There is not a geek alive who at one point hasn’t wanted to dress as Mario for Halloween. Sure, you can go the easy route and pick up a generic pre-made Mario costume, but it is more fun and looks more authentic to piece it together yourself. The following guide will walk you through exactly what you will need to dress yourself as the most recognizable video game character ever.

• The Hat
  It just doesn’t get any closer than this one. If there were an award to be given out to companies attempting to replicate hats worn by video game characters, this company would win it. The only thing it is missing is Mario’s distinctive white patch with the red “M”. To solve this issue, cut out a white piece of cloth or iron-on patch from any fabric store in a circle with approximately a 1.5-2.5″ diameter and carefully draw the “M” on to it with a red sharpie. Once done, either iron or sew it on to the front of the hat. That’s it! You now have Mario’s legendary hat.
• The Gloves
  Every plumber needs a nice pair of perfectly white cotton gloves. This pair is cheap and fits the character perfectly. If you’re going all out, there are probably higher-quality pairs out there that still look the part, but I wouldn’t recommend spending to much on the gloves unless you plan on wearing them again.
• The Overalls
  Just about any blue overalls will work, so shop around and find a good comfortable pair. If, like me, you’re not keen on buying pants online, there are plenty of brick and mortar stores that still that carry these perpetually out-of-fashion pants.
• The Shirt
  Just about any long sleeve red shirt will do the trick and, unless you’re really in to overalls, this is the one part of the costume that you may wear out in public after you’re done with the costume, so pick something comfortable.
• The Boots
  Most people probably already have this part of the costume in their closet, but if you don’t, any good pair of brown work boots or hiking boots should look great.
• The Mustache
  You’ve really got two options here. Look around and find a fake one that looks convincing, or grow your own. Personally, I like the “grow your own” route, but if you can’t or you’re impatient, there are plenty of convincing fake mustaches available online, in party stores, or at any of the generic Halloween stores that pop up at the end of September and disappear after October.
• Other Accessories
  There are some absolutely terrific toys out there that will perfectly compliment a Mario costume. Some of the better ones include the sound effects keychain, stars, mushrooms, and goombas.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and if you do decide to use this as your next costume, please post pictures!

Here’s the final result:

I’ve wanted one of these things since before they were even released. Now, several months later, my terrific wife was awesome enough to find out that Best Buy was getting a bunch in and all we had to do was wake up early and wait for it this past Sunday. As soon as we got home, I set it up and we started playing Wii Sports and played all of the games in it: Tennis, Golf, Baseball, Bowling, and Boxing. If you aren’t familiar with how the Wii works, the controller is motion sensative, so in tennis, you have to swing it to hit the ball, in golf, you have to do a full swing to hit it or a short little swing to putt. We also got Wii Play which includes a second controller and offers us another 9 or so mini games whose purpose are to teach you how to use the controller to its fullest and has some crazy games such as cow racing, some sort of tank war game, duck-hunt-esque target practice, fishing, and a few others. The game that I’m hooked on right now is the golf game included with Wii Sports, but I can’t wait until we start building up our collection and get games like Super Monkey Ball, which was great on the GameCube and looks even better on the Wii, and possible a better golf game like Tiger Woods golf.