Prime Minster of Japan Announces 2020 Games while Cosplaying as Mario (from Super Mario Brothers)

Jeanne Marie Hoffman August 22, 2016 News, Video Games 4 Comments

Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, arrived in Rio to “announce” the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Â Except it appears rather than taking an airplane, he decided to arrive via a warp pipe.

HeÂ “arrived” at the Rio Olympics by emerging from a green pipe and decked out inÂ a Mario (of the Super Mario Brothers) costume.

This is beyond awesome.

From the New York Times:

The promotional video and Olympic performance were developed by the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. An outline of the performance was given to reporters covering the Rio Games in advance, but it only mentioned â€œa surprise guest from Japan!â€

With Super Mario featured in the Tokyo 2020 promotion, even Nintendoâ€™s stock seemed to get a boost, rising more than 3 percent in Tokyo trading.

The promo spot itself was adorable. Â It showed characters getting ready for the Olympics in Tokyo. Â The Prime Minister is on his way to the airport and is anxious about making the event on time.

That’s when he decides to get creative.

You can watch the whole promo spot here:

The buzz behind this promo is starting to make me really excited for what the Tokyo Olympics will bring, especially in the opening ceremonies.

I’ve also heard rumors of some technological advances they are considering for the 2020 Olympics–but more on that later.

4 comments

Persian
August 22, 2016 at 11:32 am

amazinggg

askmrlee
August 22, 2016 at 2:10 pm

Seeing Doreamon (the flying blue robot cat) over Shibuya crossing helping Abe/Mario was a cute surprise. But I wonder how many people were wondering who/what is Doreamon?

- Jeanne Marie Hoffman
  August 22, 2016 at 4:06 pm
  
  I think the entire thing was a hat tip to people all over the world who appreciate Japanese content (whether video games, manga, etc).
  
Holly Hooper
December 11, 2021 at 1:33 am

Uh F-Zero was the TITS in 91, Yoshis Island, ZeldaLink to Past/ChronoTrigger, Mario Cart/SuperMarioWorld & Turtles inTime OMG, fantastic games. SF2 was the game that started al the fighting craze… PERIOD. Mortal Kompats don’t belong on this list, as they did nothing for gaming other than the rating system & Ultra Hype that evaporates after a wek of playing unlike SF, also pick one of EarthWorm Jims not 1&2, they’re almost identical. Also StarFox was just good, i bought it, got boring in a couple of weeks.