Summary
A strange reference to theSuper Marioseries and the Koopa Kid Lemmy was recently discovered in an insurance ad from the 1990s. Perhaps the most well-known and iconic character in video games,Super Mariohas become synonymous with Nintendo and is one of the few characters that even most non-gamers will immediately recognize. This has allowed the heroic plumber to keep his place in the spotlight over the years.
Mario has been appearing in games for four decades, and his fame regularly gets him referenced in other media as well. From movies to TV shows to comics,Mariohas appeared pretty much everywhere. As it turns out, over the years, his adventures have even been mentioned in less expected places, and even some of his minor antagonists have received some recognition.
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On Twitter, a connoisseur ofMariolore going by Supper Mario Broth recently shared an insurance ad from the late 1990s that references not just theSuper Marioseries but the villain Lemmy in particular. The ad apparently ran sometime between 1996 and 1998 in a newspaper in New Mexico. The premise of the pitch is that homeowners' insurance will give people peace of mind and free them up to do the things they enjoy. Specifically mentioned as possible fun activities are using the internet and playing Super Nintendo to defeat Lemmy Koopa.
Lemmy is one of Bowser’s children and serves as the third boss inSuper Mario World. Players must raid his castle and defeat the Koopa to progress to the next region. While introduced inSuper Mario 3, Lemmy made his first appearance on the Super Nintendo inSuper Mario World, and this is likely the game being referenced in the ad.Super Mario Worldis one of the best retro gamesof that era, and it was still popular in the late 90s.
At first, this may seem to some like a company trying to appear hip by making references to things the kids were into at the time. Super Nintendo was one of the major game consoles at the time, and the internet was just beginning to go mainstream. On the other hand, as Supper Mario Broth points out,Super Mario Worldcame out six to eight years before this ad ran. Further, while Lemmy is among theMariocharacters with the most amazing hair, he is simply another boss in the game and far from a major character. These facts would seem to indicate that whoever wrote the ad was actually well-versed inMariolore.
Why an insurance company in Santa Fe in the 90s decided to reference a random boss from an old game to appeal to homeowners' is unclear.Super Mariowas and is iconic, with moreSuper Mariogames in development. Still, mentioning Lemmy specifically in this insurance ad was quite strange. Fans will just have to chuckle and speculate about why this decision was made.
