is a

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

of the ''

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...

'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Depicted as a short, pudgy,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, and for sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

who resides in the

Mushroom Kingdom The is a fictional principality in Nintendo's ''Mario'' series. It is the setting of most main-series ''Mario'' games with an inconsistent presentation. There is no established canon regarding the topography of the ''Mario'' universe, and many ...

, his adventures generally center on rescuing

Princess Peach is a fictional character in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the 1985 original '' Super Mario Bros.'' installment. She is the princess regnant and ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, where she resides ...

from the Koopa villain

Bowser , or King Koopa, is a fictional character, the primary antagonist in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, and the arch-nemesis of Mario. In Japan, the character bears the title of . Bowser is the leader of the turtle-like Koopa race. Despite the ...

. Mario has access to a variety of power-ups that give him different abilities. Mario's

fraternal twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

brother is

Luigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

. Mario first appeared as the player character of ''

Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and his clan of other Ape, apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of plat ...

'' (1981), a

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

. Miyamoto wanted to use

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s; originally called "Mr. Video", he was renamed to Mario after

Mario Segale Mario Arnold Segale (April 30, 1934 – October 27, 2018) was an American businessman and real estate developer. He was involved in various development projects in the Seattle area from the 1950s onwards. Nintendo’s mascot Mario was named afte ...

. Mario's clothing and characteristics were themed after the setting of ''Donkey Kong''. He then began to star in the '' Super Mario'' series of platform games, beginning with the critically acclaimed ''

Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game '' Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for ...

'' in 1985. Since 1992, Mario has been voiced by

Charles Martinet Charles Martinet (, ; born September 17, 1955) is an American actor and voice actor, known for his portrayal of both Mario and Luigi in the ''Super Mario'' video game series since 1992. He is also the voice of other characters in the series suc ...

. After ''Super Mario Bros.'', Mario began to branch off to different genres. These include

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzl ...

s such as '' Dr. Mario'',

role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

such as ''

Paper Mario ''Paper Mario'' is a video game series and part of the ''Mario'' franchise, developed by Intelligent Systems and produced by Nintendo. It combines elements from the role-playing, action-adventure, and puzzle genres. Players control a paper ...

'' and ''

Mario & Luigi ''Mario & Luigi'' is a series of role-playing video games developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the latter's various video game handheld consoles. The series is a spin-off from Nintendo's trademark ''Super Mario'' series, and stars ...

'', and

sports game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport ( ...

s such as '' Mario Kart'' and ''

Mario Tennis ''Mario Tennis'' is a 2000 sports video game developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. Following ''Mario's Tennis'', it is the second game in the ''Mario Tennis'' series. The game is known for being ...

''. He has appeared in other Nintendo properties, such as in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series of

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

fighting games. Mario has also appeared in various animations, including three series produced by

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...

(voiced by

Lou Albano Louis Vincent Albano (July 29, 1933 – October 14, 2009) was an Italian-American professional wrestler, manager and actor, who performed under the ring/stage name "Captain" Lou Albano. He was active as a professional wrestler from 1953 until 1 ...

and later

Walker Boone Theodore "Ted" Nicoloff, better known as Walker Boone (May 4, 1944 – January 29, 2021), was a Canadian actor. He was best known as the voice of the Nintendo character Mario in the DIC-produced animated series ''The Adventures of Super Mario Br ...

), and was portrayed by Bob Hoskins in the 1993 ''

'' film. He will be voiced by Chris Pratt in the upcoming 2023 film adaptation. Mario is near-unanimously considered to be the most famous character in the video game industry and an established pop culture icon. Mario's likeness has appeared in a variety of merchandise, such as clothing and collectible items, and people and places have been nicknamed after him. He has also inspired a considerable amount of unofficial media. With more than 750 million units sold worldwide, the overall ''Mario'' franchise is the bestselling video game franchise of all time.

Concept and creation

Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario while developing ''

'' in an attempt to produce a best-selling video game for Nintendo; previous games, such as '' Sheriff,'' had not achieved the success of games such as

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, ...

's '' Pac-Man''. Originally, Miyamoto wanted to create a game that used the characters

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Bluto, and

Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed '' Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was ...

. At the time, however, as Miyamoto was unable to acquire a license to use the characters (and would not until 1982 with ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.player character, along with

, and Lady (later known as Pauline). In the early stages of ''Donkey Kong'', the focus of the game was to escape a maze, while Mario did not have the ability to jump. However, Miyamoto soon introduced jumping capabilities for the player character, reasoning that " you had a barrel rolling towards you, what would you do?"

Name

Though the protagonist was unnamed in the Japanese release of ''Donkey Kong'', he was named "Jumpman" in the game's English instructions and "little Mario" in the sales brochure. Miyamoto envisioned a character to be used in every game developed by Miyamoto; a "go-to" character who could be placed into any game if needed, albeit in

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s as Miyamoto did not, at the time, expect the character to become singularly popular. To this end, he originally named the character "Mr. Video", comparing what he intended for the character's appearances in later games to the cameos that Alfred Hitchcock had done within his films. In retrospect, Miyamoto commented that if he had named Mario "Mr. Video", Mario likely would have "disappeared off the face of the Earth." Mario Segale 2016

According to a widely circulated story, during the

localization Localization or localisation may refer to: Biology * Localization of function, locating psychological functions in the brain or nervous system; see Linguistic intelligence * Localization of sensation, ability to tell what part of the body is a ...

of ''Donkey Kong'' for American audiences, Nintendo of America's warehouse landlord

confronted then-president

Minoru Arakawa is a Japanese businessman best known as the founder and former president of Nintendo of America, and the co-founder of Tetris Online, Inc. Biography Minoru Arakawa was born on 3 September 1946 in Kyoto, Japan, the second son of Waichiro Arakaw ...

