That Time Mario Can Apparently Jump 25-Feet High
Super Mario is really super, am I right? He has defeated Bowser numerous times across his many games, he apparently earned his PhD en route to practicing medicine, and he is a champion kart racer. But did you know that Mario’s jump is probably his most impressive super ability? Honestly, his vertical jump record is more than 4-times greater than the highest jumper on earth. If that’s not incredible, I do not know what is then.
Well, this is that time Mario can apparently jump 25-feet high!
NOTE: I am aware that Luigi is the bigger jumper in certain Super Mario games, but the physics and measurements in this article mostly focus on the original Super Mario Bros game and Mario without the mushroom powerup.
In the original Super Mario Bros game, Mario is able to make a standing jump five times his own body height. For a portly, little plumber, that is unbelievable! According to a life-size statue of Mario, the plumber-turned-super hero is 5’00” tall (152cm), which means he is well below the worldwide average for men, which is 5’7″ (173.7cm), meaning that his vertical leap is made even more impressive by his stature.
If we take moment to calculate this, a 5′ man that is able to jump 5 times his own body height is literally jumping 25′ in the air. That is unprecedented. The highest vertical jump in NBA history allegedly belongs to Michael Jordan, who jumped an impressive 48 inches vertically. Yeah, you read that right. 48 inches, which is also 4 feet. That is nearly 6-times less than the one we call Super Mario.
It doesn’t even end there. Canadian personal trainer Evan Ungar holds the Guinness World Record for ‘Highest Standing Jump’, managing to leap a whopping 5’3” with no run up. Another incredible feat. It is worth noting that Ungar’s leap is recorded very differently from an NBA vertical, so this is more about foot placement than hand reach, which applies a bit more for Mario’s situation. Even taking into consideration Ungar’s World Record, Mario’s vertical jump with no run up is still nearly 5-times higher than the Guinness World Record holder.
Mario’s jumping abilities do not even stop there. As insane as his vertical leap is by professional standards, Mario’s long jump is equally impressive. Mario is able to jump roughly 60 feet (18.2m) horizontally after a top-speed run. The man who has the world record for Long Jump in Athletic and Olympic competition, Mike Powell, leaped 29’4 1/4″ (8.95m), which is nearly half the distance Mario can achieve. Not quite as dominant as his vertical leap record, but massive nonetheless.
Finally, we get to one of Mario’s most obnoxious accomplishments in jumping, and that is his ability to double-jump mid-air thanks to the help of a shell. It doesn’t really count toward any records, so I will not bother measuring this. However, if Mario is already leaping at least 25-feet in the air with no momentum and a bit more if running, a shell jump gives Mario the chance to nearly double the height of a jump.
That implies Mario can potentially jump 50 feet high with a perfect shell jump. I mean, Mario has already embarrassed all of these super-athletes with his obnoxiously high jump numbers, but even outdoing himself with jump modifications?! Let’s just say that Mario will never be satisfied with his current ability. He is always looking for ways to out-jump the competition.
You know, it is as they say, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” It is easy to look at someone, even fictionally, like Super Mario and make the assumption that he cannot jump high for a variety of reasons, but we learned today that Mario is no slacker in the jump department. He is an absolute legend that can out-jump anyone in the real world today, and that is simply a fact based on proper measurements.
Sure, Mario is not real, so why compare? Why even try to figure out how high he can jump? Well, because Mario is real to me, and that means his jumps are, too! And if his jumps are real, then his records need to be acknowledged, too!
Guinness, pay Mario his respect and give him his record.
Thank you for stopping by Nintendo Link and enjoying this “That Time” article. What do you think of Mario’s jumping abilities? Are they impressive? Let us know what you think in the comments below! Happy gaming, everyone.
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