The year is 2023, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie has dominated the box office with earnings north of $1.3 billion; it’s now the second highest-grossing animated film in history. A few months later, Super Mario Bros. Wonder arrived to set a new record as the franchise’s fastest-selling title since data collection began. Now, the Nintendo IP is making a foray into health, with a recent report revealing it can help treat Major Depressive Disorder.
This discovery is courtesy of a randomized research study conducted at a German university. The researchers set out to investigate whether gaming can improve cognitive function in people with MDD, and they found that it can. To begin, they recruited 46 clinically depressed persons and split them into three groups with the first group containing 14 persons while the other two groups had 16 individuals each.
The first group played Super Mario Odyssey to treat depression, while the second group – the active control group – trained with a computer program named CogPack, and the last group followed the usual, standard method of treating the disorder.
The study’s findings, although inconclusive, were astonishing. It showed that playing video games can positively impact clinically depressed persons as there was a decrease in the number of affected persons over the course of the study. That group also showed higher levels of mean motivation for their treatment than the active control group.
The only test in which the group didn’t hold a clear advantage was visuo-spatial memory functions as the members failed to outperform both the active control group and the standard test group.
The study provides insight into the possible uses of 3D video games to treat clinical depression. Of course, before you or anyone else jump into conclusions, the researchers are requesting everyone to interpret the studio’s results with caution. For one, it wasn’t a blind study. This meant that the participants knew their groups and might have inferred the project’s goal. This may have impacted their participation, skewing the results. Secondly, with only 46 participants, the study’s sample size was small and not enough to draw conclusive inferences. Because of this, more research is required to ascertain the findings and ensure that playing video games can truly help with treating MDD.
Despite the study’s mixed findings, the potential implications are exciting and far-reaching. For one, the study suggests that 3D video games are more effective at treating the disorder than conventional methods
Also, treating depression is expensive, and the economic burden is even more so. With Super Mario Odyssey costing a mere $59.99, treating the disorder with video games, if upheld by further research, would significantly reduce the financial burden of the disorder on both personal finances and as national economies.
Meanwhile, a recent rumor claims that Illumination has plans to expand the Super Mario IP, alongside other Nintendo IPs, into a Marvel Cinematic Universe-style franchise. If true and well executed, then the Super Mario franchise will continue its dominance of the entertainment landscape that began with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