, demanding back rent. Following a heated argument in which the Nintendo employees eventually convinced Segale he would be paid, they opted to name the character in the game Mario after him. While it is implied by the title of the ''Mario Bros.'' series, in a 1989 interview his full name was stated not to be "Mario Mario". The first notable use of "Mario Mario" was in the 1993 live-action film adaptation of the ''Super Mario'' series, and was further used in Prima's official video game strategy guides, in 2000 for ''

Mario Party 2 is a 1999 party video game developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. The second game in the ''Mario Party'' series, it was released in Japan in December and worldwide in 2000. The game received mostly positive rev ...

'' and in 2003 for '' Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga''. In 2012, after

voiced Mario declaring himself "Mario Mario" at the

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...

, the next month, Nintendo CEO

Satoru Iwata was a Japanese businessman, video game programmer, video game designer, and producer. He was the fourth president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nintendo from 2002 until his death in 2015. He was a major contributor in broadening the app ...

said he had no last name, with which Miyamoto agreed the month after. Two months after Iwata's death in July 2015, Miyamoto changed his stance, asserting at the Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary festival that Mario's full name was indeed "Mario Mario".

Appearance and profession

By Miyamoto's own account, Mario's profession was chosen to fit with the game design: since ''Donkey Kong'' takes place on a construction site, Mario was made into a carpenter; and when he appeared again in ''

Mario Bros. is a 1983 arcade game developed and published for arcades by Nintendo. It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, Nintendo's chief engineer. Italian twin brother plumbers Mario and Luigi exterminate creatures emerging from the ...

'', it was decided that he should be a

plumber A plumber is a tradesperson who specializes in installing and maintaining systems used for potable (drinking) water, and for sewage and drainage in plumbing systems.

, because a lot of the game is situated in underground settings. Mario's character design, particularly his large nose, draws on western influences; once he became a plumber, Miyamoto decided to "put him in New York" and make him

, lightheartedly attributing Mario's nationality to his mustache. Other sources have Mario's profession chosen to be carpenter in an effort to depict the character as an ordinary hard worker, making it easier for players to identify with him. Arakawa, Minoru, ed. 1991. "The Man Behind Mario." Pp
30
–32 in
Mario Mania
''. Redmond, WA: Nintendo. . After a colleague suggested that Mario more closely resembled a plumber, Miyamoto changed Mario's profession accordingly and developed ''Mario Bros.'', featuring the character in the sewers of New York City. Due to the graphical limitations of arcade hardware at the time, Miyamoto clothed the character in red

overalls Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers". Overalls were ...

and a blue shirt to contrast against each other and the background, making the movements of his arms easily perceptible. A red cap was added to let Miyamoto avoid drawing the character's hairstyle, forehead, and eyebrows, as well as to circumvent the issue of animating his hair as he jumped. To give distinctly human facial features with the limited graphical abilities, Miyamoto drew a large nose and a mustache, which avoided the need to draw a mouth and facial expressions.Rao, Anjali (February 15, 2007)
Sigeru Miyamao Talk Asia interview
.

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

. Retrieved February 28, 2009 Omitting a mouth circumvented the problem of clearly separating the nose from the mouth with a limited number of pixels available. Over time, Mario's appearance has become more defined; blue eyes, white gloves, brown shoes, a red "M" in a white circle on the front of his hat and gold buttons on his overalls have been added. The colors of his shirt and overalls were also reversed from a blue shirt with red overalls to a red shirt with blue overalls. Miyamoto attributed this process to the different development teams and artists for each game as well as advances in technology.

Voice acting

Charles Martinet Photo Op GalaxyCon Richmond 2020

Mario has been voiced by

since 1992. When he crashed the audition, the directors were preparing to close for the night, already packing up when he arrived. He was prompted with "an Italian plumber from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

"; when he heard the phrase, he immediately thought of a stereotypical Italian American with a voice similar to that of a mobster. He then assumed the voice would be too harsh for children, so he planned on using a voice of an older figure. However, according to Martinet, the audition for Mario was the only time where his thoughts crashed and he spoke complete nonsense. After he was prompted the character, he babbled the following in a soft and friendly voice instead: The voice he chose was derived from another voice role he used to play the character Gremio from

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

The Taming of the Shrew ''The Taming of the Shrew'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken ...

''. Martinet kept speaking with the voice until the audition tape ran out; the clip was the only tape sent back to Nintendo, and when the director called the company he said he "found our Mario". For the following years he would use the voice for an attraction at

trade shows A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and c ...

: small tracking sensors were glued onto his face, and he would voice a 3D model of Mario's head on a television while he remained hidden behind a curtain. When attendees would approach the screen, they could talk and interact with Mario. The attraction was successful and would be used for five years until he was called by Miyamoto, requesting that he use the voice for a video game. His first official video game voice role would be ''

Mario's Game Gallery ''Mario's Game Gallery'' (later re-released as ''Mario's FUNdamentals'') is a compilation of games published by Interplay Productions and developed by Presage Software, Inc. for DOS, Windows and Macintosh. It was released in 1995 in the United ...

'' in 1995, although in an interview he confirmed he used the voice for a ''Super Mario Bros.'' pinball game in 1992, but he was neither paid nor credited. His first major voice acting role was '' Super Mario 64''. He received instructions on the types of sound clips needed from Miyamoto, and Martinet appreciated the fun tone of the game and called Miyamoto a genius. He has since also continued to voice other various ''Mario'' characters, such as

Wario is a fictional character in Nintendo's ''Mario'' series, designed as an arch-rival to Mario. He first appeared in the 1992 Game Boy game '' Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'' as the main antagonist and final boss. His name is a portmanteau ...

