It's a-me, MARIO! – and other valuable life lessons from the Italian plumber

Okay, so we've all heard, seen, and very probably played at least one Mario game in our lives. Let's face it, he's been around – in one form or another – since 1981, so you've probably played a Mario game and so have your kids. And so will your grandkids, most likely.
And while you don't need an added bonus, since the games themselves are tremendous fun, have you ever considered what valuable life lessons hide in the saga of the iconic Italian plumber-turned-superhero?

1. It's a-me, MARIO!

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This cheerful cry appears at the beginning of certain Mario games, when you start a level and sometimes, just at random points during the gameplay. And it's not just noise, it's not just game soundtrack, it's just...not something you could ignore.
Mario fans all over the world have come to know and love the 'It's a me, Mario!' call, just as much as they love boss fights or stomping on Goombas. And you know why? Because it's part of the experience, it's a call to have fun. For a lot of fans, it's saying 'come on, move, let's go, get up! Have fun and enjoy yourself!'
Which is definitely something we should do, outside of the games, as well. You need to have fun to survive and that's exactly what Mario is telling you.

Another great thing about the 'It's a me, Mario!' call is the way he says it – so happy, so proud. Like I'm Mario and here I am to save the day. Mario is proud of himself, he's going to give it his best shot. That's another thing we could learn from the guy – confidence. How many of us have the guts to go into a room and yell 'It's me, Steve!' ?
Not many...and maybe we should.
I found this amazing video online about the voice of Mario, voice-actor Charles Martinet, who created the iconic 'It's a-me, Mario, let's a-go!' back in 1990. I loved it, so...

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2. Face your problems.

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In Mario games, one of the key points of the action is killing your enemies. Whether it's Goombas, Koopas, Bullet-bills, or whatever else, you're stomping on something. Or spinning at them, or whatever else you can do to kill them. Now, some of Mario's enemies are avoidable, you can run past them and that's it. But not all.
Many enemies aren't content with remaining behind you, in a past section of the level, but they follow you on down. This happened to me the other day, while playing Mario Galaxy 2, where I ran into a mean little level. And in that level big, badass bullets kept coming after me, and I could kill them or run away. Here was the thing, though, if I ran away, the bullets would fly after me and often hit me from behind.
Which is what happens in our day-to-day life, too. You must face your problems, and kill them (or resolve them peacefully, if at all possible) when you run into them, because if you try to avoid them and just fly past them, chances are they're gonna come kick you in the butt, later on.
And there are, of course, the boss fights.

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There's really no getting out of those, not without fighting. You must face whatever big bad boss is standing in your way, in order to move forward in the game. You don't beat the boss, you're stuck. Same with life. You don't beat your problems, you remain stuck.

3. Fight for what you believe in.

A lot of the Mario games (and I mean a lot) are literally just about Mario running through all sorts of hardships and troubles, to get his beautiful princess, Peach. He's going to save her from the clutches of the evil Bowser, whatever it takes. Over and over and over again, it's just Mario having to fight through an endless stream of bosses, to get his girl.
Although originally, in the game Donkey Kong (Mario's first appearance), he was fighting to rescue his girlfriend, Pauline, Mario's existence (which has spawned over 200 games) largely revolves around saving Princess Peach.

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Now, that's one determined dude. Another thing we could learn from him! We're tempted to try and then give up (pretty soon) if things don't go our way, but if there's one thing that the Mario games teach you, it's determination. Even in just one game, Mario has to fight many bosses and countless smaller enemies to win. And you, as the player, have to really work hard on some levels. You don't give up, you stay on that level and you rage on that level and you play it a hundred times over, until you know every pixel. And you win.
That's how we should treat life, not like a 'meh, I could take it or leave it' experience, but like an 'I'm doing this!' type of thing.

4. Progress is about helping others

A lot of times, in the Mario games, you hit a challenge. Of course, the games were rather simple, at first. But like anything, they've evolved over time, so that it's not just a platformer-kill-enemies thing. Not anymore. You often meet a friend of Mario's, like his brother Luigi, or Captain Toad, who is in distress over one thing or other. Whether it's winning a very fast race, or retrieving the pieces of an object in a given amount of time, they need your help. And while it's not always a mandatory challenge – you can progress in the game without it – you do it, nevertheless, because that's what gaming is about. It's about the experience of the game, not just going through the whole thing as quick as possible. Besides, you want to help them. Who doesn't like Captain Toad? Just look at 'im!

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5. Any unsaved progress will be lost.

This is actually how the idea for this post came to me. I've taken up exercising recently, and then I took a break for a few days. Didn't do a thing. So, when I got back to exercising, yesterday, I could barely do my first set of exercises. I was panting and barely able to move. And it reminded me of the screen that appears whenever leaving a game.

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And I realized how true this is, how progress is all up to you. In any area of your life, as well as in-game.
Sometimes, it's just about clicking that 'save' button, other times, it's about learning a lesson. Or about exercising every day. And by not doing those things, you just erase the whole progress you've made thus far. And that's all good and fine, if it's what you want. But it's often not, and then we're so surprised where our progress went – after all, we didn't delete it.
But we didn't save it, either.
Thing is, clicking the 'save' button is up to you, in all aspects of life. Just as it is in the game, just as with exercising, you're the only one who can validate that progress. And you should.
You should also be aware that it's all up to you. Take responsibility for the save file of your life.

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Okay, enough with these geeky Mario life lessons. Who knows, maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe I should just enjoy the game.

Thank you for reading!

And here's to enjoying the game!