{"id":4839,"date":"2012-02-10T08:36:19","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T15:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=4839"},"modified":"2014-01-25T18:10:22","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T23:10:22","slug":"game-on-alums-new-book-examines-the-cultural-impact-of-nintendo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=4839","title":{"rendered":"Game on: alum\u2019s new book examines the cultural impact of Nintendo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jeff Ryan '98<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For children of the 1980s, the word \u201cNintendo\u201d cast a spell, promising the jittery wonders of a video arcade in our living rooms. Those who landed the console were soon hooked, like Jeff Ryan<\/strong>, who spent the majority of one Thanksgiving tackling the intricacies of Mega Man 2<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ryan eventually emerged from the pixilated rabbit hole, leaving TCNJ with an English\/journalism degree in 1998. After graduation, Ryan, 35, went back down. Looking for something to do before his regular job editing copy at Katrillion, Ryan began reviewing video games for the now-defunct Web site. Eventually, he became games editor.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only fitting that Ryan has written a book about the company that has entertained the masses for 30 years. Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America<\/em> (Portfolio) is a witty, breezy look at how a ton of ingenuity and an iconic little, mustachioed hero turned Nintendo into a cultural force. The book has struck the nation\u2019s A button, receiving write-ups in the Wall Street Journal <\/em>(\u201cHe ably whips up a nostalgic atmosphere through pop-culture references, but can also pivot to a highbrow gag\u201d) and the Washington Post<\/em> (\u201cThe pages here turn as quickly as any of Mario\u2019s platform-jumping adventures\u201d).<\/p>\n

The love for Nintendo grew at his parents\u2019 house in South Orange, NJ. At TCNJ, The Signal <\/em>student newspaper and Professor Bob Cole<\/strong>, the College\u2019s legendary journalism professor, prepared Ryan for the writing life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good and the bad with student newspapers are that they\u2019re wonderful places to experiment,\u201d says Ryan, who eventually served as associate editor. \u201cNever written an opera review before? Or covered a basketball game? You can! I kept writing there after a lot of my friends went on to string for the Trenton Times <\/em>because I always was able to learn. It helped me jump right into video game reviewing when I fell into that, and it helped me think not just that the Nintendo story was worth telling but that I was the one who should tell it.\u201d A number of Signal<\/em> members, including Ryan, also founded the campus-based improv group Mixed Signals, which provided more life lessons. \u201cOnce you jump up on stage with no idea what you\u2019re going to do or say, and it turns out okay, you can carry that confidence over into other aspects of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Ryan (right) filmed a series of mock interview with Mario (played by comedian Vinnie Nardiello \u201999) to promote his book<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cole, according to Ryan, \u201chelped install passion in reporting as much as anything else.\u201d In the classroom, the burly professor\u2019s sense of humor ran blue\u2014and into the course material, including what Ryan describes as \u201cgiant, photocopied readers.\u201d \u201cOne was called the Dwarf Reader<\/em> because the headline was \u201cDwarf Rapes Nun, Flees in UFO,\u201d Ryan says. \u201c\u2026 I don\u2019t think he was anything other than G-rated when he wasn\u2019t teaching: all the cuss words were mere shop talk, stuff you better be ready to hear and dish out if you were to be a real reporter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alums also helped with the book. Among those to review the manuscript was Ryan\u2019s twin brother, Sean \u201998<\/strong>, while Vinnie Nardiello \u201999<\/strong>, a stand-up comic, played Mario in a series of promotional YouTube videos featuring Ryan \u201cinterviewing\u201d the princess-saving plumber and his associates. Click here to watch the Mario interview videos. <\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

With TCNJ having such an influence on Ryan, would Super Mario<\/em> exist if he had attended another school?<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably not, but there are a lot of branching-off dominoes that stand between the two,\u201d Ryan says. \u201cMostly I wrote this because you need \u2018platform\u2019 to sell a book, and this was the \u2018platform\u2019 I had. I work in editing for a medical ad agency, and unless you\u2019re a doctor, you don\u2019t (well, you shouldn\u2019t) have any platform in the medical world. And I also didn\u2019t have much of anything to say regarding medical stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t have had the platform if I didn\u2019t fall into the game-reviewer job, and that wouldn\u2019t have happened if I wasn\u2019t well trained as a copy editor, and that\u2019s thanks to Bob Cole.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeff Ryan’s new book, “Super Mario: How Nintendo Conquered America,” has struck the nation\u2019s A button, receiving write-ups in the “Wall Street Journal” and the “Washington Post.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":4840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-corner","category-february-2012"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}