Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2011)
2011 Entertainment 15 Legacy of portly twin plumbers prospers IVliCH^LF B d NPY . :: The world of a short and p u d g y Ita lia n p lu m b er/ carpenter living in the M ush room Kingdom may ring a bell. How about a thinner and slightly taller fraternal b roth er? Sound fam iliar? O f course! This is the story of M ario and his brother, Luigi, the fraternal brothers that constantly save innocent lives, m ostly Princess Peach, and stop the evil turtle villain known as Bowser. The M ario and Luigi fran chise is one of those most game senes of the day beginning in 1981, th o u g h th e se c h a ra c te rs m ay have even originated earlier. For the last 30 years, children around the world have helped the brothers defeat countless enem ies, reach the kingdom and save the helpless princess waiting for her rescuer. M ario w as first featured in the video game, "Donkey Kong," in 1981. Two years later in 1983, Luigi w as intro duced to the public. By 1985, Super M ario was released and the world of Mario and Luigi never looked back. F rom th ere th e p o p u la r characters continued in their journey to playing M ario Tennis, M ario Golf and Ma rio Kart. W ho w as the b rillia n t f m astermind that created the Mario brothers? None other than the Japanese video game designer, Shigeru M iyamoto, w ho originally nam ed M ario, "Mr. Video." So how did M ario receive his name? A heated debate opted Nintendo employees to n am e M ario a fte r M a rio Segale, an American Nintendo ware house landlord w ho d em and ed m ore m on ite ey. N in te n d o agreed t h a t Segale would be ^ h is n am e u sed for a character. The nam e stuck and Mario now needed a profes sion that would fit the design of the game. Mario was origi nally a carpenter as the game was set on a construction site. Later it was changed to a plumber as the game focused on playing un derground in the Mario Bros, games. Next was Mario's char acter design which came from Western influences, such as an overly large sized nose and perfect mustache created M a rio's Italian heritage. Over time M ario's appearance becam e m o r f> defined, adding a "M " in a w hite c on the front of hat a n d b u t tons o n h is overalls. ■I « « In 2003, M ario had the honor of being the first video game character m ade into a w ax figure in the legendary Hoi- lywood Wax Museum. M ario has starred in comm ercials, m aga- n o is ^ consid- e r e d o n e o f th e m ost fa mous vid- I : e o \ game ch arac ters in h isto ry and is an icon for the gaming industry. The series has sold over 200 million copies, mak ing it the best selling video gam e franchise of all time. and ime series. In 1983, Luigi made his first appearance as M ario's older brother in "Mario Bros." Lu igi is portrayed as a younger, thinner version of his more famous brother. He is fre- quently seen in games as a sidekick. Ever wonder how Luigi becam e known as Luigi? The name w as in sp ired by a p iz z a p a rlo r near Nintendo's H e a d q u a r te r s in R e d m o n d , W ash , c a lle d "M ario and Lu ig i's ;" h e n ce , the origination of Luigi's nam e. A lso a p lu m b e r, Luigi varies in personality from his brother cause he is more timid. Another dif ference is the color scheme w hich includes the green "L" in a w hite circle on the front of his hat and the two gold buttons on his overalls and the fam ous m u stache. N in te n d o P o w e r listed Luigi as its fifth favorite hero and also listed him as having one of the best mustaches. In the last 30 years, the Mario brothers have created a legacy which continues to grow. Being one of the m ost popular video game franchise in the world, you can expect that you will hear about the brothers in the future. t ■ m m i Originally A survey in the early M a r i o was TO sh o w e d that k no wn as Mario was more well Jumpman by c h i l d r e n He has made an k n o w n a p p e a r a n c e than M i c k e y M o u s e in 207 games United States' secrets revealed on the internet ■liliali lois imi continued from page 5 Ellsberg released the 'entagon Papers to the lew York Times and other ewspapers revealing a top ecret study of the government ecisions related to the Vietnam War. Ellsberg was rrested and held in jail. He /as tried for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and harged for both conspiracy nd theft. All charges were later ismissed as more scandals ppeared. The question now is simple: /ere Ellsberg and Assange istified in their clear attempts 3 expose the government overups? Officials wonder ow dare someone release ^formation that the public is clearly unaware of and, on top of that, actually bother telling the American people the whole truth and nothing else? My answer to this question is this: how dare the government not tell the public the truth? Every day we are lied to by the government, receiving little truth or only a portion of it. When the documents were first released, officials argued that the documents harmed relationships with other countries and endangered soldiers. WikiLeaks argued that no evidence has been shown that soldiers have been endangered, in regards to relationships with other countries, the government shouldn't been hiding secrets in the first place. Instead of accusing Assange as being a terrorist, why doesn't the government release the truth? . Because the government would rather avoid the truth. In the future, Wikileaks will continue releasing information and the government will continue threatening the organization to close down or risk prosecution. However, the government has no right to prosecute as freedom of speech protects the site and the people involved. The government can no longer hide behind secrecy, but take a stand and tell the truth. Don't get me wrong, I’m not saying that our government is plotting for our demise, but we should not have to fight so hard for the truth. Exposing corruption of power is not a crime, it is a necessity. Éliti Super M ario B r o s • 3 made over $500 million Alone fügt m ■ ,:a ^ in USA Winter Writing Fest offers numerous guest speakers continued from page 1 A ll th e even ts w ill b e held in the au d itoriu m and W est in v ites an y on e to attend. "W e have three m ain goals for the even t," W est said. "We w an t to raise in terest in creative w riting, b rin g in m ore creative w ritin g for K aleid scop e and w e w an t to ensu re the even t is cross cu rricu lar, in oth er w ord s, th at it is relevant ou tsid e o f E n g lish class." O n e w ay the staff is lu rin g stu d en ts to the even t is a V alentine's p oem w ritin g con test th at kicked off on Feb. 7. T h e p rize for the con test has n o t y et b een d eterm in ed , b u t th e w in n ers w ill b e annou n ced F e b .18. W h ile it rem ains to b e seen w h eth er or not the W inter W riting F estiv al w ill attract the in terest that W est and the English 12 staff hope, it p rom ises to add an in terestin g spice to th e m id -F eb ru ary drudgery.
