The symbol Nintendo banned from Mario games

throughout his 20 year history mario has performed all kinds of gestures he punches he points he shoots and of course he jumps but there's one other gesture it used to pop up in all kinds of Mario games but it's most famous appearance is in Super Mario 64 when the player completes a level and collects the golden star Mario spins around and performs a great big piece sign to the camera a V for victory if you will accept Super Mario 64 wasn't just the most iconic use of the peace sign it was also the last for the next 20 years the peace sign never showed up in a single Mario game it was only in 2017 that it's snuck its way in once more but neither gap was it just a big coincidence no not at all Nintendo actually banned the victory sign from every single Mario game for 20 years it was completely forbidden and the reason why is pretty surprising [Music] so what happened what's with the ban well it all comes down to the father of Mario Shigeru Miyamoto back in the 1980s Miyamoto was an aspiring industrial designer like steel and metal and wood and graphs but thanks to some family connections he ended up landing a job here at Nintendo a few years later he would design a game called Donkey Kong originally it was set to feature Popeye characters but Nintendo couldn't get the rights so at the last minute Shigeru Miyamoto had to come up with replacements completely original characters that Nintendo didn't need to find the rights for Miyamoto came up with three of them an ape named Donkey Kong a princess called Pauline and this guy an old carpenter named Mary he was old kind of grubby and not very marketable but against all the odds Donkey Kong ended up being a massive hit it really took America by storm and that meant only one thing Mario had to change [Music] so soon this Mario guy started popping up in a huge number of games from the arcade to the living room to your pocket and pretty quickly the character of Mario ended up being redesigned just little by little he became younger friendlier and more colorful and five years later he was barely recognizable as the old carpenter who saved the princess from the Kong at first Shigeru Miyamoto didn't mind in fact he was the one in charge of a lot of this early art this was just how things had to be right at least that's what Miyamoto thought at first but as things went on he got more and more frustrated until eventually Miyamoto reached his limit and the final straw it was this gesture here the peace sign also known as the victory sign so the peace sign actually came from one of Shigeru Miyamoto's friends at Nintendo designer called Takashi Tezuka and Tezuka loved everything that was cute like those little eyes all over Mario Three's map they were added by Tezuka he just couldn't help himself but that wasn't all that Tezuka added into Mario Sync back to Super Mario World from 1992 when mario reaches the end of a level in this game he gives a big peace sign to the camera to the player a V for victory like well done for clearing the level and when Mario made the jump to 3d this gesture was copied across just as it was when Mario collected a star he would give that cheesy V for victory to the player but shortly after Mario 64 was released unto the world Shigeru Miyamoto made up his mind enough was enough you see Mario was not a kids game at least not according to its creator Shigeru Miyamoto he explained once in an interview I created Mario when I was 27 years old at that point in time he was in no way something that I would feel embarrassed about I mean he was already this older guy like your uncle or something it was meant to be the kind of game that eighteen year old guys would be able to play together and enjoy but by 1995 Miyamoto felt as though things had changed and not for the better his character was popping up on backpacks and mugs on TV and in fast-food chains Maya had become too commercial to commodified Miyamoto went on as more entries in the series were added I feel like because we have more people making the Mario game younger people on our staff making the games and outside companies licensing Mario that as a character he started going in that kid's Direction more and more and even Nintendo marketing began to say let's position Mario as a character aimed at small children and it was established so Miyamoto was fed up this wasn't the character he wanted in the world but by now it felt like too late Mario had become in large part a character and a franchise for children there wasn't much that Shigeru Miyamoto himself could do at least that's what he thought at first but then he had a brainwave what if there was one tiny little way he could put his foot down and say enough is enough and that's where the peace sign ban comes into the picture let me explain not long after Mario 64 was released Miyamoto turned up outside Kakashi teleca's office the peace sign guy the creator of Miyamoto's most hated gesture Miyamoto had only one thing to say to Tezuka I am banning the peace sign the victory sign from the Mario series from now on it is no longer allowed thank you and so Tezuka and Nintendo in general listen to me emoto's request they banned the peace sign by then Shigeru Miyamoto had a lot of clout within Nintendo after all and we can observe this peace sign ban firsthand by examining the games that followed Super Mario 64 the first sequel was mario sunshine and in this game Nintendo's animators were placed the peace sign with something different a sort of reach for the sky type animation snazzy then a few years later came Super Mario Galaxy in this one when Mario collects a star he sort of punches upwards like he's breaking a brick block almost and then finally in Mario 3d World for the Wii U this same pose is copied across a classic iconic Mario punch so I'm sure you noticed something in common across all of these three animations none of them feature the piece sign but in 2017 things finally change [Music] so it's hard to know what went on behind the scenes of Mario Odysseys development I do know that Shigeru Miyamoto really stepped back this time around he really wasn't very involved in this game by the way something changed the peace sign ban the band that had lasted for over 20 years well it was finally relaxed just a little you see mario odyssey actually does something different from the last games it picks a random animation to play when Mario collects a moon sometimes he'll reach for the sky in reference to mario sunshine sometimes he'll punch a tip of the cap to galaxy and 3d world and yes very occasionally he will indeed pull out the classic peace sign but hold this image in your mind keep it there because it's a very rare sight notice this gesture is absent from the boxart it's not on Nintendo's website either because while the ban has certainly been loosened I think we've got a long way to go before we get back to how it was in the 1980s before this peace sign ban was put into place hey I'm Thomas I hope you enjoyed that video you can subscribe for more like this plus if you want to support more of these videos every week then you can donate to me on patreon two dollars a month gets you access to my exclusive patron on you discord server either way I'll see you next week goodbye

Channel: Thomas Game Docs

Views: 1,680,827

Rating: 4.8700519 out of 5

Keywords: Thomas Game Docs, gaming

Id: 8s3-Lyj5ffo

Length: 9min 24sec (564 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 24 2020