‘Super Mario’ Breaks Into Top 20 Games On YouTube [INFOGRAPHIC]

Back in February, YouTube brand management company Octoly and research firm Newzoo released a list of the top 20 video game franchises on Google’s online video site. Now, the two companies updated the stats for the month of March and noted a unique finding. Octoly and Newzoo noted Nintendo’s Super Mario franchise cracked the top 20 rankings at #8.

Octoly wrote in a release how Super Mario videos grew 450%

to reach 547 million total video views in the month of March alone. The brand marketing company believes these whopping figures can be attributed to the fan-created videos stemming from Super Mario 64 HD. The game, created by indie developer Erik Roystan Ross as a tech demo for the Unity game engine, was a free web-browser, playable version of the Bomb-Omb Battlefield level from the classic Nintendo 64 console game.

The increase in Super Mario YouTube video views, as well as their overall presence on Octoly’s game franchise chart, is important to note. Nintendo has a shaky history with YouTube videos using Nintendo game content. For a while in 2013, the Japanese game developer constantly issued takedown requests and denied revenue to video creators.

More recently, Nintendo launched its YouTube Creator Program in January 2015, which requires YouTube creators to register videos or channels of Nintendo content before receiving any ad revenue. Creators currently receive 60% of ad revenue on individual videos, and 70% of revenue for full-out Nintendo-themed channels. Any videos or channels not registered with the Program would allow Nintendo to issue takedown requests or use YouTube’s ContentID system to keep all the ad revenue generated from the content.

Nintendo’s revenue-sharing policy was not well-received by many of YouTube’s gamers. PewDiePie, who now boasts over 36 million subscribers, called the Creator Program a “slap in the face,” while “Angry Joe” Vargas stated how greedy Nintendo had made itself look. Nevertheless, the game developer’s Creator Program attracted so many applicants it had to extend its approval period.

Nintendo already issued a takedown notice of Ross’s Super Mario 64 HD. And if Nintendo starts patrolling YouTube for many of the videos based on Ross’s project, it’s not likely Super Mario will stay in the top 20 for Octoly and Newzoo’s next chart in April.

Check out the rest of the (generally non-controversial) video game franchises which made it onto the top 20 list for March: