Book Review -- Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America

It is very hard to write a book about Nintendo for various reasons. Firstly, the company is still powerful today; continuing to crank out fantastic games and be on the cutting edge of gaming. Secondly, it was a trailblazer in the early 1980s and people of that generation (like myself) think of it fondly. In fact, we may even think of Mario as one of our childhood friends. Lastly, it is a company that was built on fun and entertainment with little to no scandals. It is because of this that a book written about Nintendo and Super Mario must tread lightly in order to not offend the company in its current state, not offend the children (now adults) who grew up loving Mario and hating Bowser, and to make the story compelling enough to be readable. Jeff Ryan makes a concerted effort it fill all of these requirements though at times he falls short.

First and foremost, I have to out myself as an adult who adored all things Mario when I was a child. Because of this, I may be bias when it comes to literature on the topic. For the first two parts of the book, I thought that Ryan did an excellent job. He told the reader about the founding of Nintendo in the 1800s as a card company and the struggles that they faced to the point that they almost began marketing Popeye ramen noodles. Fortunately, the president of the company hired his son-in-law to help Nintendo get off its feet and hopefully thrive…one day. I believe we all know the rest of the story from here: first an arcade game was created followed by a console that could be played at home. The consoles sold like hot cakes and decades later we now have the Wii, of course with many other products in between.

Ryan makes the company’s history enthralling to the point that I was unable to put the book down. However, as he began to write about Nintendo’s more recent projects the story became boring and dull. Towards the last two parts, it seemed as if the author was just giving a plot summary of each game produced by Nintendo. Of course he mentioned the other gaming systems at the time and the competition between those and Nintendo, but even that didn’t spice up the book. Being that many of Nintendo’s games are updated versions of past games, the book becomes a bit repetitive (to no fault of the author).

Additionally, Ryan's writing style did get on my nerves from time to time. His excessive use of clichés, metaphors, and similes made me feel at times like I was reading an SAT prep book. Some of his statements were humorous while others attempted to draw connections between things that held no common significance. Also, he seems to be in awe of Nintendo and therefore believes that Nintendo (and Mario) will always win out over other gaming systems.
Overall, this is a good book for Mario lovers but doesn’t have much depth. It lacks interviews with employees or even users. There is some critical thinking on the author’s part which makes me feel as if I am reading a dissertation instead of a published piece of nonfiction. If it does nothing else, it will make you want to brush the dust off of your old console and make that little plumber save the princess.

-DLP

*This book goes on sale at the beginning of August so be sure to pre-order your company.