, and

Waluigi is a fictional character in the ''Mario'' franchise. He plays the role of Luigi's arch-rival and accompanies Wario in spin-offs from the main ''Mario'' series, often for the sake of causing mischief and problems. He was created by Camelot em ...

. His time in the studio recording voice clips consist of "45 takes of every sound ecan think of", according to Martinet at a Q&A in Canada. What time he gives vocals for the game varies, and according to him has ranged from three years before a game's release to one week. The amound of clips varies as well, ranging from one hour of audio to 20 Martinet was recognized by the ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' for the most roles performed with the same character, at the time one hundred, and is the most of any video game voice actor. As of January 2022, he has voiced Mario in over 150 games and has recorded 5 million audio files with the voice. In an interview, Martinet said he wants to continue voicing the character until he "drops dead", or until he can no longer perform the voice accurately.

Characteristics

Mario is depicted as a portly plumber who lives in the fictional land of the

with

, his younger, taller brother. The television series and film depict Mario and Luigi as originating from

, New York. Mario's infancy, in which he was transported by a stork to the Mushroom Kingdom, was first depicted in '' Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island''. In a 2005 interview, Miyamoto stated that Mario's physical age was about 24–25 years old, and ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...

'' stated that his birthday is October 11. He wears a long-sleeved red shirt, a pair of blue overalls with yellow buttons, brown shoes, white gloves, and a red cap with a red "M" printed on a white circle. In ''

'', he wore a pair of red overalls, and a blue shirt. In ''

'', he wore a brown shirt with red overalls. He has blue eyes, and, like

, has brown hair, and a dark brown or black mustache. This consistent difference in color is attributed to being a relic from designing the characters for their original platforms, wherein certain features were actively distinguished while others had to be curtailed due to technical limitations.

Occupation and hobbies

Mario's occupation is plumbing, though in the original ''

'' games he is a carpenter. Mario has also assumed several other occupations: in the '' Dr. Mario'' series of

puzzle games Puzzle video games make up a broad genre of video games that emphasize puzzle solving. The types of puzzles can test problem-solving skills, including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, spatial recognition, and word completion. ...

, which debuted in 1990, Mario is portrayed as a medical physician named "Dr. Mario"; in the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

game '' Mario's Picross'', Mario is an archaeologist; in '' Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis'', Mario is the president of a profitable toy-making company. Mario is an athlete in ''Mario'' sports games in games such as

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

, as well as a

kart racer Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

in the '' Mario Kart'' series. In September 2017, Nintendo confirmed on their official Japanese profile for the character that Mario was no longer considered a plumber, but the statement was changed in March 2018.

Relationships

Mario usually saves

and the

and purges antagonists, such as

, from various areas; 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 ''

'' from

. Pauline was soon replaced by Princess Peach in ''

'', although Pauline has reappeared in the ''

Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a sub-series of the ''Mario'' and ''Donkey Kong'' series, based on puzzle video games, marking the return of Pauline and the rivalry between Mario and Donkey Kong. '' Mario vs. Donkey Kong'', released in 2004 for the Game Boy Advance, was ...

'' series and is considered "Mario's friend" instead. Mario reprises his role of saving Peach in the ''Super Mario'' series, but Mario himself was rescued by Peach in role-reversal in ''

Super Princess Peach ''Super Princess Peach'' is a Platform game, platform video game developed by Tose (company), Tose and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It was released in Japan in October 2005 and worldwide the following year. ''S ...

''. Mario rescued

Princess Daisy is a fictional character in the ''Mario'' series of video games. She debuted in 1989's ''Super Mario Land'' as the ruler of Sarasaland. Described as a tomboy, she used to be rumored to be Luigi's love interest, similarly to Princess Peach b ...

of Sarasaland in '' Super Mario Land'', but Luigi has since been more linked to her; in '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'', the text explaining Daisy states that "after her appearance in ''

Mario Golf There have been numerous sports games in the ''Mario'' franchise. Although originally a branch of the Mario sports games, the ''Mario Kart'' series is not included in this list, as it has since become a stand-alone series in the Mario franchise. ...

'', gossips portrayed her as Luigi's answer to Mario's Peach."

is Mario's younger fraternal twin brother. He is a companion in the ''Mario'' games, and the character whom the second player controls in two-player sessions of many of the video games. Luigi has also occasionally rescued Mario as seen in '' Mario Is Missing!'' and the ''

Luigi's Mansion is a 2001 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo. The game was a launch title for the GameCube and was the first game in the ''Mario'' franchise to be released for the console; it was released in Japan on September 14, 20 ...

'' series. '' Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'' for the Game Boy saw the arrival of

, Mario's greedy counterpart, who sometimes assumes the role of Mario's antagonist or an

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

. The dinosaur character

Yoshi Yoshi is a fictional dinosaur who appears in video games published by Nintendo. Yoshi debuted in ''Super Mario World'' (1990) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Mario and Luigi's sidekick. Yoshi is the title character of the ''Yoshi' ...

serves as Mario's steed in games such as ''

Super Mario World ''Super Mario World,'' known in Japan as is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, North America in 1991 and Europe and Australia in 19 ...

''.

Abilities

During the development of ''

'', Mario was known as . Jumping—both to access places and as an offensive move—is a common gameplay element in ''Mario'' games, especially the ''Super Mario'' series. By the time ''

Super Mario RPG ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars'' is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1996. It was the final ''Mario'' game published for the SNES. The game was ...

