User:Mk8mlyb/sandbox
Mario (franchise) talk page
[edit]Request for comment: what to indicate as the first game in Mario series
[edit]There is an active dispute on which game is the first entry in Nintendo's long-running Mario (franchise).
- Option A: Donkey Kong (First game featuring Mario (character))
- Option B: Mario Bros (First game with the series name branding)
- Option C: Super Mario Bros (First game of the mainline Super Mario series)
Poll
[edit]- Option A - per WP:VG/S approved sources (Shacknews, Time, Eurogamer, VG247, GameSpot, Game Revolution, VG247, IGN, Den of Geek) that state Donkey Kong to be a Mario game, and Donkey Kong releasing prior to Mario Bros.. (Mk8mlyb Signature)
Discussion
[edit]If you've been following the discussion, I have been creating a detailed argument for why Donkey Kong should be the first Mario game. This is the main version:
- It's the first game to feature Mario. Mario is the star of the Mario series, so it makes sense that his first game is the first game of the Mario series.
- The argument for Mario Bros relies on claiming that Mario debuted in Donkey Kong despite being branded as "Jumpman" but that Donkey Kong can't be the first Mario game because of "branding". That is arbitrary and random logic and a form of personal interpretation.
- Even if Donkey Kong was considered the first game of the Donkey Kong series, that doesn't stop it from being a Mario game. The Yoshi and Wario games and Luigi's Mansion are considered to be Mario games even though they share a similar relationship to the Mario series as the Donkey Kong series, being not named after Mario and differently branded from "mainline" Mario games. Not only that, but Donkey Kong series locations and characters regularly appear in Mario sports games, and they are not considered crossovers, but spin-offs.
- The arcade Mario Bros wasn't even the first game named Mario Bros to come out in 1983. That was the Game & Watch game of the same name.
- To say Super Mario Bros is the first game in the series is to ignore that the game wouldn't exist had it not been for Donkey Kong introducing the Mario character.
- Mario Bros was intended as a follow-up to Donkey Kong and advertised as "that guy you played as in Donkey Kong and his brother are cleaning the streets of New York".
- All of the sources (Shacknews, Time, Eurogamer, Pixelkin, Invisible Culture, Radio Times, VG247, GameSpot, Game Revolution, VG247, IGN, Den of Geek) that state Donkey Kong to be a Mario game.