How do you express that you are playing a game?


I would usually say something along the lines of 「マリオを遊ぶ」but I've been
informed that 「マリオする」is a more natural say to say this phrase. Doesn't make
sense to me, so I was hoping someone could explain




You can say:

  * マリオ **を** やる
  * マリオ **を** する
  * マリオ **で** 遊ぶ
  * マリオ **を** 遊ぶ
  * マリオ **を** プレイする

遊ぶ is relatively wordy and has a nuance of "have fun", so hardcore/serious
gamers may tend to avoid 遊ぶ and simply say する/やる.

A specific title like マリオ does not work as a suru-verb, so you can say マリオする
only in highly informal conversations where particles are often omitted (and
in such informal settings, you can also say マリオ遊ぶ, anyway). ゲームする is becoming
tolerated recently, but it's still better to say ゲームをする in formal articles.

