Hey everyone. Kaihatsu here and welcome back to Culture Bits.
Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve said that… Anyways, who else is excited for Mario Maker 2?
I am incredibly hyped for it, in fact, a lot more so than for the new Pokémon games.
Actually, before we get started properly go ahead and click the I in the corner and
tell me which one you’re more excited for! So, the direct was packed full of new things
that of course everyone is pouring over to find out every detail.
Personally, I’m super happy to see night themes because I think we need more sunset
and night levels in Mario. One thing that received a lot
of attention though was the angry sun. Because of its lack of an appearance in the
new super Mario bros series Nintendo had to do what they did for many other Mario Maker enemies,
and come up with a new design…
Firstly, WHAT is this?
Angry Sun? More like existential crisis Sun… Why did they decide this would be a suitable
design and where on Earth did it come from? Well, it turns out that this odd design actually
has a credible origin and makes sense. Using some advanced Neural Networking we
can have a closer unblurred look at the Sun. This strange yet colourful version of the Sun has,
by some, been linked to the sun switches from the Legend of Zelda, as they both
sport very odd expressions. And in fact, both of them may
come from the same source! This version of the sun in all of its
creepiness is very similar to various depictions of the Sun in south American Cultures.
In the pre-colonial civilisations of South America, the Sun was an incredibly
important aspect of society. The Aztecs for example monitored
the sun very closely and built many monuments that aligned with it.
And of course, they also believed that the sun god Tonatiuh demanded human sacrifices every day…
The Aztec depiction of Tonatiuh does bear somewhat of a resemblance to the new Angry Sun,
especially with the colour scheme here. But the weird suns don’t end there… South
America has an even weirder one that I think this new sun is probably based on… Inti.
The Incas has their own pantheon of gods, and they worshipped the Sun god Inti.
Though I am using inti here as a single deity, he is more of a cluster of different solar aspects,
as the Inca divided up his identity according to the stages of the sun, and according to myth is
the son of Viracocha, the god of civilization. Inti also has a sister,
the Moon goddess Mama Killa. Who like her brother was seen as benevolent.
This interestingly fits with the two options we have in Mario Maker 2… Though the angry sun is
not particularly benevolent, who knows? Maybe Mario did something terrible to get
on the wrong side of a god? Now, Inti has been depicted in
some – interesting – ways which really is one of the main things linking it to the
Existential Sun and Sun switches. Because Inti was a god revered by the
pre-colonial civilisations it has been used as a symbol of national
identity in South America by many countries. It’s on the coat of arms of Bolivia and Ecuador,
and was on several historical flag of Peru. Today though it’s well known and recognised as
the Sol de Mayo (May Sun), a national emblem of Argentina and Uruguay.
This stemmed from the 1810 May revolution which marked the independence from the Spanish empire,
countries which had been part of the viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata.
A legend claims that as the new government was proclaimed, the sun broke through the clouds,
which was seen as a good omen, resulting in the sun’s adoption as a symbol.
And would you look at that face! Now that, is the face of an existential
sun if I ever saw one. Between the depictions of
Tonatiuh and Inti here I think it’s clear to see that there has been some kind of a south
American influence here, especially with the colour scheme of the Sun as well.
And we already know that Mario has taken inspiration from Pre-Hispanic and
Hispanic culture before with Tostarena in Mario Odyssey, which is called Soltitlán in Spanish,
a reference to the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. It wouldn’t surprise me if the team over at
Nintendo was on a bit of a South American kick. Perhaps Mario has some more Hispanic
in him than we realise… So, what do you think about the
new Existential Angry Sun? Creepy?
Just plain strange? Now that it’s been added to
the Nintendo Pantheon of creepy planetoids let me know what you make of it in the comments!
Should Nintendo change the design or should they stick with it?
It’s grown on me a little… I mean just think of the meme potential…
But hey, they may have already changed it in a later build of the game, I guess we won’t find
out until we have the game in our hands. Anyways thanks for watching
this episode of Culture Bits! Subscribe and stick around for the next video.