'' was released, jumping became such a signature act of Mario that the player was often tasked with jumping to prove to non-player characters that he was Mario. Mario's most commonly portrayed form of attack is jumping to stomp on the heads of enemies, first used in ''

'' This jump-stomp move may entirely crush smaller enemies on the stage, and usually deals damage to larger ones, sometimes causing secondary effects. This attack often enables Mario to knock the turtle-like

Koopa Troopa Koopa Troopas, known in Japan as , are fictional footsoldiers of the turtle-like Koopa race from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' media franchise. They are commonly referred to generically as Koopas, a race that includes Bowser, Bowser, King of ...

s into or out of their shells, which can be used as weapons. Subsequent games have elaborated on Mario's jumping-related abilities. ''

'' added the ability to spin-jump, which allows Mario to break blocks beneath him. The

version of ''

'' allows Mario to jump higher with consecutive jumps, and perform a back-flip. In '' Super Mario 64'', Mario gains new jumping abilities such as a sideways somersault; a ground pound, which is a high-impact downward thrusting motion; and the "Wall Kick", which propels him upwards by kicking off walls.

Power-ups

Mario uses items, which give him various powers, and differ between the games he is in. The first power-up Mario used was the Hammer in ''

''. ''

'' introduced the basic three power-ups that have become staples for the series, especially the 2D games — the Super Mushroom, which causes Mario to grow larger and be able to survive getting hit once; the Fire Flower, which allows Mario to throw

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...

balls; and the Starman (later named Super Star), 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 the 1-up Mushroom, which gives Mario an extra life; the Poison Mushroom, which causes Mario to take damage; the Mega Mushroom, which causes Mario to grow very large and become invincible for a short period of time; and the Mini Mushroom, which causes Mario to shrink, and in some games, climb up walls. A reoccurring power-up throughout the series is an item that gives Mario the ability of flight. The first of this type was introduced in '' Super Mario Bros. 3'': the first of which, the Super Leaf, gives Mario a raccoon (a transliteration of

tanuki Tanuki may refer to: *Japanese raccoon dog (''Nyctereutes viverrinus'' or ''Nyctereutes procyonoides viverrinus''), a mammal native to Japan *Bake-danuki, a type of spirit (yōkai) in Japanese mythology that appears in the form of the mammal *A de ...

) tail and ears, and lets Mario swing his tail as an attack, float gently to the ground, and temporarily fly. There is an alternate version of this power-up in the same game, the Raccoon Suit (or tanuki suit) and grants Mario the same abilities as the Super Leaf, but with the addition of being able to temporarily turn into a statue, granting him invincibility. There is also a P-Wing that he can use which makes him look like he has a Super Leaf, but gives him unlimited flight until he gets hit or finishes the level. In ''

'', an item called the Cape Feather was introduced that gave Mario a cape, and in addition to being able to fly, let Mario spin and swing his cape as an attack. In '' Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'', a carrot was available that gave Mario rabbit ears that allowed him to glide, and in '' Super Mario 64'', Mario could acquire an item called the Wing Cap, which only let him fly temporarily, before disappearing. ''

Super Mario Sunshine is a 2002 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. It is the second 3D game in the ''Super Mario'' series, following '' Super Mario 64'' (1996). The game was directed by Yoshiaki Koizumi and Kenta Usui, produced b ...

'' introduces a pump-water spraying device named "F.L.U.D.D.", which abilities included spraying water and hovering. ''

Super Mario Galaxy is a 2007 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It is the third 3D game in the ''Super Mario'' series. As Mario, the player embarks on a quest to rescue Princess Peach, save the universe from Bowser, and collect 1 ...

'' introduced new power-ups, including the Bee Mushroom, which turned Mario into a bee and allowed him to fly temporarily; the Boo Mushroom, which turned Mario into a Boo, allowing him to float and pass through some walls; the Spring Mushroom, which encased Mario in a spring, allowing him to jump higher; and the Ice Flower, which allowed the player to temporarily walk or skate on water and lava without sinking or taking damage. ''

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a 2010 platform game, platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was first announced at E3 2009 and is the sequel to 2007's ''Super Mario Galaxy''. It was released worldwide in 2010. Much like the first game, t ...

'' introduced more power-ups, including the Cloud Flower which allows Mario to create platforms in midair, and Rock Mario, which transforms Mario into a boulder that could be used to break through barriers. '' New Super Mario Bros. Wii'' updated the Ice Flower, which allows Mario to shoot ice balls that temporally freeze enemies; and introduced the Propeller Mushroom, which allows him to fly; as well as the Penguin Suit, which allows Mario to easily traverse ice and swim through the water in addition to shooting ice balls. ''

Super Mario 3D Land is a platform video game in the ''Super Mario'' series developed and published by Nintendo for their Nintendo 3DS handheld game console. It was released worldwide in November 2011, beginning in Japan. It was the first ''Mario'' game to be re ...

'' introduced the Boomerang Flower, which allows Mario to throw boomerangs at nearby enemies; and the Statue Leaf, which allows Mario to turn into a statue. In '' New Super Mario Bros. U'', the Super Acorn makes its debut. This transforms Mario into his new flying squirrel form where he can glide and stick on walls. ''

Super Mario 3D World is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U in 2013. It is the sixth original 3D platform game in the ''Super Mario'' series and the sequel to '' Super Mario 3D Land'' (2011) for the Nintendo 3DS. Players control Ma ...

'' introduced the Super Bell, which transforms Mario into his cat form, as well as a Double Cherry to make multiple copies of himself.

Appearances and evolution

''Super Mario'' series

Mario is the protagonist and title character of the ''Super Mario'' series. Each game varies in its plot, but most of them have the ultimate goal of Mario rescuing

after being kidnapped by

. Mario explores a variety of locations, titled "worlds", and along the way, he can collect items and defeat enemies. Most levels have an end goal, such as stars or flagpoles, that he needs to reach in order to move on to the next. The series is divided by fans into two general sets of games: the 2D side-scrolling ''Super Mario'' games and the 3D ''Super Mario'' games.

