When Patrick Marshall first met his now-wife Georgia House’s son Gabriel four years ago, a simple game helped them bond.
The heartwarming story caught the eye of Nintendo executives this spring, who chose the Collingwood family as one of five stories to be featured in a special summer commercial for the Nintendo Switch. There were more than 200 stories submitted for Nintendo to choose from. The ads are being aired across digital platforms all summer and were aired in Cineplex Theatres for the month of June.
“I remember the first time I met (Gabriel), I walked into Georgia’s apartment. The Switch hadn’t come out yet but he was playing Nintendo. He was playing Mario Kart,” said Marshall. “The next time I saw him, he asked me to play Mario Kart with him.”
“He gave me a controller, but it was a pink controller,” he added with a laugh.
“It was Princess Peach,” said House. “It had been mine.”
For Christmas that year, Marshall said he was touched when Gabriel got him his own red Super Mario controller.
“Boys like video games. We got along with it,” said Marshall.
Earlier this year, Georgia House heard about an open casting call for Nintendo, where they were looking for families to share their stories about how the Switch brought them together.
She wrote up her family’s story and sent it in without telling Marshall or Gabriel, now nine.
“You were supposed to describe your unique situation,” said Georgia. “I felt like I needed to do the story justice, so I took my time writing it.”
Georgia relayed the story of how Marshall and Gabriel met. She was delighted when she heard back from the company that her family would be one of five from across Canada who would be featured in a commercial.
The Nintendo team came to Collingwood in May to shoot, and both Marshall and House weren’t sure what the expect.
“They said they’d be bringing a really small crew. (We expected) a camera person and someone directing things,” said Marshall. “A team of nine rolled up in three vehicles.”
“It was fun. They really took over our space,” said House.
The overcast weather that day kyboshed plans to get some shots of the family enjoying the outdoors, but the crew adapted and opted instead to show the family making pizza together.
“That’s one of Gabriel’s favourite indoor activities for sure,” said Marshall.
While Gabriel seemed a bit nervous for the first few shots, Marshall and House said after a few takes he managed to catch his stride.
“I remember watching the director ask him to do certain things, but he was really stiff. It took about an hour and a half, and then he just turned into a ham. He loved it,” said Marshall.
These days, Marshall said his and Gabriel’s favourite game to play together on the Switch is Super Mario Odyssey.
“It’s a two-player game where one person is Mario and the other person is a hat, Cappy. That’s been a fun game to play,” said Marshall.
“It’s been fun up until the point where he got better than us. Now it’s less fun,” said Marshall, with a laugh.
House said Gabriel had such a fun experience with the commercial, he is considering doing more acting in the future.
“The reason I even considered it in the first place is because Gabriel had expressed interest in acting,” said House. “It was more about him than anyone else.”
“We’re just the sideshow,” joked Marshall.
