We Got to Meet Mario at Nintendo San Francisco

Over the weekend, Nintendo San Francisco welcomed guests to a meet and greet with Mario himself to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of Super Mario Bros.. On September 20 and 21, visitors could snap some pics with Mario and walk away with a couple of small giveaways.

My husband and I took a short BART ride over to San Francisco, prepared to wait in line for hours in the baking sun. Instead, we walked right in and only had to wait a few minutes for staff to start opening up the line and for the man of the hour to appear. The line filled up fast — we were towards the front of it, but staff had to cut off the line pretty quickly after they opened it (though they reopened it later, as Mario was available for photos for four hours).

 

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It was a pretty controlled event, with staff only allowing two photos per person and no videos once you got up to Mario, in the interest of time. Staff took your photos for you using your phone, to keep people honest and the line moving. Whoever was in the Mario suit had a good sense of humor, greeting guests with literal open arms, doing the classic Mario victory sign with his fingers, grooving, and just having a good time.

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After photos, staff allowed guests to choose between either a pack of Mario and Luigi patches or a coloring book to take home for free. I took the patches and my husband took the coloring book (which he let me have), which had a few pages of official art of various Mario Bros. characters, including an airship filled with the Koopa Kids and Bowser Jr.

This was a fun little event that brought out people of all ages, whether they were with family, friends, significant others, or all by themselves. It was great seeing the enthusiasm of the crowd as Mario came out (and had to sidle sideways past the Switch kiosks because his head was too big to walk past them normally, which cracked me up). And luckily, Nintendo is continuing the Super Mario Bros. 40th Anniversary celebration with another free event this weekend: this Saturday, September 27, guests can challenge a Nintendo ambassador in a handful of different Mario games.

While the challenges aren’t clear and the games haven’t exactly been listed out, the Nintendo Instagram account for their New York and San Francisco stores (@nintendostoreus) posted a poll to their Stories this morning asking guests which Mario game they’re most looking forward to playing: Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, or Super Mario Bros. 3. So we’re assuming those are the four Mario games visitors will get to play.

The fun goes from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm local time and is happening at both Nintendo SAN FRANCISCO and Nintendo NEW YORK. Did you get to go to the Mario meet and greet last weekend? Will you be going to the challenge event this weekend? What game do you want to challenge one of the ambassadors to play? Let us know in the comments!