Rule of Eight

I thought this was really obvious, but after talking to some of my friends, I found it's not quite as well known as I thought it was, so I figured I would bring light to the situation.

Nintendo likes eights. Actually, it's more than just Nintendo. Many games for the original Nintendo console used eights even if they weren't Nintendo made. My first and foremost example is Mario. When was the last time you played a 2D Mario game. Did it have 8 main worlds? Of course it did. They all do. Even Super Mario World, where there was no distinct world breakup, had 8 castles. If ever there was a 2 dimensional Mario game made that had any number of worlds that is not 8, then people would be confused. They would look left and right and wonder where the missing one is, or which one isn't really considered a world.

The legend of Zelda is similar. It also has 8 recurring throughout. There are 8 dungeons in many of the 2D Zelda games. Even the 3D Zelda games work with the number 8. Majora's Mask had 4 dungeons. This was split up into getting to the dungeon (which was still a considerable amount of work) and then defeating the dungeon. To me, that is 8 chunks of separable information for a walk-through or guide.

Then, even non-Nintendo companies started to pull from this numerical motif. All Megaman games all have 8 bosses through X8, except for the first. The first only had 6. However, when it was redone, they added 2 new bosses for good measure. They made it 8 again. They actually retconned an 8 into their work.

There are tons of other examples of 8 in the Nintendo era of gaming. The system was even 8-bit. I actually think that's where this fascination with 8 came from. I think 8-bit inspired 8 distinctions within the games.

I suppose I'm exaggerating the actual expression of 8 within Nintendo console video games, but I truthfully don't see any other number more often. Then again, I do know that when you look for a specific number you see it way too often. I suppose it is unimportant, but I found it interesting and I hope you do too. I hope you notice the 8's in your games and feel free to show them off to those around you while you're playing.