Nintendo’s 1993 Character Designs Will Make You Want To Color Like A Kid

There’s no question that Nintendo redefined the video game genre for years to come.

Mario, Luigi and the rest of the gang have been a part of our childhood and hearing that classic Mario tune makes one quite nostalgic.

Gaming site Press the Buttons recently acquired a copy of Nintendo’s Character style guide dating way back to 1993. After the success of their franchises starting with Super Mario Bros. in 1985, Nintendo decided to consolidate their brand and create a style guide that would be consistent in all their media appearances.

The character designs feature both colored and uncolored versions with Pantone colors specified. Honestly, the sight of the lineart versions of Mario, Luigi, Peach (who is named Princess Toadstool here) and Bowser makes me want to get some crayons and color them.

Aside from the Super Mario franchise characters, we also see Kirby, who Nintendo says “flies like a butterfly but stings like a Dedede” (pun forgiven, Nintendo), and bounty hunter Samus Aran from the Metroid series.

Nintendo fans would be delighted with the wacky bio for each character (who knew Mario was from Brooklyn?) and the height chart that is practically unused by the subsequent Mario games.

Check out Nintendo’s 1993 character style guide:

Read the rest of the scans at Press the Buttons. 

Which Nintendo character design is your favorite? Comment below!