[From The Game is a regular department on Aggrogate, featuring replica items from video games. FTGs can feature merchandise, convention swag, special edition pack-ins, or personal replica projects from across the Internet. If you have something you want featured in From The Game, drop me a line.]

This, my friends, is the most iconic piece of headwear in video games  More than Master Chief’s Spartan helmet, more than Samus Aran’s Varia Suit helmet, more than Cubone’s mother’s skull, Mario’s hat is the most famous head adornment in all of gaming. Members of Club Nintendo who reached Platinum status between 2008 and 2009 got the opportunity to get Mario’s hat for free. Of course, Platinum status requires purchasing and registering several hundred dollars’ worth of Nintendo hardware and software, but if you’re already a fanboy it’s a pretty awesome bonus.

Mario’s hat isn’t just a red baseball cap with an M on it. It’s a plush red hat with the signature rumple that’s been a part of Mario’s look since he appeared on the Super Mario Bros. 2 video game box in 1988. It’s so plush, it’s almost more of a pillow you stick your head in than an actual hat; the hat is stuffed with a polyester fill between its feltlike polyester shell and 80/20 poly/cotton lining. It looks pretty, but you don’t ever want to get it dirty; the tag says you can’t machine wash or dry clean the hat.

Still, it looks just like Mario’s hat, and fits even my overly large skull (which is an impressive feat for any sort of headgear). If you squint and imagine me with a big mustache, I look just like Mario, if he were a Jewish nerd in a Dethklok t-shirt.