I wonder if Shigeru Miyamoto thought about the soul of Goombas while developing Super Mario Bros. or he considered the fact that for some people even what is ultimately violent could appear violent a very innocent family platform game. Nevertheless, played by a real Buddhist monkthe original NES title has a strange effect… especially considering HOW it plays.
A Sutra for a Goomba
In fact, Mario doesn’t mince his words during gameplay, and often crushes enemies, when he doesn’t burn them by throwing fireballs at them. But can we move forward without killing anyone? This is what Yoshimichi Ishida, the Buddhist monk mentioned above and also a showman in Japan, tried to do. He made a series of videos to show some pacifist games of Super Mario Bros.in which he tries to avoid enemies completely and says a prayer, or rather, a sutra, when he is forced to kill them.
Ishida played Super Mario Bros. on NES many years ago, although he doesn’t remember exactly where. He’s a fan of single-player fighting games and doesn’t own a Nintendo Switch. But now he’s made it his mission to save princess peach without killing anyone. Of course, our guy only holds himself responsible for deaths caused by him, not those caused by the level design, such as an enemy falling into a pit after walking over a platform. He also made a rule that he can only jump once on Koopa Troopas, since doing so doesn’t kill them, but they close themselves in their shells.
Watch it, because it is a truly alternative way to play Super Mario Bros. and, in its own way, very interesting. On his YouTube channel you can also find other videos, in addition to the one we have proposed.
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