Does Mario need to be so kiddy?

[theRepublic]

Alby_da_Wolf said:

theRepublic said:

TruckOSaurus said:

happydolphin said:

As for the freedom offered by stronger consoles, I don't see the N64 version emasculating Mario like the newer incarnations does.

Emasculating Mario?!? What the hell are your smoking? Mario's voice was high-pitched from the get-go (in Mario 64) and it hasn't changed much since. Next thing you're going to tell me Bee Mario is emasculating because we usually think of bees as female or that Cloud Mario is kiddy because people like to use clouds to decorate kids rooms?

I read that and thought pretty much the same thing.  Mario was never really super masculine to begin with, and nothing in any of the newer games strikes me as emasculating.

Did you ever play the first arcade Donkey Kong and Mario games? Mario was without any doubt more masculine than now.

Yes, on the Atari 2600 all the time.  Mario was not masculine then either.  Here is the arcade flyer from the time:

It is as cartoony as Mario is now.