Evolution Of Nintendo Characters

Ahh… Here I am, in the land of Nintendo. It’s a little strange since we usually leave it up to Richard to cover all the Nintendo goodness on Bit Rebels since he is so good at it, but I couldn’t resist today. Last night I was feeling particularly retro, and I downloaded the original Donkey Kong on Wii. I had the best time playing that old game and reminiscing about being a little girl sitting in my beanbag chair playing Donkey Kong on Atari, which ran on the television. We didn’t have a home computer back then. Actually, nobody I knew did.

I forgot until I played it again last night how hard those old games are. I mean, back in the day, we played nonstop until we mastered them. We sat there for as long as it took. I remember being in my little kid trance, completely unaware of the world around me, and just playing Donkey Kong like it was my lifeline. However, when I played it again last night, I could barely get passed level 3. Wtf? The graphics are so nostalgic, and the funny thing is, you almost can’t even tell what they are supposed to be. It was interesting to be reminded that when playing a two-player game, both people have to be Mario. Aww… so cute.

It all got me thinking about Nintendo characters and how they’ve evolved over the years. They’ve changed so much, and grown up right alongside of us. If you are a geek like me, they are not only a part of your childhood, but also a part of who you are and attached to many of your memories. We can track milestones in our life by what video games we played at the time, can’t we?

I found this chart below, which is almost as retro as the Nintendo characters themselves. This was created back in 2008, and it’s so cool to see the evolution of Mario, Link and Donkey Kong, and how we’ve transitioned from the 8-bit world to the graphics we have today. I hope someone updates this soon so we can have a complete view of the progression. Enjoy!