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Mario
'Mario' character
Mario in Super Mario Galaxy
First game	Donkey Kong (1981)
Created by	Shigeru Miyamoto

Mario (マリオ) is a fictional character in his eponymous video game series, created by video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Though originally only appearing in platform games, starting with Donkey Kong, Mario currently appears in many video game genres, such as racing, puzzle, role-playing, fighting and sports games, and others.

Mario is depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian-American plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom. He repeatedly stops the plans of Bowser to kidnap Princess Peach and subjugate the Mushroom Kingdom. He also has other enemies and rivals, including Donkey Kong and Wario. Since 1995, Mario has been voiced by Charles Martinet.

As Nintendo's mascot, Mario is one of the most famous characters in video game history, and his image is commonly associated with video games. Mario games, as a whole, have sold more than 201 million units, making the Mario series the best-selling video game series of all time. Outside platform games, he has appeared in video games of other genres, including the Mario Kart racing series, sports games, such as the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series, and role-playing games. Outside the original games, television shows, film and comics, he spawned a line of licensed merchandise.

Conception and creation

The character first appeared in the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong as a carpenter named "Jumpman", more commonly called "Mr. Video Game" in Japan. During localization of the game for American audiences, Nintendo's warehouse landlord Mario Segale confronted Nintendo's Minoru Arakawa, demanding back rent. After a heated argument and convincing Segale he would be paid, the Nintendo employees opted to name the character in the game Mario after him. Mario's profession as a carpenter was intended to reflect that as a character as an ordinary hard worker as well as to make it easier for players to identify with the character. After a colleague suggested that Mario more resembled a plumber, Miyamoto changed his profession accordingly and developed Mario Bros., featuring the character in the sewers of New York City.

Due to graphical limitations of arcade hardware at the time, Miyamoto clothed the character in bright red overalls and a blue shirt to contrast against each other and the background, adding white gloves to distinguish the character's arms on the screen as they swung back and forth. A cap was added to let Miyamoto avoid drawing the character's hairstyle, while preventing issues of animating his hair as he jumped. To make him appear human onscreen despite his small size they gave Mario a large nose, and added a mustache to avoid drawing a mouth due to the difficulty of illustrating facial expressions at that size.

Miyamoto developed Mario with the idea of using him as a "go to" character for games that could be put in any title as needed, albeit as cameos as at the time he was not expecting Mario to become popular. As years have passed Mario's appearance has become more defined over time, adding a red "M" in a white circle to the front of his hat and gold buttons to his overalls, a process Miyamoto attributed to the different development teams and artists for each game as well as advances in technology as time has gone on.

Appearances

1981–1990

Mario debuted under the name "Jumpman" in the arcade game Donkey Kong in 1981. He is shown as a carpender that has a pet ape. The carpenter mistreats the ape, so Donkey Kong escapes and kidnaps Jumpman's girlfriend, originally known as the Lady, but later named Pauline. The player must take the role of Jumpman and rescue the girl. He was first named "Mario" in the arcade game Donkey Kong Junior in 1982, the only game in which he has ever been portrayed as an antagonist. In the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. Mario and his younger brother Luigi are portrayed as an Italian-American plumbers who have to defeat creatures that have been coming from the sewers below New York.

In Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), where Mario saves Princess Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom from King Koopa. To save Princess Toadstool, Mario conquers the eight worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom by going to the castle in each to defeat a minion of King Koopa. To reach each castle, Mario battles through three "sub-worlds" by defeating or avoiding King Koopa's henchmen. If Mario successfully fights his way through the castle and defeats the minion, a Mushroom Retainer is freed. Inside the eighth castle, Mario has a final fight with King Koopa and frees Princess Toadstool. Later, in Super Mario Bros. 2, the player could choose between Mario and his friends Luigi, Toad, or Princess Peach. Each character possesses unique abilities, with Mario being the most evenly-rounded. In Super Mario Bros. 3 Mario embarks on a quest to save the rulers of seven kingdoms from Bowser and travel across eight worlds to restore order to the Mushroom World. Mario is introduced new power-ups that augment character abilities.

1989–1992

In Super Mario Land a mysterious alien named Tatanga appears and hypnotizes the inhabitants of Sarasaland. He kidnaps Princess Daisy in order to marry her. Mario then sets out to rescue her from Tatanga, traveling through the four geographical areas of Sarasaland defeating his minions along the way. He finally corners Tatanga in the skies of the Chai kingdom, bringing down his alien warship and rescuing Daisy. Mario stars in a puzzle game called Dr. Mario, released in 1990. In this game, Dr. Mario throws vitamins that the player must align in order to destroy the viruses that populate the playing field.

