It’s-a-us, Marios!
A horde of “socially awkward” gamers side-scrolled their way into Midtown this week to celebrate Nintendo’s “Mario Day” — and join together for what organizers say was the largest gathering ever of fans dressed as as the beloved Nintendo video game character.
A whopping 270 participants flocked to the real-life Mario Party purely for the love of the game and for the decades of joy the Brooklyn plumber had brought them.
More than 270 people dressed as Marios participated in the GameStop event. Courtesy of Game Stop
“Mario’s from New York, so New York really showed up for Mario!” said Chris Toro, the district manager for GameStop, which hosted the event.
“A lot of people grew up with Mario, but even now, the younger generation is still playing Mario. For a lot of people, it’s their first game and their first movie. It’s huge.”
The record-breaking event was held at the Union Square GameStop store — which enticed the hundreds of participants with a $5 voucher and a chance to win a Nintendo Switch for showing up to the event.
Ross Martinez — who dressed as an all-gold version of Mario from New Super Mario Bros. 2 — took home the gaming console after being crowned the “best dressed Mario.”
“I wanted to be a part of history,” said Martinez, who came all the way from Houston for the blockbuster event, adding that he also dresses as the character for parties as a living.
“I love to just be Mario. I have over 35 different Marios. Gold Mario is one of my favorite power-ups … It feels really, really powerful and it’s gold! We all want to be golden.”
Cristopher Peralta of the Bronx spent upwards of 12 hours making a giant paper Mario head for the occasion. Katherine Donlevy
The shop also had extra costumes on hand for passersby who wanted to participate in the Mario lovefest, all of whom contributed to the final 270 tally.
Though the crowd apparently smashed the Guinness World Record title for the “Largest gathering of people dressed as Mario” — which was set in 2010 when 230 participants stormed a shopping mall in China — it won’t go down in the record books as there was no official counter from the organization.
That didn’t stop organizers from declaring victory.
Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Mario was set in 2010 when 230 participants stormed a shopping mall in China. Katherine Donlevy
DJs BaJah and JayCee played original tracks from the video games. Katherine Donlevy
GameStop enticed participants with a $5 store credit voucher and a chance to win a Nintendo Switch. Courtesy of Game Stop
“Who made Guinness in charge of all the world records? We wanted to do it on our own in the most official capacity that we have,” said Nicolle Robles, GameStop’s director of communications.
The event was intended to be a fun, community-building event centered on Mario, who was first introduced in 1981 as the “Jumpman” in the arcade game Donkey Kong before ultimately becoming one of the most recognizable video game characters.
The hundreds of participants swapped gamertags and even danced to the original video game’s tracks spun by DJs BaJah and JayCee in the store.
One fan even showed up with a sports car decked out as a Mario Kart, and social media stud Logan the Gerberian Shepsky showed up with a Super Star balloon.
Xasia Villarreal, Landry Zuniga and Sarah Villarreal, of Michigan, carved time in their spring break vacation for the event. Katherine Donlevy
Cristopher Peralta, of the Bronx, spent upwards of 12 hours making a giant paper Mario head for the occasion.
“There are some people who are a little socially awkward, but it’s cool to see this many people appreciate something that seems pretty niche only a couple of years ago, in a sense,” said Peralta, 20, saying he felt an attachment to the character.
“A Mario game was the first video game I’ve ever played, and a Mario game is probably going to be the last video game I ever play.”
Xasia Villarreal, or Michigan, made a point to add the Mario event to her itinerary after learning it was taking place smack in the middle of her Big Apple spring break.
She and her mother, Sarah, and her cousin, Landry Zungia, each bought a pair of overalls, a red shirt and mustaches to make sure they were prepared for the record-breaking attempt — even though Villarreal admitted she was just a “casual fan.”
“Technically, I like Bowser more, but I like the Mario games that have Bowser like Mario Kart. I’m a big fan of Mario Kart, especially,” said Villarreal, 20.
“I thought it was fun to dress up and be part of a potentially winning world record!”