2D games

The ''Super Mario'' series had Mario starring in

s, beginning with ''

'' on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985. In these games, Mario traverses worlds that contain a set number of levels for Mario to complete. In them, he traverses them from moving left to right, the screen scrolling in the direction he moves. Mario has the goal of reaching the end of the level to move onto the next, typically marked with a flagpole. These games are less focused on plot and more on platforming; most commonly, Bowser kidnaps Peach, and Mario, with the help of Luigi and other characters, sets out to rescue her. Most worlds have mini

boss battles In video games, a boss is a significant computer-controlled opponent. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stronger than other opponents the player has faced up to that ...

which typically involve fighting Bowser Jr. or one of several

Koopalings The (also known as in Japan and Europe or in Japan) are a fictional group of seven childlike characters in the ''Mario'' video game franchise by Nintendo. Their individual names are Larry Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. Koopa, Iggy Koopa, ...

. The final level is a fight against Bowser. Takashi Tezuka 2015 (cropped)

His first appearance in the 2D variant of the series was ''Super Mario Bros.'' in 1985, which began with a 16x32 pixel rectangle prototype as the character;

Takashi Tezuka is a Japanese video game designer, director, and video game producer, producer. He is a senior officer of Nintendo EPD and executive at Nintendo. Career Upon graduating the Design Department of Osaka University of Arts, he joined Nintendo in A ...

suggested the character to be Mario after the success of one of his role prior, ''

'' Certain other gameplay concepts were cut as well, such as how Mario could fly in a rocket ship and fire bullets. Originally designed with a small Mario in mind with the intention of increasing his size further in development, the developers implemented the feature of his size changes via power-ups as they considered it a fun addition. The concept was influenced by Japanese folktales. '' Super Mario Bros. 2'' was originally not going to be a sequel to ''Super Mario Bros.'', and was originally going to be a game called ''Doki Doki Panic''; the game directed by

Kensuke Tanabe is a Japanese video game producer and designer working for Nintendo, where he currently is Senior Officer at Nintendo EPD. After he had graduated from the Visual Concept Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts, he decided to enter the ...

. After unsuccessful gameplay, development was shelved until he was requested to implement mascots from the Yume Kōjō festival. The game was redesigned with the help of Miyamoto and released exclusively in Japan in 1987.

, however, requested the game to be changed to a ''Mario'' game for its international release. Much of the original gameplay concepts were retained, with mainly graphical changes being made. One of the changes included the retexturing of the four main playable characters of ''Doki Doki Panic'', and since they varied in height it was the first instance where Mario was noticeably shorter than Luigi. '' Super Mario Bros. 3'' experimented with Mario's looks with different power-ups that represented different creatures. An example included the raccoon tail, which was chosen over a power-up that represented a centaur. The levels were created after power-ups were chosen, and were designed to take advantage of his varying abilities. The raccoon tail power-up became a staple in the ''Mario'' franchise, being used as an ability in a variety of ''Mario'' games that even stretched outside of the ''Super Mario'' series such as ''

Mario Kart 7 ''Mario Kart 7'' is a Kart racing game, kart racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD in cooperation with Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS in 2011. As with the previous games in the Mario Kart, ''Mario Kart'' ser ...

''. The game's success led to an animated television series, '' The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3'', with Mario being portrayed by Walker Boone.

Hiroshi Yamauchi was a Japanese businessman and the third president of Nintendo, joining the company in 1949 until stepping down on 24 May 2002, being subsequently succeeded by Satoru Iwata. During his 53-year tenure, Yamauchi transformed Nintendo from a hanafu ...

wanted a launch title for the

that prominently featured Mario, as he believed in the statement "fun games sold consoles". '' Super Mario Land'' was designed without the help of Miyamoto, a first for the series. The game uses completely different elements to pair with the small screen due to the Game Boy's portability. For example, instead of rescuing Princess Peach from Bowser in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario is instead rescuing

from

Tatanga The Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise is a video game series by Nintendo. While Nintendo is usually the Video game developer, developer and publisher of games in the franchise, various series are developed by third-party companies, such a ...

in Sarassaland. Mario was designed with

line art Line art or line drawing is any image that consists of distinct straight lines or curves placed against a background (usually plain), without gradations in shade (darkness) or hue (color) to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objec ...

. ''

'' was the first video game to feature

as a companion to Mario. Miyamoto had always wanted a dinosaur-like companion ever since the original ''Super Mario Bros.'', but the concept was never achievable due to limited hardware. Since ''Super Mario World'' took place in a land of dinosaurs, Takashi Tezuka requested Shigefumi Hino to draw a character based on Miyamoto's concepts and sketches which he drew during development of ''Super Mario Bros. 3''. Yoshi's rideability was inspired by Miyamoto's love for

horseback riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

. ''Super Mario World'' released during a

console war In the video game industry, a console war describes the competition between two or more video game console manufacturers in trying to achieve better consumer sales through more advanced console technology, an improved selection of video games, and ...

between Nintendo and Sega; Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, was considered a "cooler" alternative to Mario, to which Miyamoto apologized for. The plot for '' Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'' has Mario pursue something for his own benefit rather than for someone else, his goal trying to reclaim ownership of his island, Mario Land, from

. The game was developed by

Nintendo Research & Development 1 commonly abbreviated as Nintendo R&D1, was Nintendo's oldest video game development team. It was known as before splitting in 1978. Its creation coincided with Nintendo's entry into the video game industry, and the original R&D1 was headed by ...