In Super Mario World the story begins with Mario and Luigi taking the princess for a vacation in Dinosaur World sometime after the events of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Princess Peach is kidnapped by Bowser, and needs to be rescued by Mario and Luigi. In Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, which takes place immediately after the original Super Mario Land, Wario has put an evil spell over Mario Land while Mario was away in Sarasaland, renaming the area Wario Land. The inhabitants are now brainwashed into thinking that Wario is their master, and Mario is their enemy. Wario's motive behind this sudden attack was to take control over Mario's castle in order to have a palace of his own. In order to stop Wario, Mario must find the 6 Golden Coins throughout Mario Land to gain access to his castle.

1995–2002

In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, a stork carries two babies across the sea, but the evil Magikoopa Kamek emerges, and steals Baby Luigi, and Baby Mario falls onto an island in the middle of the sea, called Yoshi's Island, home to all Yoshis. He lands on a green Yoshi, and Mario and the rest of the Yoshi gang must journey through the game's six worlds to rescue Baby Luigi and the stork back from Baby Bowser and Kamek.

Mario made his 3D debut in Super Mario 64. The story begins with a letter from Princess Peach inviting Mario to come to her castle for a cake she has baked for him; however, when he arrives, Mario discovers that Bowser has invaded the castle and imprisoned the princess and her servants within it using the power of the castle's 120 Power Stars. Many of the castle's paintings are portals to other worlds, in which Bowser's minions keep watch over the stars. Mario searches the castle for these portals to enter the worlds and recover the stars. He gains access to more rooms as he recovers more stars, and will have to traverse three obstacle courses leading to a battle with Bowser. Defeating Bowser the first two times earns Mario a key for opening another level of the castle, while the final battle releases Peach. Peach rewards Mario by baking the cake that she had promised him.

In Paper Mario Mario tries to reclaim the seven Star Spirits, who have been incarcerated in playing cards by Bowser and Kammy Koopa. Their combined power is required to negate the effects of the Star Rod, which makes Bowser invincible. Once Mario rescues all of them, he uses their assistance to defeat Bowser and rescue Peach.

In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario, Toadsworth, and Princess Peach are taking a vacation. A villain resembling Mario, known as "Shadow Mario", vandalizes the entire island with graffiti, and Mario gets blamed for the mess. Later on, Mario is ordered to clean up Isle Delfino, while saving Princess Peach from Shadow Mario. Mario cleans up the island with a device called FLUDD invented by Professor E. Gadd. Afterward, Mario, Peach and the others then begin their well-deserved vacation.

2006–present

Mario went to 2.5D in New Super Mario Bros. At the beginning of the game, Princess Peach and Mario are walking together when lightning suddenly strikes Peach’s castle nearby. As Mario runs to help, Bowser Jr. appears and kidnaps her. Realizing what has happened, Mario quickly rushes back and gives chase. Mario ventures through eight worlds pursuing Bowser Jr. and trying to rescue the kidnapped princess. In the game’s final sequence, Mario rescues Princess Peach, who kisses him on the cheek.

In Super Mario Galaxy Mario is invited to the centennial Star Festival when Bowser invades the Mushroom Kingdom and rips Peach's entire castle from its foundations and lifts it into outer space. Mario is catapulted across the cosmos and awakens on a small planet. On the planet he meets a mysterious woman called Rosalina and her companion stars, the Lumas who tells Mario that the Power Stars have all been stolen by Bowser. Mario sets off on an intergalactic adventure across the universe to reclaim the Power Stars.

Other Mario games

Mario games of other genres include the educational game Mario Paint, which was released in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Mario Pinball Land for the Game Boy Advance. 1996's Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System is the first Mario role-playing game; six games have followed: Paper Mario, for the Nintendo 64; Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, for the Game Boy Advance; Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, for the Nintendo GameCube; Super Paper Mario, for the Wii; Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, both for the Nintendo DS.

Several other sub-series of Mario video games have been released. The Mario Kart franchise began with Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and is currently the most successful and longest-running kart-racing franchise. Other Mario sports games include the Camelot-developed series Mario Golf and Mario Tennis, and, respectively, the baseball and soccer games Mario Superstar Baseball and Super Mario Strikers. In 1999, the Hudson-developed Mario Party series began on the Nintendo 64. The games revolve around a set of mini-games and are playable with up to four players. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is a collection of twenty-four events based on the Olympic Games.

