The BEST Mario Character Design? 

So happy to hear that man! Thanks for taking the leap and checking out my content!

@@ArtistMarkFlynn just found your channel . Earned sub

Ages backwards is segA

I love your channel

BEST at Character Design Histories. 🤟🇬🇧

That last sentence is such a great point!

@@ArtistMarkFlynn I hope it "captured" the main idea pretty well!

There are no end to your talents Mr Kenobi

@@ArtistMarkFlynn You're too kind. The fact is there are no ends to yours!

Obi-Wan Kenobi wow, great said

Scooter wears Socks AND UPYOU GOTTA HELP US

@@_mango_ No

I'm a hard core Pac-Man World fan so I would love that video! Since their aren't too many Pac-Man designs, I wouldn't mind extending the subjects to Ms. Pac-Man and the Ghosts.

Easy answer, his Pac-Man world design is easily the best one.

The Pac-Man from the Japanese arcade cabinets is an iconic look, which has been used and refined in most Pac-Man games, like Pac-Man World and Smash Bros. Only his in-game appearance is more iconic than that one. I have no idea what they were thinking with the American cabinets, though.

(\/)

especially considering the change in facial features and growth in limbs and attire

A very interesting point!

@@ArtistMarkFlynn Mario is the system seller. People bought the NES for Super Mario Bros., SNES for Super Mario World, and the N64 for Super Mario 64. Mario was designed around the hardware and vice-versa. The Famicom was designed to run Donkey Kong, which was still a fairly huge game at the time. The controllers for the next few systems were designed for their respective Mario games. The N64 controller had the C buttons primarily to control Mario 64's camera, hence the "C" in "C buttons". The Gamecube's face buttons were designed largely to be easy to find without having to look at the controller. No longer do you have to look to see where X was when you could just feel for the "side kidney button". This seems to have stopped with the Wiimote, which seems to have been designed primarily for Wii Sports. Makes sense. The Wii was designed for more casual games while Mario games tend to be more "hardcore".

Story is not what drive gameplay and art in nintendo games. It's the other way around. All zelda stories came from gameplay elements present in those games.

Meanwhile sonic just reflects the “attitude” at the time. classic represents the smirky yet determined cool figure of the 90s, while adventure sonic (atleast the artwork) resembles a more teenage, graffiti-inspired sonic. its personally my favorite design for him because its very emotive and expressive while being a bit over-the-top. His modern design basically solidified him as a polished yet not as emotive snarky dad-joker, especially in the models.

@@terrariabookshhelf6317 I love 90's Sonic's snarky attitude. I still think Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM show really nailed his humor and character development. Some games like Sonic Colors have really gotten close to recreating that same Sonic sass. But overall, I prefer his classic, softer, rounder design, than the lengthy, rebellious, modern designs. The lighter color palette also fits him a bit better than a really dark blue.

lmeeken Yōichi Kotabe’s look for Mario is basically perfect

lmeeken Yōichi Kotabe’s look for Mario is basically perfect

Both are great ideas and I'm sure I'll do both of them at some point!

I want you're Bob Hoskins action figure!

If he's not cast in the new film I riot

He's the plumber man... First he throws fireballs all over the ring, and then... He starts eatin' mushrooms

Gotta pay the toad troll get into this toads hole

Best Mario VAs (not in any order) Charles Martinet Lou Albano Vinny

Absolute unit 🤣

Can't believe I left him out

@@ArtistMarkFlynn It happens :)

I'm very fond of that too. I just find that the 3d design really works!

Ikr

lemmingscanfly5 i agree with you

So... Furry Mario?

@@sightseeing7993 I wasn't talking about the disgusting cat suit, that power-up will never not be gross and creepy to me.

*SQUAT EAT A MUSHROOM*

How dare you

@@ArtistMarkFlynn But, at least I didn't say mario was better than MArio.

Yeah but you implied it

@@ArtistMarkFlynn Well, mario is still the second best Mario for me.

@Milan Andreoli -I mean hey, my opinions don't last longer than 10 minutes before something is old.-

Imo i dont like how mario looks in oddyssey he looks a little to realistic and foesnt fit him imo

Good points. That's a great model and he does come across like a boss in the smash games.

I agree. I also liked how Melee Mario still had his N64 look before Super Mario Sunshine where their designs changed. I missed the tan Mario used to have, it doesn't make sense why he'd become paler with all the running and sport-playing he does. In Melee I got a hard-working blue-collar man vibe from him. Melee Mario was also a good mix between being playful and smiling once in a while, yet serious and could kill you at the same time. In Brawl and Smash WiiU/3DS he rarely cracks a smile and only looks progressively angrier or stoic and has a unusual raspy voice. Ultimate seems to be going back to that personality he had in Melee, especially best seen in his render where he's seemingly wearing an open-mouthed determined smile while he's about to drop-kick some poor sucker in the face. I also noticed that Mario is porportioned to be more taller and skinnier in the Smash universe than he is in his own actual game series, and it makes him look more badarse that way. It's what I'd imagine a real-life Mario to look like.

