Why Is March 10 Celebrated As Mario Day? The History Of The Iconic Video Game Character
Today marks the annual celebration of one of the most iconic video franchises and characters of all time.
What Happened: Mario Day is celebrated annually on March 10. The holiday celebrates one of the bestselling video game franchises of all time with a unique take on the calendar day.
The date March 10 written in abbreviated form spells out Mario, with the “1” and zero replaced by the letters “I” and “O.”
Nintendo Co (OTC:NTDOY) which owns the franchise, began celebrating the holiday in 2016.
Mario made his debut in the 1981 video game “Donkey Kong.” Nintendo would give Mario his own game with the 1983 release “Mario Bros.” starring Mario and Luigi. Mario was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, the Japanese video game designer who also created Donkey Kong, Starfox and The Legend of Zelda.
The introduction of Mario would help Nintendo boost its presence as a video game company, which traces its history back to 1889 as a playing card company.
Each year on the holiday, Nintendo and many retailers offer discounted Mario and Nintendo games and items to celebrate the legend of the video game character. This includes deals on Nintendo Switch consoles and gaming bundles, Lego sets and more Mario-related items.
Related Link:This Day In Market History: Nintendo Is Founded
What’s Next For Mario? Along with being an icon in video games, Nintendo is working hard to further monetize the legend of Mario.
Mario and other Nintendo characters are part of a push to expand the Universal Studios theme parks by Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA).
Comcast and its Illumination unit also partnered with Nintendo to bring Mario and his friends back to the big screen.
“The Super Mario Bros” movie starring Chris Pratt, Seth Rogen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black and Keegan-Michael Key was released in theaters in 2023. The movie grossed $574.9 million domestically and $787.0 million internationally for a global total of $1.36 billion.
