started to want to focus on the idea of wanting people to enjoy Nintendo and love Nintendo as Nintendo, not specifically as any certain game.” he said. “And alongside Mr. Iwata, we decided that we wanted to shift focus and take a more IP-focused approach. And within that kind of approach was the idea of creating movies, theme parks and other things like that.”
Miyamoto raved about Illumination founder Chris Melendandri and why he is the ideal choice to partner with. “And it was back in that time when we changed approaches that we started to feel like it should be Nintendo that creates this kind of thing. With Chris it wasn’t, ‘Hey, let’s make a Mario movie.’ It was like, ‘Let’s create something new,’ and that kind of shift in perspective and how our approach to creating something was that really made this partnership work.”
Kondo shared his amazing work experience with composer Brian Tyler and how they used the original game music to recreate something new and fresh for the movie so it doesn’t add “different phases of music.” “I didn’t provide specific instructions to [Brian] say, ‘Please use this music in this scene.” And the reason for that is, I didn’t want people to be taken out of the movie by hearing a piece of game music that didn’t fully fit that particular scene.” He addressed. When questioned about the tracks that he wished had in the movies, Kondo replied, “No! I’d like to create the music myself!”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is running successfully in your nearby theater, grab ticket for the weekend and enjoy with your loved ones.