Omg I completely forgot about those games when making this! 😂

Pikachus look is interesting as it looks so similar but is such a massive departure. Fair point really on the Mario film. I hadn't truly realised how live action the pikachu film would be until the trailer dropped. I had expected it to look like the detective Pikachu game trailers so the finished trailer threw me for a bit of a loop! Lol

The M&L series is my favorite design as well, i think it perfectly combines the classic artwork and modern design together perfectly. Those games are also hands down my favorite spin-offs of any game series i can think of.

I'm OK with the direction they took with Detective Pikachu. Every Mon still looks like their original counterparts despite the more realistic look. Kinda helps they hired someone who was already a fan of the series and was already well versed in translating the Pokémon designs to a more realistic look. Psyduck still looks as goofy as ever, though, and that's not a complaint. makes me wish the sonic movie had that much love and thought put into its version of sonic

To be fair until the sonic trailer drops I'm holding back true judgment. The leaked concept stuff was not good though lol.

That Silhouette poster doesn't give me much hope. I'm hoping Sonic's voice is decent, at least.

I'm excited too! Thanks for the encouraging comment!

I hadn't actually thought about that. I think it came with new super Mario Bros!

I knew I couldn't have been the only one who loved that extra little visual aid. And yes, it did start with 3D Land!

Might be because his Olympics models were made by Sega. The Sonic cast is considerably tall, so I guess it makes sense.

He's also noticably tall and thinner in the Smash series, but just like in the Olympics, its done in order to scale him up with the other fighters. Sonic is supposed to be about 3 feet tall and Mario around 5'3, I think.

Mmm... no.

@@supermarioluigi8730 Hi. How are you?

​@PartySlime76 oh no Ｍａｒｉｏ　ｇｏｔ　Ｍｉｙａｍｏｔｏ

Or they just made a filler character for a fucking tennis game

or you're all taking this way too seriously. this is evidently a jokey themed comment and i got a good laugh out of it, so thanks for that. stop being so rude about it

A man of many talents

@@ArtistMarkFlynn And occupations, such as doctor, sanitation worker, concrete mixer, and bomb diffusing expert.

He must own so many small businesses

@@ArtistMarkFlynn either that or he keeps getting fired.

@@masonjones7777 And keeps getting rehired.

Questions of the universe

Real question, what color is the carpet?

I'm not sure if I need this question answered tbh

The Artist Mark Flynn 😂 touché

Captain Stewpid they’ve actually been gradually working on fixing this as they’ve updated the character. It was originally just to stand out in the simple graphics, but because of Nintendo’s focus on making their characters look as realistically cartoonish as possible, they felt the need to fix it among other new changes. Look at his design in mainline games over time and you’ll see his mustache has gotten browner and browner. The biggest change would be odyssey of course. In addition to giving his mustache and head hair individual hair follicles, the black mustache is more accurately a dark brown at this point. If you contrast it with his appearance in smash which takes a much more basic approach to the character, going for the classic glossy plastic hair than odyssey’s design, you’ll notice how way darker his mustache is than in odyssey. This is also shown in Mario and Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Both of these games are made by other developers that don’t quite get the Mario developers’ focus on changing him. Comparatively, in the new Mario tennis game, he has both his odyssey design as well as his browner stache. This being made by Mario developers rather than a crossover appearance, it makes sense that they would stick to their guns with the new design. Really they just need to use this new realistic Mario enough times for it to stick and his crossover appearances will come to show it as well. Moral of the story. His mustache is black for technical reasons but it will be brown in due time. I don’t know why I had this much to write about his mustache lol

Yes please

15:13 Well... Hello there..!

It took me such a long period of time to actually notice the difference tbh

The exclusives on the Wii U were incredible. One negative I don't think is discussed enough though is the terrible user interface, slow and clunky. It's one of the most notable improvements with the switch, which is incredibly slick and quick by comparison.

@@ArtistMarkFlynn Yeah, and the switch even tho it's a portable console had better graphics even when you hold it in the portable mode and the Wii U also made a lot more noise.

It was underrated. Publishers hated it because they believed you had to incorporate the screen in a big way. Personally, my favorite use of the screen was using it as the "TV". I didn't particularly enjoy unhooking a system from my TV every time I wanted to play a different system.

Hahaha thanks mate. This one really was a slog but I'm happy I managed to finish it within the month! Here's hoping some people check it out amidst the super bowl!

The Artist Mark Flynn thankfully you posted early. Most UK channels post in the evening. Keep an eye on the views about 6 hours from now and for the following 3-4 hours following. Those are the big ones.

Exactly

The Western Super Mario Bros. 2's development is a little more complicated than "non-Mario game with Mario paint job". Early in development, it was originally going to be Super Mario Bros. 2. Then Nintendo made a deal with that radio company, changed the game to Doki Doki Panic while it was still in the alpha stage of development, and quickly developed the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 using modified assets from Super Mario Bros. When it came to release a sequel in the US, they realized the official sequel was both too hard and similar to be a proper sequel in their primary franchise. Hence the Doki Doki Panic reskin.

