AUTHOR
O. Casey Corr
PUBLICATION
The Seattle Times
YEAR
1990
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
Somewhere over the Pacific, flying west from Seattle at 39,000 feet, I put Mario through his paces. A fireball roars from the mouth of a lion, threatening to annihilate the big-nosed fellow in coveralls. I press the controller. Mario jumps, the fireball rolls below him. The lion launches another fireball. I don’t know if a heart beats in Mario, who is just dots on a video screen, but mine is beating faster. My palms sweat. It’s not just that I feel for the little guy. I feel the danger directly, even though the fantasy takes place in a video-game machine smaller than a paperback.I am flying to Japan, headed for Mario’s electronic birthplace in Kyoto, where the Nintendo Co. Ltd. collects billions of dollars, each year, from parents responding to the demands of their children. As a company built on the foundation of a cute character, Nintendo is comparable to the Disney Co., but Mario outranks Mickey Mouse in popularity polls. “Nintendo crosses every border to speak directly to young people from every culture,” the company boasts. “Kids from around the world are learning two languages: their native tongue and Nintendo.”
[…]
Penetrating Nintendo is a bit like one of Mario’s adventures. Mario collects coins as he travels through different levels. Each level presents greater difficulties but bigger rewards. I’m collecting answers. The first level is Redmond.
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Nintendo
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Shigeru Miyamoto
Howard Phillips
Hiroshi Yamauchi
ALTERNATE LINK
Archived Copy @ Internet Archive
PRINT AVAILABILITY
December 16, 1990