(R&D1); the company was unmotivated by the ''Super Mario'' series, and when they were tasked with creating a ''Super Mario'' game without Miyamoto they created Wario to emphasize the frustration of working with a character they did not make. The name "Wario" is

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

of "Mario" and "Warui", the latter meaning "bad" in Japanese to mean "bad Mario". The character's models and backgrounds in '' New Super Mario Bros.'' were 3D, but still only allowed for left and right movement and is considered

2.5D 2.5D (two-and-a-half dimensional) perspective refers to gameplay or movement in a video game or virtual reality environment that is restricted to a two-dimensional (2D) plane with little to no access to a third dimension in a space that other ...

. With the 2D series of ''Super Mario'' games being absent for 14 years, the previous installment being released in 1992, game mechanics improved drastically. Since the characters were no longer sprites and the backdrops were not tile-based, the developers were nearly restrictionless; new game mechanics, such as Mario teetering off of trees and swinging on ropes, were implemented. ''New Super Mario Bros.'' was the first 2D ''Super Mario'' game to use voice acting, with Charles Martinet voicing Mario and Luigi. It was followed by three games similar to ''New Super Mario Bros.'', namely '' New Super Mario Bros. Wii'', '' New Super Mario Bros. 2'', and '' New Super Mario Bros. U'', the latter of which being the first game to feature Mario in high-definition graphics (HD).

3D games

Most ''Super Mario'' games in 3D feature open world gameplay; instead of being confined to only allow moving left and right, Mario can move in any direction and the player can complete the level how they please. The player chooses from one of the multiple objectives before entering a level, and Mario is tasked with completing that goal which ultimately ends with an obtainable item such as a star. These games feature a more complex narrative, but most still have Mario rescuing a kidnapped Princess Peach from Bowser. Early into most of the games, Mario befriends an ally which helps Mario on his journey and gives him a unique ability to obtain his goal. Mario's debut 3D role was '' Super Mario 64''; since the concept of 3D video games was still new at the time, the developers knew they were helping to pave the way for future games, and they were not restricted on what the standard game was like. However, when

Yoshiaki Koizumi is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer, and business executive. He is a senior executive officer at Nintendo, where he is known for his work within their ''Mario'' and ''The Legend of Zelda'' series. Since 2013, Koizumi is a ...

had to create a 3D model and animation of Mario, he had no frame of reference and struggled with the task. Koizumi stated how the whole concept was "arguably tough", but was overtaken by the enjoyment of innovating in a new field. Mario's movement was among the top priority in the game's development, with his animation being tested long before the basic layout of the game's locations were in place. ''Super Mario 64'' was one of the first games voiced by Charles Martinet, and Mario's character model was made with the

N-World N-World is a 3D graphics package developed by Nichimen Graphics in the 1990s, for Silicon Graphics and Windows NT workstations. Intended primarily for video game content creation, it has polygon modeling tools, 2D and 3D paint, scripting, color re ...

toolkit. ''

'' was the first Nintendo game after

became the CEO of Nintendo, succeeding Hiroshi Yamauchi. The game's original concept did not feature Mario, as the developers believed the role was too out of the ordinary for such a character. Later on, when they used a generic man for the role instead, they believed having a realistic person alongside a character like Mario would cause "incongruity", and it was ultimately changed to Mario instead. Mario's ally, F.L.U.D.D., was one of ten design options but was chosen because it fit the game's theme, although it was not their favorite option in looks. ''

'' had Mario exploring a number of spherical planets, which the developers at the time knew simply jumping on enemies would be difficult to perform. They instead took advantage of the

Wii Remote The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact wi ...

and

Nunchuk is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately 30 cm (sticks) and 1 inch (rope). A person w ...

having motion controls, and gave Mario a "spin" attack where he knocks over the enemies via spinning. To also balance the game's difficulty, Mario was given less

hitpoints Health is an attribute in a video game or tabletop game that determines the maximum amount of damage or loss of stamina that a character or object can take before dying or losing consciousness. In role-playing games, this typically takes the for ...

. With the amount of creative freedom the space-themed setting gave, many power-ups and transformations were implemented based on the worker's suggestions. In order to create a sense of familiarity for ''

Super Mario Odyssey is a 2017 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. An entry in the ''Super Mario'' series, it follows Mario and his new ally Cappy—a sentient hat that allows Mario to control other characters and objects� ...

'', various references to the ''Super Mario'' series were put in the game's environment. For example, Pauline was chosen to be a major aspect of the "Metro Kingdom" due to the kingdom representing the core of the game. Mario was also given a variety of costumes to represent other smaller games, such as the '' Mario's Picross'' series. The development team found the most fun way to use the

Joy-Con Joy-Con are the primary game controllers for the Nintendo Switch video game console. They consist of two individual units, each containing an analog stick and an array of buttons. They can be used while attached to the main Nintendo Switch con ...

controllers' motion controls was throwing a hat, and the gameplay was centered around Mario throwing his cap. ''64'', ''Sunshine'', and ''Galaxy'' were re-released on the Nintendo Switch in 2020 as part of the 35th anniversary of ''Super Mario Bros.'' in a collection pack titled '' Super Mario 3D All-Stars''. While the games were kept generally the same as their original counterparts, there were some minor changes. All three of the games were given HD graphics, and there were also a couple of changes to Mario in ''Super Mario 64''; a glitch where Mario could move at super high speeds with a

glitch A glitch is a short-lived fault in a system, such as a transient fault that corrects itself, making it difficult to troubleshoot. The term is particularly common in the computing and electronics industries, in circuit bending, as well as among ...

was removed; one of Mario's voice clips in which he says "so long King Bowser", which unintentionally sounded like "so long, gay Bowser", was also replaced.