I love the melee design too! Great pick

Great artwork. Kicking myself for not including it in the Odyssey section.

They need to make a 2D Mario game with Kotabe's artstyle. Games like Cuphead, Wario Ware: Shake It! and Rayman Orgins are already doing the traditional cartoon style. I'd like to see a New Super Mario Bros game with a traditional art style instead of the CGI they usually do.

@@GenesisGreen I think at some point in the future, they will make side-scrollers in Kotabe's 2D Style.

That's amazing news!!!

Thanks!

Good choice!

Thanks Courtney! Really appreciate that!

True! Even if it's goofy CDi charm

PS I hope she made lotsa spaghetti

Are you gonna make a video critiquing the costumes from Oddyssey/their sources?

I certainly agree, I mean Mario is designed to be fun yet simple, unlike sonic who (is supposed to be) evolving with trends as time goes on. most of the time Sega does their part right and Nintendo hasn't really messed up since Mario teaches typing.

Thanks! Glad you like them!

Yeah! Luigi had a lot of changes in his design throughout the years!

Cheers buddy. Appreciate that!

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!

oh yeah can't forget, mega man powered up of course

Hahaha I'd be chuffed if we got anywhere near that number again!

The Artist Mark Flynn Again? Did you have another channel?

Oh I meant views on this particular video. Not subs! 100k subs would be rad hahaha

The Artist Mark Flynn lmao just keep it up

Hello. Thanks for the detailed feedback. I genuinely do appreciate that! The script probably was a bit of a struggle towards the end. The idea with the spin-offs section was to plow through designs quickly as I knew I'd be covering a ton of them and I didn't want the video to end up really long. I don't really think I trashed the other M&L games based on what I said to be fair. Just said that I thought the original had a lot more charm and is the version I prefer. You of course are entitled to your opinion and I do see your points. I do think it's slightly nitpicky to disregard bits of the video that you did enjoy? Either way thanks for watching and taking the time to comment. I do appreciate it!

Thanks for replying back! I apologize if I sounded too rude and brash.

@@okmate9713 Yes, Mark made some great points, but I was hoping he'd mention how the M&L designs had a MGM classic cartoon look about them or something of the manner. I can understand what he means about the designs being expressive since they exaggerated their character traits a lot more in those games.

Denim denim denim

Thanks buddy! Let's hope it keeps up!

Glad to hear you saw it in recommended! Megaman and Simon are both on my radar!

Seriously though, the first box art was terrifying

Bad box art megaman in street fighter x tekken is my fave 🤣

@@goforgreengaming true

@@ArtistMarkFlynn mine too!

It's crazy isn't it. Didn't really realise how in-depth this would end up when I started writing it.

Not a bad idea!

@@ArtistMarkFlynn And as always, awesome vid dude!

Cheers mate. Snakes a good idea. I just need to brush up on my MGS knowledge a bit!

Obviously his smash bros ultimate spirit.

That's from Brooklyn

That speaks English

That jumps like a black guy

@@zetaman8924 MY GOD😂

And collects coins like a Jew

Thank you. Really appreciate the kind words and I hope it does too!

Delicious

Thank you! I like to keep stuff like that in because it reminds me nobody is perfect lol

Thanks Cecilio! Any characters you'd like to see covered?

I vote either Wario, Bowser or Ridley. Wario because I feel as if he's had legitimate changes throughout the years. Bowser or Ridley because it would be nice to have villains show up in this series and also because i love Ridley. He's my favorite ❤️.

Wario also needs to get revenge for being uppercutted out of the pipe at the start

@@ArtistMarkFlynn Yeah, that too!! XDDD

Good choice!

Galaxy for life... I haven’t played it yet please help

Random Animated Chronicles same here but always wanted to

Touche

Cheers!

galaxy so... New super Mario bros ds?

Cheers man. Liking your profile pic. That new Broly movie was awesome!

Can you imagine? I feel like he'll look exactly the same as he does in Mario rabbids for some reason lol

Weegee would win by default. Nobody would watch.

True

Dreamy Luigi

Cappy can be a bit distracting but at least he disappears!

Yeah I completely messed up my script for that bit! I'd spent so long looking at the script that I didn't even notice I'd repeated myself when I recorded it! My poor brain 🤣

Not a bad idea!

Mine's too! His design in Melee is based off his N64 design.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Mario's early colours are a thing of mystery lol

Thanks! Glad people actually notice them 😂

I will get to him at some point I swear! You always remind me haha

I think a video about kirbys desigh wont be that intresting if you know what I mean

Noel225 I don’t, pls inform

Ah cool! Didn't know that! And many thanks, appreciate you taking the time to watch it.

I'm happy it did man! Mario was a great choice. Feel free to keep suggesting videos too!

@@ArtistMarkFlynn Hmm... what about Megaman? He's another iconic gaming character.

Self deletus 😂

Channel is completely different to the last time you watched lol

The music in that game was so good

You mean Mario Alphadream