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.