In other media

Apart from his platform-game appearances, Mario has appeared in many other games, and has made guest appearances in non-Mario games, such as Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! where he is a referee. Mario has appeared in non-platform games as the protagonist of other successful series. These games are published by Nintendo, but developed by another company, such as Hudson Soft or Camelot Software Planning. Mario has even appeared as a playable character in NBA Street V3 and SSX on Tour, both from Electronic Arts. In some appearances, he is not an in-game character: in both The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario appears on a portrait, and in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes he and Yoshi appear as small statues. He also appears in the Game & Watch games

Mario has appeared in every game of the Super Smash Bros. series. Mario has retained his balanced abilities even when fighting characters from other series. He brought with him many items, stages, and characters to compete in the tournament. Mario's alter-egos Dr. Mario and Metal Mario followed as well.

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! television series and live-action film based on the video game series called Super Mario Bros. brought the character into the TV and film entertainment realms. The show starred "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario, and the film starred Bob Hoskins. Outside the original games, television shows, film, and comics, he has spawned a line of licensed merchandise and appeared in popular culture. The Nintendo Comics System series, along with the Nintendo Adventure Books, were also created.

Characteristics

Mario was originally portrayed as a two-dimensional sprite, but in later games he is shown as a three-dimensional, polygonal model. He is depicted as a portly plumber who lives in the fictional land of Mushroom Kingdom with Luigi, the younger, taller brother, who is also a plumber. In the television series and film, Mario and Luigi are originally from Brooklyn.

Occupation and hobbies

Mario's occupation is plumbing. Mario is most often plumbing during the animated series. In the original Donkey Kong games, however, Mario is named "Jumpman" and is a carpenter.

In the Dr. Mario series of puzzle games, which debuted in 1990, Mario is a medical physician named "Dr. Mario". Dr. Mario appears as a secret character in the Nintendo GameCube game Super Smash Bros. Melee, and, in another updated version of the original, Dr. Mario Virus Buster, for WiiWare. In the Game Boy game Mario's Picross, Mario is an archaeologist.

Mario usually saves Princess Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom and purges antagonists, such as Bowser, from various areas. Mario has gained fame in the kingdom due to his heroic deeds, as shown in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, where they are referred to as "superstars".

In Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, Mario has a toy-making company that earns him income.

Relationships

Since his first game, Mario has usually had the role of saving the damsel in distress. Originally, he had to rescue his girlfriend Pauline in Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong. Pauline was soon replaced by a new damsel in distress, Princess Peach, in Super Mario Bros. (she was initially referred to as "Princess Toadstool" or "the Princess" in English-speaking territories until 1993, when Yoshi's Safari debuted, even though the name was not widely used until Super Mario 64 was released three years later). Pauline returned in the Game Boy remake of Donkey Kong in 1994, and later Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis in 2006, although the character is now described as "Mario's friend".

Mario has rescued Princess Peach multiple times since Super Mario Bros.. In a role reversal, Peach rescues Mario in Super Princess Peach.

Luigi is Mario's younger brother. He is a companion in many Mario games and the character whom players play in two-player sessions of many of the video games, though he also occasionally rescues Mario, as displayed in Mario is Missing! and Luigi's Mansion.

Yoshi is presumed to be a dinosaur, though his species is named Yoshi. There are many yoshis in the world, varying in color, but the original yoshi is green. Yoshi serves as Mario's mount in several games such as Super Mario World, and is depicted as a more sentient creature in games like Super Mario Kart and Yoshi's Island.

Mario rescued Princess Daisy in Super Mario Land for the Game Boy. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the text explaining Princess Daisy's trophy states that "after her appearance in Mario Golf, some gossips portrayed her as Luigi's answer to Mario's Peach", although Luigi and Daisy were previously paired as a romantic couple in the live-action Super Mario Bros. film.

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins for the Game Boy saw the arrival of Wario, Mario's counterpart. Though there is no tangible relationship between the two, Wario was once referred to as Mario's cousin in Nintendo Power.

Baby Mario

Baby Mario is the infant version of Mario. He first appeared in 1995 in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, and has appeared in several games since. Baby Mario has often appeared in Nintendo-sports games, and has a major role along with Baby Luigi in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. He is voiced by Charles Martinet.

Abilities

During the development of Donkey Kong, Mario was known as "Jumpman". Jumping—both to access places and as an offensive move—is a common gameplay element in Mario games, especially the Super Mario Bros. series.

Mario's most commonly portrayed form of attack is jumping to stomp on the heads of enemies, first used in Mario Bros. This jump-stomp move may entirely crush smaller enemies on the stage, and usually deals damage to larger ones, sometimes also causing secondary effects. This attack often enables Mario to knock the turtle-like Koopa Troopas into or out of their shells, which can be used as weapons.