Other ''Super Mario'' games

There have also been a variety of ''Super Mario'' games starring Mario that do not have standard typical 2D or 3D platforming. The ''Super Mario 3D'' series does have 3D gameplay, but the stages are linear and do not allow for open-world movement. The ''Super Mario Maker'' games are a series of

game creation system A game creation system (GCS) is a consumer-targeted game engine and a set of specialized design tools (and sometimes a light scripting language), engineered for the rapid iteration of user-derived video games. Examples include Novashell and Pie i ...

s where the player can create their own 2D ''Super Mario'' levels and play ones created by others. ''

Super Mario Run is a 2016 platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for iOS and later Android (operating system), Android. It is Nintendo's first mobile game that is part of one of the company's long-running and major franchises. In ''Super Mari ...

'' is a 2D platforming mobile game with other unnatural gameplay aspects. The main aspect of ''

'' was bridging the aspects of 2D and 3D ''Super Mario'' games. One of the issues brought up was how Mario looked too small in comparison to the large terrain and the small, portable screen of the Nintendo 3DS, so the game's

camera system In 3D video games, a virtual camera system aims at controlling a camera or a set of cameras to display a view of a 3D virtual world. Camera systems are used in video games where their purpose is to show the action at the best possible angle; m ...

needed to be fixed to one position in certain occasions. The game brought with it the "Tanooki tail" power-up, which was originally introduced in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'', and its existence was teased by the developers to the fans prior to its official announcement. Concepts for Mario, which included a skater outfit and a power-up that would make Mario grow to a large size, were cut. ''

'' on the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Th ...

included the "Cat Mario" power-up, which was implemented to help newcomers play the game and add new gameplay features such as climbing up walls. Another power-up was the "Double Cherry", which was added accidentally; one of the developers added a second Mario into the game in error, and found it humorous when both Mario's were somehow controllable at the same time. In 2020, also as part of the ''Super Mario Bros.'' 35th anniversary, Nintendo re-released ''Super Mario 3D World'' on the Nintendo Switch with the additional mode titled '' Bowser's Fury''. The developers of ''Super Mario Run'' were mainly inspired by speedrunners during development, as they took note of how when they would try to beat a 2D ''Super Mario'' game as fast as possible they would never let go of the run button. With this, they made the core gameplay concept revolve around how Mario does not stop moving forward.

Other ''Mario'' games

While the most prominent use of Mario has been directed toward the ''Super Mario'' series, various spinoff series that split into numerous games covering various genres have also been released. This includes genres such as

(RPGs),

s, and even

educational game Educational games are games explicitly designed with educational purposes, or which have incidental or secondary educational value. All types of games may be used in an educational environment, however educational games are games that are desig ...

s in the 1990s.

RPG games

Mario has been the protagonist of various role-playing video games (RPGs), beginning with ''

'' on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The developer of ''Super Mario RPG'', Yoshio Hongo for

Square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-length a ...

, liked the character Mario and believed he would fit well in an RPG format. He discussed the idea with Miyamoto, and according to him the meeting went well. The game was a critical and commercial success, and led to two other spinoff RPG series starring the character, ''

'' and ''

''. Of the two series, the ''Paper Mario'' is the only one still currently running with '' Paper Mario: The Origami King'' in 2020, as the company behind the ''Mario & Luigi'' series,

AlphaDream was a video game development company founded in 2000 by Tetsuo Mizuno and Chihiro Fujioka in Tokyo, Japan. In partnership with Nintendo, it produced software for the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintend ...

, went bankrupt in 2019. ''Super Mario RPG'' was originally going to have a sequel, titled ''Super Mario RPG 2'', and was going to release for the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...

. The original developer, Square, had signed a deal with

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

to release '' Final Fantasy VII'' for the PlayStation, so Nintendo had

Intelligent Systems is a Japanese video game developer best known for developing games with Nintendo and the ''Fire Emblem'', ''Paper Mario'', ''WarioWare'', and '' Wars'' video game series. Originally, the company was headquartered at the Nintendo Kyoto Researc ...

develop the game instead. The new art designer, Naohiko Aoyama, proceeded to change every character to two-dimensional in order to bring out "cuter" graphics compared to low-polygon three-dimensional graphics on the console. In the ''Paper Mario'' games, Mario is often aided by numerous allies who progress the story while Mario remains silent. Unlike ''Paper Mario'', both Mario and Luigi have voices in the ''

'' series and are voiced by Charles Martinet. According to the developers, the early titles in the series began with character sprites; the developers were generally inexperienced and did not know much about hardware at the time. once the Nintendo 3DS was released, the developers had the chance to switch to 3-dimensional graphics. They decided to change the background and world design but chose to keep the characters as 2D renderings of 3D characters as they believed it made it easier to convey comedic expressions. In 2013, they believed Mario took too much of the spotlight in the ''Mario'' franchise, and they made Luigi the more story-focused character in '' Mario & Luigi: Dream Team''.

Sports games

Nintendo has explored a variety of sports games featuring ''Super Mario'' property, which include

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, soccer,

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

, and other miscellaneous. Of which, the only four that were defined to be official series and are still currently running are ''

'', ''

'', '' Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games'', and '' Mario Kart''. The ''Mario Kart'' series is the most successful, selling over 150 million games in its entirety. In the 1984 video game ''

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

'', although one of the two playable characters looks similar to that of him, wearing red clothes and black pants, he is never directly referred to be Mario; In 1997, his look was changed in the re-release of the

Famicon Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" for ...

to that more like the character, and Nintendo later confirmed the character was Mario in a guide book of the game in 1991, marking his first sports video game appearance. He then directly appeared in ''

NES Open Tournament Golf ''NES Open Tournament Golf'', known in Japan as is a sports video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. ''NES Open Tournament Golf'' is the second Nintendo published golf-based video game released for t ...

