This thesis puts forward an approach to the preservation of videogames through a singular
case study of Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker (SMM) released exclusively for the Nintendo
Wii U console in September 2015. Videogames are a significant part of our culture and our
everyday lives. As with other popular cultural forms, there is an urgent need to think about
how videogames are being remembered, documented and preserved. Yet herein lies the
problem. For how does one preserve a practice? This thesis argues that attempts to preserve
videogames as playable objects are, conversely, further contributing to their effacement.
Videogame preservation appears to fixate on the technical object. Rather than attempt to
approach SMM as a singular identifiable entity, this thesis considers videogames as
discursive practices and/as sociotechnical assemblages. Its proposed method of study is to
trace the contours of videogame play through the cultural records produced by those who
play them. Its explicative method utilises the medium of video. Through tracing the multiple
trajectories of SMM play, this study moves to highlight how dominant play styles (and, to
this end, dominant players) shape our cultural memory. Whilst there is no “right” way to play SMM, hegemonic discourses influence what kind of play is valorised and consequently,
whose histories of play are likely to remain
