Mario

Wednesday, February 21, 2005. Jorge "J" Salazar pulls his old Nintendo Entertainment System out from the back of his mom's closet so he can show it off to his baby brother, Jonathan. Dusting off a cartridge, Jorge exclaims: "Forget Halo 2, little man, Super Mario was the shit." The nine-year-old Jonathan stares back blankly. Jorge pulls out a second Mario game: "These right here are real Latin video game heroes." Jonathan asks "For real?" "His name is Mario, ain't it," answers Jorge, "look at that moustache – is that papi or what?" Johnathan picks up the cartridge and begins to study it, his mouth slightly open. Suddenly, he scrunches up his face and blurts out: "Damn, why he gotta be picking vegetables then?" Created in 1983, Mario has appeared in over 100 video games and is the official mascot of Japanese video game maker Nintendo.