If there’s one other franchise that rivals The Legend of Zelda in terms of consistent quality, cultural impact, and timelessness, it’s Super Mario.
The fact that the legendary Nintendo Producer Shigeru Miyamoto created two of gaming’s most iconic series, beginning with Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, is incredible enough. The truly unbelievable part, however, is the fact that he designed and directed both NES games at the same time throughout 1985, with both titles hitting Japanese stores just five months apart.
While the games were being developed in tandem, they would borrow elements from each other; for example, the rotating Fire Bars most commonly associated with Mario games were originally intended for The Legend of Zelda. It’s fitting that both series had intertwined beginnings, as to this day, both franchises continue to influence each other. The cast of Mario even make regular appearances and cameos in Zelda games, and vice versa, with Mario enemies popping up in Link’s path and Link taking a break from adventuring for some karting fun in the Mushroom Kingdom.
As Link’s adventures were paving the way to define the action-adventure and RPG genres, Mario was busy educating would-be developers on how platformers should be done. Thirty-five years later, and not only are Mario‘s mainline games unmatched, but he has also dabbled in RPG, puzzle, party, racing, and sports games with overwhelming success.
We have so much to thank the portly plumber for. Not only has Mario starred in a wealth of all-time classic games over the last three-and-a-half decades, he has also helped shape The Legend of Zelda series along the way, and for that, we can’t wait to honor the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. today with a week of Mario-themed articles.
Let us know your favorite Mario games and memories!
Be sure to check out the rest of our articles from Super Mario Week, our weeklong celebration of Super Mario Bros.’ 35th anniversary!
