I lived like Mario for a week

polygon.com:

Everyone knows Mario is cool. He can run, he can jump, he can stomp bad guys, he can rescue princesses, he can play sports, he went to medical school, he can paint, he’s a top dog in a number of sports, and he’s been made of paper. There’s nothing Mario can’t do.

And with a billion-dollar movie behind him, he may have just triple-jumped to icon status. But what does it really take to reach the level of the Mushroom Kingdom’s No. 1 plumber? I wanted to know.

I do not resemble Mario, but I could fashion myself in his image with ease: red hat, blue overalls, mustache, ya-hoo. But becoming Mario, living up to his style, would require going to greater lengths. I would need to inhabit the daily life of Mario.

So over five days, I set out to uncover the essence of what it really means to be a plumber, princess-saver, kart-driver, and overall cool guy. This is my story.

A new day, a new week, but this time, I was living as Mario. It was time to go to work. Normally I would take the subway, but Mario doesn’t do that. He runs everywhere. And as Mario does, I do too. So this morning I ran five miles to work.

I quickly learned I can’t run five miles to work. My legs hurt and I was really hot.

Once I actually got to work, I just… Well, I got to work. Wearing Mario’s clothes, but working very hard.

I still had to do my job even though I was living as Mario, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t do Mario’s job, too. Mario is all about taking risks, so I found a private bathroom to do my private plumbing.

I committed to plumbing because Mario is committed. I am not a trained plumber. But I think father would be proud.

Next up, I wanted to get some jumping in. My colleague Pat was kind enough to help me out by setting up Mario’s signature