If you were to mime Mario in a game of charades, chances are you’d jump into the air with one fist and knee raised in tribute to the plumber’s classic form. It’s hard to imagine the video game landscape of today without this iconic gameplay, but Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto recently revealed that this almost wasn't the case.Way back before Mario was called Mario, and instead went by Jumpman, Miyamoto was developing the character for Donkey Kong. The debut of Nintendo’s icon was originally designed to be played with only a joystick, thus no jump feature was planned.“I also recall that the cabinet we were making the game for had one joystick and one button, but initially I intended it to be controlled using only the joystick,” said Miyamoto.When asked by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata if it’s possible that Mario may have never jumped if the Donkey Kong cabinet didn’t just happen to have an extra button, Miyamoto replied, “Well, that might have been the case. Originally it was a game where you had to escape from a maze,” Miyamoto continues. “To allow players to jump and avoid dangers would have spoiled the strategic element of the game. But then we thought: "If you had a barrel rolling towards you, what would you do?"“I think that if we hadn't allowed Mario to jump, it would have most likely proved to be a horrendously difficult game to play,” Miyamoto adds.There you have it. Without the dumb luck of Donkey Kong being developed on an arcade cabinet with a superfluous button, your childhood may have never been filled with the visual of an Italian plumber bashing his head against glowing bricks.
wow that wouldve been different lol
I like it when you guys pick Miyamoto's brain.
Now there's something to keep me up at night...
Wish I got money by bashing my head against glowing bricks. How awesome would that be?
Mario wouldn't be an Iconic Nintendo character if he didn't jump, half of his adventures require him to jump on like each level.
Now imagine Sonic without being able to run really fast! Now THAT would be crazy.
Scary
That'd be like Mega Man without being able to absorb boss's powers.
I cant imagine.....
Wow. A lot of game characters are pretty naked without their powers and weapons, among other things.
woah thats interesting
The world would end.
that would have been an epic fail
I wonder what things would be like now had Mario not jumped?
its like zelda without a sword just wouldnt work
Does that mean Pac Man would STILL be king?
And somewhere in the multiverse... this came to pass... and they were very sad.
Man.......that's like playing Super Mario Bros. and not being able to jump on/over Goombas, pipes,blocks, etc. making it virtually unplayable.
Interesting, lol. I love doing the triple jump when I play.
Mario without jump. Scary.