Super Mario has often been looked at as a quintessential video game franchise; its gameplay and graphics have defined each generation of consoles since the NES, and the Super Mario story has always been one of minimalism that is easily understood by anyone who’s ever heard a fairy tale: The hero rescues the girl from the monster.
While one could easily find Super Mario games to be an easy substitute for something like Sleeping Beauty, I find that these games are an easy substitute for a darker story, The Great Gatsby. But in such a scenario one would have to give up on the notion that Mario, and the player, is acting heroic.
The character of Bowser is a working class koopa that has built his way up to wealth via shady means in order to gain the hand of the woman he’s always loved, Princess Peach, who is herself a member of the old money established wealth. Mario, her selfish lover (and a racist) sets off on an adventure to rescue his “kidnapped” lover from the “evil” clutches of the man-turtle that loves her more than Mario even notices her from day to day. Luigi, in this situation, would play the role of the wealthy relative and constant bystander. Symbolism would imply that his physical similarities to Mario represent his connections to old money and Mario’s family specifically, while his green costume shows his sympathies with Bowser.
At the end of the story the hate filled, selfish racist, Mario, throws the lovelorn criminal, Bowser, into lava and takes back his property. Princess Peach keeps her money, security, and social standing. Luigi stays depressed and ignored. The upside is that playing a Super Mario game with this stuck in your head can make it strangely intriguing, and specifically it makes Super Mario Sunshine the darkest installment of Super Mario games, as a tale of failed revenge and dual natures struggling against each other.
The face of evil…
