Popular Culture Review 29.2
suddenly wearing Mario masks , completing their transformation and victory over everyday life . The words “ Who are you ?” appear on the screen , letting us know that Nintendo wants us to think of ourselves as Mario , to transform as we play . To play as Mario , to move and transform like Mario , is to become Mario .
The point of the advertisement is to take the focus off of who Mario is because he is a vessel for you . Instead the focus is on what you , and in turn Mario , do . And what does Mario do ? As has been mentioned many times : he changes . He changes his body by using power-ups to either become big or become half-raccoon or to even become a two-dimensional being in the Paper Mario series . Notice how Paper Mario : The Thousand Year Door works on the basis of changing and manipulating Mario ’ s body as an essential element of progression . You can fold Mario ’ s body into a paper airplane to fly over gaps . You can turn him sideways to fall or to walk through cracks . You can even roll him into a tube so that he can then roll himself under obstacles .
Like Paper Mario , Mario ’ s other RPG titles are particularly notable for using bodily manipulation to advance . In Mario & Luigi : Superstar Saga , Mario and his brother Luigi are shown teaming together to perform special abilities that allow them to reach previously inaccessible areas or to perform powerful attacks . These abilities show them working together in an almost slapstick fashion resembling the work of vaudevillian tumblers . One such technique is called “ Splash Bros ” where Mario jumps on Luigi ’ s back and springboards off of him , Luigi then jumps as well so that Mario , still in mid-air , catches him , and both spin like a falling corkscrew onto an enemy . Another move involves Luigi smashing Mario with a hammer so that Mario can walk under certain doors in his newly squished form .
218