Subsequent games have elaborated on Mario's jumping-related abilities. Super Mario World added the ability to spin-jump, which allows Mario to break blocks beneath him. Later, the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong allows Mario to jump higher with consecutive jumps, and perform a back-flip. In Super Mario 64, Mario has several jumping abilities, such as a sideways somersault, a ground pound, and the "Wall Kick", which propels him upwards by kicking off walls.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario gains a unique power called Mario Finale by getting the smash ball, which is a double-helix fire explosion that covers from the left to the right screen.

Power-ups

Mario uses many items, which give him various powers. The first power-up Mario uses is the Hammer in Donkey Kong. Super Mario Bros. introduced the basic three power-ups that have become staples for the series—- the Super Mushroom, which causes Mario to grow larger; the Fire Flower, which allows Mario to throw fireballs; and the Starman, which gives Mario temporary invincibility. These powers have appeared regularly throughout the series. Throughout the series' history, there have been several kinds of Mushroom power-ups, including a 1-Up Mushroom, which gives Mario an extra life; Poison Mushroom, which causes Mario to either shrink or die; Mega Mushroom, which causes Mario to grow very large; and Mini Mushroom, which causes Mario to shrink. A common item across the series is an item that gives Mario the ability of flight. The first was introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3 called the Super Leaf, which gives Mario a raccoon suit. Also in this game is the Tanuki suit, which allows flight and the ability to turn into a statue. Later, in Super Mario World, an item called the Cape Feather was introduced that gave Mario a cape,. In Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, a carrot was available that gave Mario rabbit ears that allowed him to fly, and in Super Mario 64, an item called the Wing Cap, resulting in the temporary ability to fly. All four of these flying power-ups were featured on the cover of their respective box arts. Super Mario Sunshine introduces a water spraying device called "F.L.U.D.D.", which has the ability to spray water, hover and more. Super Mario Galaxy set the record for most power-ups available in a Mario platformer. Although this included the revival of old power-ups such as the Fire Flower, it also introduced a number of new items. One, for example, is the Bee Mushroom, which naturally turned him into a bee, and therefore allowing him to float briefly and walk on special "hive" surfaces.

Some of these powers have appeared in the Super Smash Bros. series. Super Smash Bros. features the Fire Flower as one of Mario and Luigi's attacks and an item any character can use. It also features the Star and Hammer. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Super and Poison Mushrooms also appear.

Reception and legacy

As Nintendo's mascot, Mario is considered to be the most famous video game character in history. The Mario series of video games has sold more than 200 million copies (sold 201 million as of 2009), making it the best-selling video game franchise of all time. Mario was one of the first video game character inductees at the Walk of Game in 2005, alongside Link and Sonic the Hedgehog. Mario was the first video game character to be honored with a wax figure in the legendary Hollywood Wax Museum in 2003. In the 1990s, a national survey found that Mario was more recognizable to American children than Mickey Mouse.

Since his creation, Mario has established himself as a pop culture icon having starred in numerous television shows, comic books, and in a feature film. He has appeared on lunch boxes, t-shirts, magazines, commercials, in candy form, on shampoo bottles, cereal, badges, and as a plush toy. Nintendo of Japan produced a 60-minute anime feature starring Mario and his friends in 1986, although this film has never been released outside of Japan. The animated series The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! featured a live-action series of skits starring former WWF manager "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi. There was even a book series, the Nintendo Adventure Books. In 2005, Jonathan Mann even wrote an opera based on the character, and performed The Mario Opera at the California Institute of the Arts.

Bergsala, the distributor of Nintendo's products in the Nordic and the Baltic countries, is located at Marios Gata 21 (Mario's Street 21) in Kungsbacka, Sweden, named after Mario.

Mario's legacy is recognized by Guinness World Records, who awarded the Nintendo Mascot, and the series of platform games he has appeared in, 7 world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These records include, "Best Selling Video Game Series of All Time", "First Movie Based on an Existing Video Game", and "Most Prolific Video Game Character", with Mario appearing in 116 distinct titles (not including remakes or re-releases).

In a poll conducted in 2008, Mario was voted as the most popular video game character in Japan, outranking characters such as Cloud Strife and Solid Snake.

In popular culture

Mario's theme music in Super Mario Bros., composed by Kōji Kondō, is highly recognizable. Mario has inspired many unlicensed paintings and short films, which have themselves been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. Former NHL hockey player, Mario Lemieux was given the nickname "Super Mario" by the media during his career. Mario Williams, the #1 draft pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, was also given the nickname "Super Mario", as was pro-cyclist Mario Cipollini. German international footballer Mario Basler was affectionately referred to as "Super Mario" by fans and the media. Other sportsmen who received this nickname include the Brazilian soccer player Mário Jardel, famous for his jumps and headers, and current Inter striker Mario Balotelli.

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External links

• Nintendo of Europe's official website for the Mario series
• Super Mario Wiki

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