Games From Across the Multiverse: It’s a You, Mario!

While I cannot specify how or why, I have been given the ability to connect with my alternate selves across the multiverse indirectly. This provides me with a window into many of the infinite possibilities by sharing retrospectives written by another self from another reality. Much the opposite of our previous tour, here is a world where the N64 reigns supreme, with very little competition, staying on the market for longer and producing some very peculiar games. Here is the "Third Handsomest Mole" of verse 4609 reviewing"It's a you! Mario!" for the N64.

It took a long time, but I've finally got a hold of that sacred gem of every collectors N64 library: 2003's It's a You! Mario! As a late stage N64 game that required the use of not only the Playstation peripheral but the N64 microphone, expansion pack, memory card and the EyeToy, while also being the weirdest game ever produced, bringing together a real who's who of video game developers and featuring Mario, the most well known mascot of all time, guaranteed that it would not sell at launch but have the curiosity of later retro collectors for a long time. Getting a hold of a copy wasn't easy, but I'm glad I was able to.

So what even is It's a You! Mario! anyway? You've probably heard about it and seen the bizarre screenshots out of context, or maybe read other reviews elsewhere. So it may not be a surprise to say that It's a You! Mario isn't even so much a game as it is an experience. I rolled credits on the thing, and I’m still not sure how to describe it. Perhaps because it's surprisingly short, the whole thing still seems like one long fever-dream. Featuring one of the most ambitious combinations of creative minds in video games since Chrono Trigger, the team for It's a You Mario! was headed up by a trio of Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Metal Gear Series creator Hideo Kojima, and Yoot Saito of Seaman fame. Part adventure game, part minigame collection, and part interactive acid trip, The whole thing feels like these three guys daring each other to take the game in increasingly bizarre directions, just to see if they could get away with it.

To be fair, there is quite a lot of actual gameplay at the heart of this. Many clips might lead you to expect something like an adventure game, but there is more to it than just that. The game is organized into several days, randomized into different scenarios, which feature mario encountering and helping out various citizens of the mushroom kingdom in ways that set up different minigames, many of which have a puzzle-like quality. While some, like the daily tooth brushing mini game that starts each day, are relatively simple, others not so much. The pipe puzzles by the end of the game can get particularly complex. As somebody who's never really cared for more cinematic games where gameplay takes a backseat, I was pleasantly surprised. That said, some of the one-off scenarios are either too simple or too frustrating. The controls for walking the chain chomp are infuriating, and almost any challenge that had a timer felt like the timer was too short. I would gladly go fishing with Lakitu all day, on the other hand.

Of course the gameplay proper isn't entirely what made this game special. It's the unique tone the game has. As the title suggests, this is about seeing yourself as mario. But even more than that, it's more so a game about mario doing normal everyday things, which somehow seems even weirder. Yet for all it's strangeness, I'll still hold onto the image of mario going through his morning routine, eating breakfast with Luigi, brushing his teeth, and taking the time to look in the mirror and say "it's a me! Mario!" (actual mario impression optional but highly encouraged.) While this alone probably doesn't justify requiring the N64 microphone peripheral, prompting the player to say it at the start of every day does connect you to the game world in a way few other games have managed since. Same for the prompts to smile at different points, registered using the EyeToy peripheral.

There are times where the game seems to be trying to be weird for its own sake, not all of it all that inspired. That scene where the shy guys remove their mask to reveal the player's own face is certainly....memorable, but it's not like it really makes sense. And at times the entire game feels like that. An attempt at pushing the boundaries to see what sort of nonsense the player will put up with. Nintendo was on top of the world at this point, so I suppose it's nice to see that they were doing anything but playing it safe. But play it safe franchise installments do exist for a reason. Peripherals aside, it's no wonder this game didn't sell. It's certainly anything but what we expect from mario, then or now. But it's that very premise that makes it so interesting.

All that said, It's a You, Mario is really little more than a novelty at the end of the day. Proof that too many chefs spoil the broth, and perhaps there is such a thing as too much creativity. I won't pretend the actual game is something I would play over and over again or even something I necessarily want more of, but it is a game I am incredibly glad exists. Excuse me, I've gotta go take my chain chomp for a walk.