Now, over 20 years later, Nintendo's capitalizing on the nostalgic appeal of Super Mario Bros. 3's iconic Raccoon Suit by reintroducing it for the hero's next platforming adventure, Super Mario 3DS. And while we've yet to receive official confirmation that that's the case and probably won't hear anything more until E3 in June, the simple silhouette of its shape has us once again remembering the impact of the tail's first appearance (and hoping for its future). Reminisce with us now, won't you? Read on as we tell the tale of the tail.
From+the+Mind+of+Miyamoto
The recent celebration of the first Super Mario Bros.' 25th anniversary gave us greater insight than ever before into the development ideas that Shigeru Miyamoto and his team came up with in crafting Mario's earliest adventures, revealing weird concepts like the plan to have Mario fire bullets from a gun and using the Up arrow on the NES controller's D-Pad to trigger his jumps. Those ideas were ultimately abandoned, but one that actually ended up coming to fruition was the goal of getting Mario to fly.
The team didn't do it in Mario 1, only getting close by offering some coin-filled bonus areas hidden up in the clouds. Then it didn't happen in either version of Super Mario Bros. 2, though Japan's edition had blowing gusts of wind and America's let you ride on top on flying enemies – getting closer. But Mario couldn't ever fly under his own power until, finally, the release of Super Mario Bros. 3. And the introduction of its magical Super Leaf power-up.
Available right from the start in the very first level of Mario's third adventure, the Super Leaf, when touched, transformed our hero behind a quick puff of smoke. Emerging from the haze a moment later, Mario looked much like himself – a red hat, blue overalls, white gloves. Except now he also had two extra, triangular ears sticking out of his cap. And, of course, a brown-and-black striped raccoon tail protruding from his pants.
It was an odd sight to see, and the function of Mario's new animal parts might not have been immediately obvious – except that Nintendo's designers could be counted on to offer just enough in-game clues to help players know what to do. Clearing out the next three Goombas in front of the game's first Super Leaf opened up a long, flat stretch of ground that looked perfect for building up running speed. At the end, a diagonal string of coins hovered in the air, starting near the ground and then disappearing up into the sky – enticing player's eyes to look upward. If gamers then put two and two together and took off at a run, building up speed and then leaping up at the coins in the air . . . well, that was it. Mario took flight for the very first time.
And one of Mr. Miyamoto's earliest dreams for his creation came true.
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Mario's time spent soaring through the sky wasn't unlimited. His power of flight, unlike a character like Superman's, was restricted to only a few seconds at a time. The "P Meter" was the crucial component of the process – a small speed gauge displayed at the bottom of the screen in Super Mario Bros. 3, comprised of individual arrows that would light up one after another as Mario gained velocity on the ground. When all the arrows were lit, the "P" symbol would flash – signifying that it was fully charged and ready to fuel Mario's flight.
After a few seconds sailing through the clouds, though, the P Meter would begin to drain. And, as it dropped, so did Mario. But that then introduced the second new gameplay gimmick given to Raccoon Mario – tail-powered assisted descents. You would have pressed the A Button to wag the tail over and over again to fly to begin with, and after the P Meter emptied you could similarly hammer that same button to further wag it and turn a straightforward freefall to the ground into a slow, casual, controlled loss of altitude.
The ability of Mario's Raccoon Tail to slow down his falling speed was arguably more useful than its flight capability throughout Super Mario Bros. 3, as well, since you didn't often have enough running room and open space to soar freely through the skies – but the more controlled falling speed could be put to effective use even in cramped interior levels like caves and fortresses.
But that's not all. Miyamoto and team decided to go one step further with Mario's new transformed form, and gave the single Super Leaf power-up a third function to compliment its other two – melee combat. Pressing the B Button while in Raccoon form would cause Mario to whip his body around in a quick circular motion, sending the tail punching out briefly in front of him. The attack could knock out Goombas, send Koopa Troopas retreating into their shells and even handle a Hammer Bro if timed and positioned correctly.
It might not seem like that big a deal, but prior to that tail whip maneuver the Mario series had been all about indirect combat – jumping on foes from above. Throwing fireballs from a distance. Tossing other upended enemies as makeshift projectiles. You never got near a foe's front end, because that would always result in damage.
Not with the tail, though. It let you fly. It let you fall with style. And it let you smack the bad guys straight in face.
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It was immediately apparent that Mario's Raccoon transformation would mark an all-new direction for the gameplay of his adventures, as flying, attacking and just jumping around with the tail attached added a ton to the game's fun factor. And, sure enough, the Raccoon Suit did quickly inspire several other, related power-up items for Mario to find and use.
