People love their myths and hate it when anyone calls them that: MYTHS!
Especially, if those people happen to be gamers.
Unsurprisingly, when I cast my doubt on the beloved gamers' anecdote that good ol' Mario got his moustache because supposedly, the hardware limitations of the (actually rather potent) Donkey Kong arcade game basically left designer Shigeru Miyamoto no choice but to exaggerate his protagonist's mouth into that iconic curly facial badge o' manliness, reactions weren't precisely favorable. This, although I pointed out that there's plenty of “clean-shaven” human(oid) video game characters of the 8-bit generation, including Nintendo's own Link, Pit, Stan, Urban Champion etc. (not to mention all the damsels).
But logical considerations wouldn't help here. A proof of concept was due. That's what I attempt to show here, bringing back the then-briefly-famous “Barbershop Bros.” from the depths of 8-bit oblivion:
Especially, if those people happen to be gamers.
Unsurprisingly, when I cast my doubt on the beloved gamers' anecdote that good ol' Mario got his moustache because supposedly, the hardware limitations of the (actually rather potent) Donkey Kong arcade game basically left designer Shigeru Miyamoto no choice but to exaggerate his protagonist's mouth into that iconic curly facial badge o' manliness, reactions weren't precisely favorable. This, although I pointed out that there's plenty of “clean-shaven” human(oid) video game characters of the 8-bit generation, including Nintendo's own Link, Pit, Stan, Urban Champion etc. (not to mention all the damsels).
But logical considerations wouldn't help here. A proof of concept was due. That's what I attempt to show here, bringing back the then-briefly-famous “Barbershop Bros.” from the depths of 8-bit oblivion:
Now, keep in mind I applied the modifications in a VERY conservative fashion. The actual hardware/engine likely allows taking broader liberties than I allowed myself here. Of course, this is no clear-cut, mathematical proof by any means. Just an illustration of the point I'm trying to make:
- Mario without a moustache WAS a feasible option!
- Mario's moustache was a design choice that cannot sufficiently be explained with hardware constraints.