Late last month, an old video showing off what a hypothetical AAA Mario game would look like went viral after two voice actors added new dialogue styled after that in blockbuster games like Uncharted and Gears of War. Now, a few weeks later, one line from the game, “Focus, M,” has spread across all corners of the web, annoying some and leading to a lot of online discourse.
On December 23, voice actor Ryan Stewart uploaded a video featuring himself as Mario and another voice actor, Ariel Hack, as Peach, talking to each other over comms as the famous plumber approaches Bowser’s castle. The original gameplay video featured in Stewart’s post was created by Funkyzeit as a conceptual mock-up of what a AAA Mario game might look like, and was shared online back in 2022. This new version, featuring dialogue perfectly parodying how some AAA games deliver narrative and tutorial information, quickly went viral online, with Stewart’s Twitter upload reaching over 25 million views as of January 5.
I had no idea AAA Mario would be so popular. I had to make some more. 🍄
ft. @ArielHck as Peach https://t.co/p3YMlF5rEn pic.twitter.com/ggarxptMuZ— Ryan Stewart (@RyanStewartVO) December 21, 2025
Quickly, one phrase from the video became popular: “Focus, M.” This line is delivered by Hack’s Peach after Mario makes a joke. It’s a pitch-perfect replication of the kind of AAA video game dialogue that was so prevalent in blockbuster single-player games from the Xbox 360 and PS4 generations, and which can still be found in some bigger games now. All of this dialogue, including the “Focus, M” line, was written by Stewart himself, who told Kotaku that while he didn’t expect the bit to go as viral as it has, he knew he had a “banger” on his hands once he heard it.
“As I was writing the dialogue, I knew it was funny,” said Stewart via email. “Once I got Ariel’s reads in, though, I knew it would be a banger. That being said, the sheer amount of discussion it spawned after the fact was unexpected.”
When asked for his thoughts on how “Focus, M” has become its own meme, with people using it who haven’t even seen the original video, Stewart told Kotaku: “If nothing else, I think it’s resulted in some excellent fan art! I hope my future posts can do the same.”
While Stewart is pretty positive about “Focus, M,” some online aren’t. The original creator behind the AAA Mario video never replied to Kotaku’s request for comment, but did like a YouTube comment left by someone comparing them to Oppenheimer, the man who created the nuclear bomb. That seems to indicate that, at the very least, Funkyzeit has mixed feelings about their involvement in “Focus, M.”
Meanwhile, online, the “Focus, M” meme has rapidly evolved and spread. You can find people applying it to basically anything at this point. New Marathon graphics? That’s a “Focus, M” game. PS1 platformer Croc? That’s a “Focus, M” game. Starfield? Sure, whatever, that’s a “Focus, M” game, too.
At this point, the meme has already run its course and lost all meaning. It’s like people calling anything they don’t like slop. And you can find plenty of posts from people saying they feel the meme is dead already. I’m not so sure, though. I still regularly see people tagging new AAA games and remasters as “Focus, M” games. And I suspect that at least a few devs have been watching all of this and are possibly making some tweaks to dialogue in their own upcoming games. I feel certain that at least one game has likely removed or cut a line that asked the player to “Focus…” in response to all of this.