The Tanooki Suit was its obvious extension. Appearing in the same game, just much more rarely, the Tanooki Suit upgraded the Raccoon transformation with a full-on fur-filled costume that covered Mario's entire body, head to toe. It added yet more functionality to the already three-in-one ability set, giving players the chance to transform Mario into a stone statue by pressing Down + B. That's a reference to some Japanese folklore that doesn't quite translate here in America, but in execution it meant that you could make enemies walk straight past Mario without harming him.
Super Mario Bros. 3 also had the P-Wing, a super-charged version of the Raccoon Suit that kept the P-Meter constantly filled – meaning that, with that item activated, Mario actually could fly forever like Superman. The animal nature of the Suit then must have influenced another, different animal power-up – the Frog Suit, which made swimming much easier in underwater stages. And then there was the Hammer Bro Suit, which didn't really have anything to do with the Raccoon Tail at all. But hey, it kept the Suit concept going.
Several later games in the Mario series have adapted aspects of the Raccoon Suit transformation more directly, especially when Nintendo's designers have wanted to send their hero soaring through the skies again. Super Mario World's yellow Cape let Mario fly, fall slowly and whip-attack enemies just like the tail did, while also adding new extended-flight abilities available with some skillful button presses. Super Mario 64's Wing Cap lost the power to slow Mario's falls or boost his melee prowess, but did once again let him take to the air.
And even the animal ears, which were purely aesthetic with the Raccoon look, came around and made a gameplay impact a little later on. That was in Super Mario Land 2 on the Game Boy, when munching on a magical Carrot causes Mario to transform into Rabbit Mario. The long white ears of that form brought back the slow-falling mechanic, as flapping them continuously would let you drift gracefully down to the ground below.
Impact+on+Pop+Culture
Mario's Raccoon Suit endures today, though, not just because of how it functioned in Super Mario Bros. 3. Or how it influenced later Mario games. Or even how its appearance brought one of Shigeru Miyamoto's dreams to life. It endures because, most importantly, it became a pop culture icon.
Marketing gave it a boost from the beginning. Super Mario Bros. 3 was developed and released in the era before the Internet, and so getting the word out about Mario's newest and most exciting power was a more complicated process – which Nintendo got really creative with. The company funded the filming of a feature-length film called The Wizard, starring Fred Savage as a boy who runs away from home with his kid brother Jimmy, who happens to be a video game wiz. In the game's climactic scene, then, Jimmy finds himself competing in the final round of "Video Armageddon" – competing for the high score against two other players, all three of them playing the all-new game Super Mario Bros. 3.
It had never been seen before. The Wizard debuted theatrically two months before the game itself came to stores, and so millions of kids got their first glimpse of Mario flying through the sky on a huge cinema screen. The hype that resulted has never been equaled since, and likely never will be – as we're living in a wholly different time now in the Internet age.
The iconic appeal of Mario's Raccoon transformation was then further solidified by the bold packaging given to Super Mario Bros. 3 when it finally did ship into stores in 1990, as the box was bright yellow all over except for the game's logo and a smiling, flying Mario happily suited up with tail attached. The box, simple and striking as it was, flew off the shelves and into millions of homes. And its style is being honored by modern artists to this day.
And so it wasn't just the game, but the build-up to the game that propelled the tail to the heights of popularity it hit 20 years ago. And here in 2011, with all of the 10-year-olds of that age now turning 30 and with memories of those days still fresh in their minds even into their adult years, it's understandable how all Mr. Iwata needs to do is stand on stage in front of a simple silhouette to get that dormant hype blazing once again.
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And that's where we stand today. Super Mario 3DS is heavily hinted to be bringing back Mario's Raccoon Suit transformation, and we expect that to be made official fact at this year's E3. As for how it will play when brought out of 2D retirement and revisited in three dimensions, well, the jury's out on that. But maybe you have an idea or two?
Will Mario still have to build up running speed along a flat stretch of ground before starting to fly with the new, 3D Raccoon Tail? Or will he just do a quick triple-jump to take to the sky, as Wing Mario did in Super Mario 64? And what about the tail's melee attacking capabilities – will we see Mario spin in quick circles as in the Galaxy games, or will that feature be removed from the tail's feature set on the 3DS?
Submit your thoughts and opinions by using the Comments box below, and let your voice be heard. Then join us back here for the official confirmation early in June, when we'll find out just what the next chapter will hold in the ongoing tale of Mario's tail.
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