WHAT?
I will be playing a 36-hour marathon of Nintendo’s Mario series of games, raising money for Extra Life, a charity benefitting Childen’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Mario’s been a character in literally dozens and dozens of games in all kinds of genres. For this fundraiser/challenge, I’m specifically talking about the 2-D and 3-D platform games. The games that people think of when someone says “Mario Game” – think like “Super Mario Bros 3” or “Super Mario 64” – those sort of games. Games where Mario is the main (sometimes only) character and runs and jumps in a 2-D or 3-D world collecting coins, jumping on goombas, and collecting stars and mushrooms. Yoshi games, Sports games, Wario games, and RPGs need not apply. Likewise games where Mario is a cameo or not the playable character are out. No, I’m not playing Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out or the original Tennis game from the NES even though Mario is the referee.
WHEN?
I’m an adult with responsibliities. If I were doing this 15 years ago, I’d be playing 36 straight hours of gaming in a row. I’m getting older – and I have kids. So I’ve had to make some compromises.
I’ll be doing this challenge in three segments:
Friday, March 26th from 8:00 PM to 12:00 Midnight
Saturday, March 27th from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Midnight
Sunday, March 28th from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Midnight
(Detailed Schedule Here: https://lightandthedark.com/index.php/dans-mario-marathon-2021-schedule/)
I’ll be streaming live on Twitch – you can watch at:
https://www.twitch.tv/danmcgillen
WHY?
Many reasons, glad you asked! I’ve been considering doing this for a long time. But why now specifically?
- This year is Mario’s 35th anniversary. I’ve been a big fan of the classic Mario-style platform games for a long time, and it seemed like a great way to celebrate!
- To raise money for charity! We’ve had many friends and acquaintances over the years who’ve had to deal with the terrible burden of severe childhood illnesses, especially cancer. I know that Extra Life puts the money raised to good use and helps children and families deal with their illnesses and meet their patients needs.
- More specifically, a family that my family is close with is in the middle of fighting cancer. Leanore is a good friend of both my kids and their same age – I’ve watched her grow up alongside my kids. Seeing her and her families fight has left me wanting to do something but struggling to figure out WHAT I can do. For me, this is very personal.
WHAT CAN I DO?
There’s three ways you can help:
- Donate to the cause – You can pledge to donate a flat amount at any time via this link (https://www.extra-life.org/participant/449859) or if you really want to make me work for it – pledge to donate on a “per objective” basis and submit your donation after the event is over (see MORE ABOUT DONATING, below). My goal is to have at least 10 “per objective” pledges because I think it will make things WAY more interesting and also apply a lot more pressure on me to complete as many levels/stars/shines/moons/whatevers as possible within the time limit.
- Share info about this marathon with your friends on Facebook. I’m sharing this page and information with my friends and family, but I only know so many people – feel free to share a link to this page wherever you know people.
- Watch the Marathon and participate in chat! I’ll be playing games on stream the whole time, but my lovely wife Alice will be handling the stream, chat, and tracking completion of objectives. Even if you can’t stay the whole weekend, drop by and say hello!
MORE ABOUT DONATING
I will be playing 17 different Mario games (which games listed below), and tracking my completion of their various objectives. Some objectives are really easy, others are punishingly hard. Across all the games, there’s about 2500 total objectives – but I’m likely to only complete 750 to 1500 of them in the 36 hours, depending on how it goes. Pledge $0.01 or $0.02 per objective and watch your donation grow alongside all the others! We’ll be updating a tally of objectives in real time throughout the stream. (Extra Life does not support this natively – if you are interested, drop me an email at danmcgillen@gmail.com, subject line Mario Marathon, with your email address and amount pledged per objective. I’ll send you an email link reminding you to donate after the marathon is over with the total amount based on the number of objectives I completed and the amount per objective you chose.)
OK, SO MORE ABOUT THE GAMES
There’s 26 games that I would call “Mario Platform Games” Thanks to rereleases, remakes, and the classic games included with the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, I’ll be able to play 17 of them. The plan is to play through all the games in chronological order, first to beat each game as quickly as possible, and then to go back and complete more objectives as there is time. This will also provide an entertaining look back a the evolution of the series and improvements to graphics, sound, and storytelling over the series’ 35-year history.
The full list (in chronological order, with total # of objectives):
- Donkey Kong (3)
- Mario Bros (11)
- Super Mario Bros (32)
- Super Mario Bros 2 (Known as The Lost Levels in the US) (52)
- Super Mario Bros 2 (Known as Doki Doki Panic in Japan and not originally a Mario Game) (20)
- Super Mario Bros 3 (105)
- Super Mario World (96)
- Super Mario 64 (120)
- Super Mario Sunshine (120)
- Super Mario Galaxy (121)
- Super Mario Run (37)
- Super Mario Odyssey (836)
- New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe (Remake of New Super Mario Bros U on Wii U) (94)
- Super Mario Maker 2 (120)
- Super Mario Bros 35 (1)
- Super Mario 3D World (Rerelease of Super Mario 3D World on Wii U) (557)
- Bowser’s Fury (100)
The remaining games on the list I cannot play, most due to no modern way to play/stream them – most are actually originally for handhelds.
- Super Mario Land (Game Boy Only)
- Super Mario Land 2 (Game Boy Only)
- New Super Mario Bros (DS/3DS Only)
- New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii Only)
- Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii Only)
- Super Mario 3D Land (3DS Only)
- New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS Only)
- Super Mario Maker (Wii U Only)
- Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS (3DS Only)
But wait Dan, why aren’t you playing:
- The Yoshi series games, like Yoshi’s Story? Although they feature Mario and are platformers, they are very different in style and goals. The Yoshi games are all their own thing. The basic unique not-the-same-as-a-Mario-game formula is there, from the very first of the Yoshi-centered games (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island).
- Any of the Wario games? Are they platformers, yes. But the gameplay is very different. Super Mario Land 3, which is the first Wario game, technically is the most like a Mario game, but again, doesn’t star Mario as the main character.
- Any of the Mario RPG titles? This is a 36 hour marathon, not a 360 hour marathon.
WHAT ELSE WILL BE HAPPENING DURING THE EVENT?
Again, glad you asked! You can expect random trivia, commentary, and goofiness throughout. There will also be a bedtime story Saturday night – I’ll be reading the storybook from within the game “Super Mario Galaxy”. Other friends and acquaintances of mine may be dropping in to say hi – we’ll see what happens.
I’m also working on a list of “extra” goals that I will have to go do when certain $ goals are met. Things like, “Go win 5 mini-games in Mario Party”, or “Go do the 50CC Flower Cup circuit in Mario Kart 8”. Things like that. More on that when I have details. Unlike the rest of this event, the rules about what games do NOT apply – but everything will be Mario-related or Mario-adjacent. And will be designed to derail me from the main objectives for a period of time.
OTHER QUESTIONS
- Didn’t someone else (https://www.mariomarathon.com/) do something like this already, but for Child’s Play (another great charity benefitting sick kids)? Yes, yes they did – a number of times. They are one of many inspirations for the project. I just found out recently one of the people involved in that project went to high school with my sister-in-law. Small world!
- That’s a lot of text up there, Dan, can you give me the brief version? Um. Sure! I’m playing Mario Games to raise money for Extra Life, for 36 hours split over three days. Watch the Stream, Donate if you can, and Share with your Friends!