Mario is officially over the hill. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros‘s original release and Nintendo is rolling out the red carpet for Mario Day. In addition to launching a new Nintendo Switch OLED bundle, which comes prepackaged with Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and tasking Mario Kart 8 Deluxe fans with completing a million combined laps, Nintendo is inviting in some celebrities to help celebrate.
Among those on this year’s guest list is Meghan Trainor, the Grammy winning singer best known for hits like All About That Bass and Me Too. It’s an unlikely celebrity pairing from the outside, but one that’s meaningful to a singer who has grown up alongside the character and now finds Mario more important to her life than ever thanks to kids. In an interview with Digital Trends, Trainor reminded us why it’s so special to see Mario endure as a family-friendly icon across generations.
“I was the middle child of two boys, so it was all gaming in our house,” Trainor tells Digital Trends when asked about her history with the series. “I remember when we got the Game Boy, we were so lucky that we all had our own. I had a red one. So I grew up in the gaming world with my bros. Everything I learned is through them. And I married a gamer, my husband. He just loves Super Mario, he loves Mario and Luigi. So when Nintendo reached out to us, I was freaking out, because it’s the main game we play. It’s our one true love.”
Like myself, Trainor has never known a life without Mario. The mascot rose to prominence in 1985 (and even further back if we’re counting his Jumpman days) and has since been one of the most famous pieces of video game iconography since. It doesn’t matter what decade you grew up in, what console you owned, or if you were a gamer at all. Chances are that you know exactly who Mario is and you have some memory tied to the character — and chances are that he’ll intersect with your life again one day.
That has been true for Trainor. It’s not just that she married a Mario fan. The Nintendo Switch found a place in her adult life at various junctions. When she was pregnant and unable to leave her house during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Switch was a lifeline (“I was a pro gamer at that point”). When she was on tour last year supporting her most recent record, Timeless, she was playing Super Mario Bros. Wonder between shows. Though the staying power of the Mario series truly revealed itself once Trainor became a mother to two sons, Riley and Barry.
“My four-year-old is so cute, because Nintendo has been sending me a bunch of clothes and slippers that are Bowser slippers, and a Bowser stuffed toy. And my four-year-old is obsessed with it,” Trainor says. “He’s in his bad boy era. He’s like ‘I’m a bad guy like Bowser.’ So they’re best friends, and my son believes he is Bowser. I am Princess Peach, obviously, and my husband is Mario. It’s how we bond as a family and it’s so cute to watch Riley watch us play. And the colors [In Super Mario Bros. Wonder] are so vibrant and relaxing and beautiful that my one-year-old is involved too.”
As we chat, I ask her what makes Mario so enduring. The things that are cool to kids one day rarely stay cool for long, after all. Trainor credits some of that to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was especially popular in her household. But in talking to her about how her relationship with games has changed now that she’s a parent instead of a kid, Trainor hits on something that Nintendo games especially nail: They are a fountain of youth.
“I just feel like I still get to be a kid again and have a less stressful life,” Trainor says. “I miss being a kid so much, so I get to relive my childhood through my kids. I try to show them all the great things about my childhood, and it’s so cool that this is still around and better than ever. I watch it through their eyes, I watch their excitement with each character, and them understanding what gaming is. It’s really cool and it’s weird, because I still feel 16. How am I a 31-year-old mom with two kids?”
That’s the appeal of Mario that still sticks 40 years later. The series has a way of capturing childhood memories and storing them in yellow question mark boxes. Every time we bust them open, whether it’s to share the games we loved as kids with our own or embark on a new adventure together, it’s like grabbing a blue Mini Mushroom. We shrink back down to the age we were at when we first met the character. Whether you’re four years old or 90 in the real world, we’re all the same age in the Mushroom Kingdom. Maybe that’s why Mario hasn’t aged a day over 40 years.
In between rounds of Super Mario Party Jamboree, Trainor is still hard at work in the studio. She’s begun writing again following a break after wrapping The Timeless Tour. But even then, she still has Nintendo on the brain like many kids right now so eagerly awaiting the company’s new console.
“I can’t wait for Nintendo Switch 2 to come out,” Trainor says. “I’m freaking out! On April 2, they’re going to announce it, and I’m just going to be waiting there with everyone!”
You can celebrate Mario Day right now with a sale on Mario games at select retailers, by grabbing a Nintendo Switch OLED Model + Super Mario Bros. Wonder Bundle, or by entering for a chance to win a trip to Super Nintendo World at Universal Orlando.
