Comments on: Video Game Legends Revealed #1

By: Doug

Doug — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 23:45:47 +0000

I was playing the SNES version of Mario 2 (which is the same as far as I can remember) and I think it must of been a rush job. I still enjoy it, but my guess is Super Mario Bros. was so successful they put this out.

By: DK

DK — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:07:55 +0000

Mr. Cronin, you should totally delve into the Polybius myth at some point. Truly mad stuff.

By: def

def — Sun, 17 May 2009 02:19:37 +0000

Here’s a rundown on that Birdo/Captain Rainbow thing. I played the game, and it wasn’t all that shocking, but yes, Birdo is now a woman.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/08/captain-rainb-1/

By: worstblogever

worstblogever — Sat, 16 May 2009 07:59:03 +0000

… I never thought Yoshi could star in a version of the Crying Game. How about that…

By: Mysteryman

Mysteryman — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:45:14 +0000

Birdo’s gender was brought up in the recent Wii game Captain Rainbow, which came out in Japan last year but probably won’t come to America. The game takes place on an island populated by characters from other Nintendo games, including Little Mac from Punch-Out. At one point in the game the player finds that Birdo/Catherine has been put in jail for using the women’s restroom, because the police think Birdo is a man. The player can find proof of Birdo’s femininity by going to Birdo’s house and finding a mysterious object under his/her pillow. It’s implied that the object is a vibrator, a device that apparently only a woman would have. This evidence “proves” Birdo is a woman and (s)he is released from jail.

There are actually quite a few video games characters of questionable gender, or who have had their genders changed between different version of the same game. An example from another Mario game is Vivian from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. In the translated American version of the game, Vivian is female, but in the original Japanese version, Vivian is a very effeminate male.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:34:01 +0000

Actually, Shyguys, Snifits (who are really just Shyguys with guns), and Bob-Ombs have all made the jump from SMB2 to being Mario regulars.

By: mat

mat — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:22:50 +0000

In later games we find out birbo is a race with male and female birdos. The intro to mario power tennis had two or three birbos watching the game. It’s the same with yoshi. The main green yoshi is a boy however we meet a female mother yoshi in paper mario and the guide book to yoshi’s story said the pink yoshi is a girl.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Wed, 13 May 2009 05:50:58 +0000

Good stuff, Casey, thanks for the info!

By: Casey Nielsen

Casey Nielsen — Wed, 13 May 2009 05:10:46 +0000

There is a bit of an interesting aside to that Birdo entry.

Birdo didn’t start out as a character for a Mario game. The insanely hard Japanese Super Mario Brothers 2(later released here as “The Lost Levels” in the SNES Mario compilation pack) was decided to be WAY TOO HARD for the American audience(it was hard, but I think we could have managed) so they got a game called Doki Doki panic, which kind of had an Arabian Knights theme, and changed the characters into Mario characters.

The main character was a guy in a turban. They put some polka-dots on the turban and made him into Toad, which is why Toad is arguably the best character in SMB2(he picks up and throws stuff the best but his jumps are the worst). Apparently they released SMB2 that we got here as Super Mario USA in Japan, even though the other game was already out there before. Strange stuff.

But now Birdo is one of the only characters from SMB2 to make it to the Mario universe, other than a random Shyguy here or there.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:38:29 +0000

She certainly would, Idran!

Good call. The whole deal with Poison would make for a great future legend! Thanks!