Super Mario is a Buddhist (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; GodSlayerNES; Dr. Jane McGonigal (BuddhistGeeks.com); Dan Milano (ABC)

A short film about two Buddhist moments in Mario and Zelda for the NES.

  

Super Mario is a Buddhist

Dr. McGonigal and Mario, 1st BG Conference

(WQ) Prof. Jane McGonigal, Ph.D., is a game designer at Stanford Univ. who wants to change the world through gaming. She delivered a riveting presentation with her twin sister, also a Stanford professor (different hairdo), at the first Buddhist Geeks Conference in 2011 at the Univ. of the West. She detailed the benefits of multiple-player games where people are going into the world and using gamer virtues for real-life good. From better community organizing, to solutions for regional famines, to possible treatments for cancer, McGonigal and her gamers are changing the world one epic win at a time.

• VIDEO: Who is Mario? (Trivia by WatchMojo)
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New Super Mario Bros. U features five players

Dan Milano  (ABC News, Nov. 25, 2012)

Mario in high definition. That sounds like something Nintendo fans should be scrambling over each other to get their hands on. The issue is, with the release of "New Super Mario Bros. U" for the Wii U, this visual update is six years too late. Xbox and Playstation games have been wowing us visually for that time and in 2012, the "HD" angle is pretty, but old hat. So what else is new?

  

Tanooki suit folklore (nintendolife)

Well, for one, Mario is flung southwest from Princess Peach's castle at the start of the game, technically landing him in a new area of the Mushroom Kingdom. There are a handful of new baddies mixed with classic foes, with a new power-up or two to compliment the always-flawless level design. The stages are presented with an over-arching map that you can zoom in and out of, very much akin to the world map in "Super Mario World."
 
While there are some new elements at play, most of it equates to the same old platformer as far as gameplay is concerned. Some levels are indistinguishable from zones in previous "New Super Mario Bros." titles.

 

The Wii U's big new thing is the touch-screen GamePad controller, which is used most creatively in this game's co-op mode. Up to five players can... More

• Wii U Game Review: "Nintendo Land"
• Nintendo's Era of Censorship 
• Games Radar: New Mario
• SOURCES: FilibusterCartoons.com; Ksitigarbha; Swastika as Buddhist symbol; Shigeru Miyamoto; North American video game crash of 1983; Tanuki; Best-selling franchises