Player (term)
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Player is a term used to refer to a person playing a video game, often in the real world. The first players of a Mario game were the developers of Donkey Kong, the first Mario game overall. As with any other video game, developers play test a game throughout development, especially to test for bugs, and before releasing it to the public. In the Mario franchise itself, most players are human like in the real world, although other species have been shown to play video games as well.
In some games, mainly the role-playing games, many characters break the fourth wall and talk to the player ("you in front of the TV"); these characters include Goombella, Lord Crump, and Professor Frankly from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. It is also worth noting that several characters use Mario (or whatever playable character) as a device to talk to the player; for instance, Mario's RPG adventures often show supporting characters giving Mario commands like "press the A button". These instructions are actually directed to the player. Super Paper Mario makes a point out of this by having Mario ask what the person exactly means by "press the A button".
In Super Paper Mario, characters such as Bestovius refer to the player as a deity-like being existing within another dimension. Thoreau states the player as the great being who watches them when Mario asks what the "
Button" is. The manual of Super Mario Bros. 2 explains the dream-based origin of certain enemies, and Ninjis are stated to "appear in the dreams of NES players".
Another reference to the player is in Hotel Mario, in which there are many occurrences of Mario, Luigi, and Peach breaking the fourth wall. Some examples include Mario telling the player to check out the enclosed instruction book for help, Luigi saying "And you gotta help us", and Peach saying "And I thank you too". In the ending, Mario, Peach, and Luigi all exclaim, "You're the best player ever!".
An in-game reference to the player was given in Super Mario World's Funky level, which featured a formation of Coins that spelled out the phrase "YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER!!".
In Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Galaxy 2, after the game is completed, Mario will say, "Thank you so much for playing my game!"
Artwork commonly associated with the Game Boy Advance remake of Donkey Kong Country 2 shows Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong playing a Game Boy Advance SP, on which the game's Japanese title screen is shown. It is a variant of an earlier artwork made around the release of the original Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest that instead shows Diddy and Dixie playing on a Game Boy, which shows a Nintendo logo as it would on the boot-up screen.
Extra life is sometimes referred to as "player," as seen in the Super Mario World instruction booklet.[1]
Gallery
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Artwork of Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong playing a Game Boy, made around the time of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest's release
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A variation made around Donkey Kong Country 2's Game Boy Advance release showing the Kongs play a Game Boy Advance SP instead
References
- ^ On page 5, where the map screen is explained, a line pointing to the number of lives is labeled "Number of players."
