Mario And Luigi: Should Nintendo Reboot Them For A New Era?
Should Mario and Luigi be rebooted with the times having changed?
Back in the 80s, Super Mario Bros. helped Nintendo bring video games back from the big crash caused by Atari’s movie tie-in for E.T., and the ever-friendly mascots haven’t changed. However, the times have changed a lot in the three decades since the NES had the spotlight, and perhaps it’s time Nintendo changed the image of its Italian duo.
Image may very well be Nintendo’s biggest problem right now. Even Disney, the other kid-friendly entertainer on the block, has updated their look over the years, while Nintendo’s plumber duo seems to have stayed the same. The image itself may have gotten stale.
Mario and Luigi have always teamed up with Link from The Legend of Zelda to bring new life to any console Nintendo has to offer, but it doesn’t look like Nintendo is able to save the Wii U from an early death, even offering new games starring Luigi (just attempting to step away from Mario for once).
Even the recent announcement of the 2DS, a more streamlined version of the 3DS, might not save Nintendo from having to rely solely on Pokemon and Zelda to get them by any more.
It may be time for Mario and Luigi to retire their plumber ways and take up a new profession, like perhaps zookeepers. Running around and saving the animals from certain doom by herding them back to safe environments could easily introduce a new kind of puzzle element that the series hasn’t seen before, breathing new life into an old franchise.
Maybe the duo can expand on Mario’s earlier exploits as a doctor, helping save the world from an apocalyptic virus that’s turning people into zombies. In order to do that, they perform an autopsy on a zombie that’s been successfully killed and try different chemicals until a certain combination works. Then they go into an open world scenario, spraying the chemical in ways that reach the greatest amount of the population, like giant fans in public parks, ventilation systems in shopping malls, and the like.
It could very well be that Nintendo needs to reboot Mario and Luigi.
