March 10 is officially MAR10 Day! Celebrated by Mario fans each year, March 10 is a special day to remember Mario’s impact on pop culture, thanks to how the day on the calendar resembles the iconic Nintendo character’s name.
2015 was big for Mario as he celebrated 30 years since his first release in 1985’s Super Mario Bros. Nintendo launched Super Mario Maker—a game that lets fans create and share their own Super Mario Bros. levels. Plus, Facebook’s engineers celebrated him by creating their own Super Mario Maker levels for users to play, and Nintendo released a limited-edition 30th anniversary Mario amiibo in a retro 8-bit design.
Mario also hit the courts with the launch of Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash for Wii U, where fans play as Mario and friends in intense tennis competitions. For the first time, Mario teamed up with his paper version, Paper Mario, in the colorful action RPG Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam for Nintendo 3DS.
Finally, with the help of his voice actor, Charles Martinet, Mario celebrated the grand reopening of the Nintendo NY store in Rockefeller Plaza earlier this year.
Mario also has a lot to celebrate in 2016. Competing with his friends in the Olympic Games, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will launch on Nintendo 3DS consoles on March 18, with the Wii U version set to release this summer.
