April 5 - Little Mario

“Go Go Mario
Today, full of energy,
Mario is still running, running
Go save Princess Peach! Go!
Today, full of energy, Mario runs
Today, full of energy, jumping!
Today, full of energy, searching for coins
Today, keep going, Mario!

~ The Mario Song (translated) - Link

I have played a lot of video games in my lifetime. This may date myself, but I remember when the go-kart place only had a baseball game where the pitches were a series of lights - Blip blip blip blip curve ball. I remember seeing the first Asteroids game, then Space Invaders. I frequented basement arcades, where in the dim lighting you had to place your quarter up on the screen glass to reserve next game, and when I was out of quarters I hung out just watching other players. I remember Buckner & Garcia's smash hit - Pac Man Fever. I owned the cassette tape, I lived it. I remember when 'the guy' from Donkey Kong got his own game and you finally learned his name, Mario Bros.

My college dorm had a Super Mario Bros stand up game, and if you flicked pennies into it just right - you could get it to register a coin inserted. This was back before things auto-saved your progress or games needed 10+ hours worth of cut-scenes and combo weapons, before permadeath became a novelty and considered 'hard mode' - you simply had three lives and made it as far as you skill allowed. World 6-3 if I recall correctly.

Mario has been an active companion on this digital journey ... but the fact he is restricted to Nintendo and I'm Xbox One/PC gamer, he is now just a fond memory.

This Mario is one from the extras section of Patrick Van de Ven's recent PDF release 'Little Guys'. The form works well for it, but I'll confess that it's not my favorite Mario build. I don't think my attempt at Luigi worked out too well - the shape of Luigi's head is different from Mario in that it comes down to a point at the chin rather than having chubby cheeks, which is somewhat signature to this balloon concept.

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Other Little Guys:


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