Gravity in Super Mario Bros: A Study

From the people that brought you the "Speed of a minibike in Jackass Number Two" study comes "Acceleration due to gravity: Super Mario Brothers," an absurdly detailed scientific study on the evolution of gravity in the Mario series.

Gravity might be a constant in real life, but that's not the case in the Super Mario games, according to a study done by Adam Lefky and Artem Gindin for The Physics Factbook. "[Gravity is] the force that prohibits us from jumping 50 feet in the air," Lefky and Gindin wrote. "However, in Mario's world, gravity does not quite work that way. Mario is able to jump 5 times his height and fall with accelerations that would be deadly to humans."

To measure the nature of gravity in Mario as it has evolved over time, Lefky and Gindin used the formula "s = s0 + v0t + ½ at2," and recorded clips of Mario falling from a ledge in every Mario game from the first NES title to Super Paper Mario on the Wii, counted the frames to see how long he took to fall, and measured pixels to determine the distance of the fall. After figuring out Mario's acceleration due to gravity in each game, they graphed their data according to the bit rates of the consoles.

"We determined that, generally speaking, the gravity in each Mario game, as game hardware has increased, is getting closer to the true value of gravity on Earth of 9.8 m/s squared," they wrote. Still, Mario gravity is far from realistic: the most recent game tested, Super Paper Mario, featured gravity of a whopping 43.05 m/s squared. "With gravity that great, it is a wonder Mario can perform such feats as leaping almost 5 times his own body height!" Lefky and Gindin wrote.

Somehow I think that's the point.

[Via Waxy.org]

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ah what fun science for the sake of science can be. Least the Mythbusters get paid for it though

Wow; Just so random. If we had these people helping to cure cancer then a lot of people would be alive right now.

That's the definition of wasting time.

What's the point of that?

inu-kun:
That's the definition of wasting time.

How can it be a waste of time when IT'S AWESOME!?

Wow, what a great way to waste time! This is fucking awesome.

inu-kun:
That's the definition of wasting time.

SomeBritishDude:
Wow, what a great way to waste time! This is fucking awesome.

Vlane:
What's the point of that?

Oh, pffftt, you hypocrites, what's the point in playing video games if all they do is rot your brain? Hmmm?

This may be the definition of time-wasting, but now we know that Mario is some sort of super-being that can take 10times the ammount of G forces than a regular human being! That's fucking awesome!

errorfied:

inu-kun:
That's the definition of wasting time.

How can it be a waste of time when IT'S AWESOME!?

Exactly.

No scientist can understand the power of imagination.

Let's not be haters, people. There's always room for the interesting, even if it is trivial. I'm sure you've never told anyone a seemingly useless fact about Leonardo da Vinci writing backwards or Charlie Chaplin losing his own look-a-like contest.

If anything, this is a pretty cool observation about the environmental realism in games, even fairly fantastic games. I'm too lazy to do the math. Does the article say how much force he pushes with his legs to jump so high?

Knowledge is power!

Also...saving lives? Really?

It's a pity they didn't use data from Super Mario Galaxy. That game seriously has a great gravity model. Apart from that, I approve of such useless research. I can't say that much of what people seem to think is "real" research is actually any useful. But this is a totally different topic.

So that would be why Mario's primary attack is to jump on people? His fall speed really would crush them? Wow. It seems ridiculous, but I suppose it actually makes sense in context.

Wouldn't it be easier to hack the game and find the value for gravity instead of doing weeks of research?

so this is what physicist`s do to kill time

Random argument man:
No scientist can understand the power of imagination.

I sincerely doubt that - even if it will take 2000 more years, i reckon it'll happen (provided we haven't killed ourselves by then)

the amount of time invested in this makes me want to cry.

But how could those equations be accurate without knowing Marios weight?

spuddyt:

Random argument man:
No scientist can understand the power of imagination.

I sincerely doubt that - even if it will take 2000 more years, i reckon it'll happen (provided we haven't killed ourselves by then)

C'mon, we can't even predict the weather yet.

The_root_of_all_evil:

spuddyt:

Random argument man:
No scientist can understand the power of imagination.

I sincerely doubt that - even if it will take 2000 more years, i reckon it'll happen (provided we haven't killed ourselves by then)

C'mon, we can't even predict the weather yet.

and only 400 years ago, we didn't even have explosives - i'm assuming the current scientific method and things carry on at their current pace

Some people have too much time.

It's supposed to be outrageous. :P I'm pretty sure there aren't goombas on earth either :P

why does it matter if mario has realistic gravity?

Something tells me a couple of little scientists havn't been laid in a while.

But really, anything scientific that's worthwhile, thumbs up, but this?!

neato

Did it even accrue to them that this might be a useless study considering huge slabs of brick can also float in midair in the Mushroom Kingdom.

What's this? Math having practical uses in the world? No, no it isn't. Damn, my search must continue.

considering they actually published this study, I am going say that sadly no, it probably never occured to them this study is as useful as the dog dung in my back yard. Actually, that could fertilize something so this study is actually less useful than crap!
I am also going to agree these guys probably haven't been laid in a while. So know we know how bored physicists kill time.

WastedHero:
Did it even accrue to them that this might be a useless study considering huge slabs of brick can also float in midair in the Mushroom Kingdom.

http://digitalunrestcomic.com/index.php?date=2008-12-29

Random argument man:
No scientist can understand the power of imagination.

Duh. They think...ah nevermind. It's not worth it. Scientist can be real idiots.

Hasn't anyone else figured out that this study answers another question entirely? It's no wonder Mario can kill things simply by jumping on them!

nathan-dts:
Wow; Just so random. If we had these people helping to cure cancer then a lot of people would be alive right now.

it doesn't take a PhD in Biochemistry to figure out the rate of gravity. It may have been a very intricate and detailed study, but we're not talking top-of-the-line physics here.

Lvl 64 Klutz:
Hasn't anyone else figured out that this study answers another question entirely? It's no wonder Mario can kill things simply by jumping on them!

nathan-dts:
Wow; Just so random. If we had these people helping to cure cancer then a lot of people would be alive right now.

it doesn't take a PhD in Biochemistry to figure out the rate of gravity. It may have been a very intricate and detailed study, but we're not talking top-of-the-line physics here.

I meant that they seem to have the stereotypical heart of a scientist (no life and extremely strange)

If I was any good at physics this is what I would be doing with my life.
Fuck saving the planet or anything helpful!