What is it that makes Mario so brilliant?

[Khuutra]

RolStoppable said:

Khuutra said:

I'm sure he was influenced, but influence and inspiration are very different words that may or may not be lost in translation.

Even if you want to be as banal as possible, you can only really lay one element at the feet of Carroll - and it's a bit of a stretch, considering how much Miyamoto talks about mushrooms as being an element of his fantasy life when he was a kid. But regardless, saying that so much of Mario's appeal is down to Carroll is erroneous, at best.

So we are back at my first post.

What we've cleared up is that Super Mario Bros. is indeed influenced by tales with eternal appeal, whether they were written by Carroll or not isn't that important. Carroll only gets mentioned, because Miyamoto himself specifically cited Alice in Wonderland.

In this thread the point was raised that great controls, level design and gameplay can't be the only reason for Mario's success and I think we've found the missing half. It is, as you say, about a storytelling trope that is intrinsically powerful.

Mmm, I still don't agree. Mario isn't a story, it's a game. Adhering to old, powerful tropes doesn't matter, because no one will see them that way.