'' in 1991 as one of two playable characters, the other being Luigi with a variety of other ''Mario'' characters with supporting roles. The character sprites were designed by

Eiji Aonuma is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. He works for Nintendo as the project manager of their ''The Legend of Zelda'' series. Aonuma is also one of the deputy general managers of Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development ...

, his first project in graphical art design. After the unsuccessful attempt on the

Virtual Boy The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop portable video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. Released in 1995, it was marketed as the first console capable of displaying stereoscopic "3D" graphics. The player uses the console like ...

with '' Mario's Tennis'', the first tennis game featuring Mario, Nintendo gave licensing rights to

Camelot Software Planning (trade name, doing business as Camelot Software Planning) is a Japanese video game developer established in 1990 under the name Sega CD4, but quickly renamed to Sonic! Software Planning. Named after Sonic the Hedgehog, they were closely involve ...

to develop a second ''Mario''-themed tennis game for the

. Each character had a unique ability, with Mario having an all-around average set of skills to pair with his type of character. This ideology was later continued into '' Mario Power Tennis''. The '' Mario Kart'' franchise began with '' Super Mario Kart'' for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992; early in development, the game did not have any ''Mario''-themed elements. A few months into the process, the designers were testing how one character would look at another they had just passed. They implemented Mario, simply to see how he would look inside a kart, and the original concept was scrapped entirely after they decided he looked better than the previous non-defined characters. Similar to the ''Mario & Luigi'' series, he appears as a sprite that turns in 16 different angles.

Puzzle games

Mario has also starred in a variety of multiple

s, but sometimes only makes an appearance and is not playable. The first of which to release was '' Wrecking Crew'', designed by

Yoshio Sakamoto (born July 23, 1959) is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. He has worked at Nintendo since 1982. He has directed several games in the '' Metroid'' series. He is one of the most prominent members of Nintendo's former Researc ...

. After which, three main series and a variety of spin-offs were released starring him, including '' Dr. Mario'', ''

'', and ''Mario Picross'', the latter of which inactive. The original game in the ''Dr. Mario'' series, also titled '' Dr. Mario'', was designed by Takahiro Harada and had Mario assuming the role of a doctor instead of a plumber. His appearance and role has generally remained the same; to celebrate his 30th anniversary in the series an 8-bit rendering of his original appearance was made unlockable in the most recent game, '' Dr. Mario World''. ''Mario vs. Donkey Kong'' is centered around "Mini Marios",

wind-up toy A wind-up toy is an automaton toy powered by a clockwork motor. Background Automata built for the sake of art, amusement, and simulation have been described since antiquity, in cases such as Heron of Alexandria designing clockwork birds durin ...

s that resemble Mario. The '' Mario's Picross'' series was an attempt by Nintendo to capitalize on the popularity of Mario and the success of puzzle games in Japan at the time. Released in 1995, the game was popular and followed by two sequels, ''

Super Mario Picross is a Super Famicom sequel to ''Mario's Picross''. The game is compatible with the Super Famicom Mouse. Developed by Jupiter and Ape and published by Nintendo. After the failure of ''Mario's Picross'' in North America, Nintendo decided not to ...

'' and ''Picross 2'', but the first game was only made available to American audiences in 2020. Due to the abandonment of the

SNES-CD The Super NES CD-ROM System (commonly shortened as the SNES-CD), known as Super Famicom CD-ROM Adapter in Japan, is an unreleased video game peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The add-on built upon the functionality ...

hardware in the 1990s, a project developed by Nintendo and Phillips, as part of Nintendo's dissolving agreement with Philips they gave the licensing rights to ''Mario'' and ''The Legend of Zelda'' property to release games on the CD-i. Multiple games were developed by the inexperienced Fantasy Factory, which included the puzzle game ''Hotel Mario'' in 1994. Via Animation Magic, ''Hotel Mario'' had various cutscenes of Mario and Luigi which borrowed animation elements from Disney and J. R. R. Tolkien. Mario was voiced by Marc Graue as the game was released prior to Charles Martinet receiving the role for voicing the character.

Educational games

Due to the popularity of the ''Super Mario'' series, various educational games starring the character were released and appealed to younger audiences. These games had little involvement from Nintendo, with the games releasing for the NES, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and personal computers. The last of which in the genre to release was ''Mario Teaches Typing 2'' in 1997 before the production of such games was discontinued. ''Mario is Missing!'' is one of the only occasions where Mario himself was kidnapped and is rescued by another character. In the game, Mario and Luigi approach Bowser to stop his plans, but Mario is then captured; Luigi traverses real-world locations to follow after him, solving trivia along the way. A similar game was released without the help of Miyamoto, ''Mario's Time Machine'', which starred Mario against Bowser instead. ''

'' has the player competing against various card and board games against Mario. The game was Charles Martinet's first official voice acting role for Mario, one year prior to ''Super Mario 64''. For ''Mario Teaches Typing'', the head of Interplay Productions Brian Fargo saw the success of the typing game ''Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing'', and knew a character like Mario as the teacher would be appealing. Pre-dating ''Mario's Game Gallery'', Martinet did not voice Mario. After release, the concept was so successful, it began a negative relationship between Fargo Les Crane, the creator of ''Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing''. ''Mario Teaches Typing 2'' was released in 1997, which Martinet voiced Mario for. When they were approved of creating ''Mario's Game Gallery'', another Mario-themed education game also released that was of poor quality, so Miyamoto met with Fargo and halted production of any further education games using the character.

Cameos

Apart from his platformer and spin-off game appearances, Mario has made guest appearances in non-''Mario'' games, such as ''Punch-Out!! (NES), Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!'' and Tennis (1984 video game), Tennis where Mario is a referee, in ''Pac-Man Vs.'', he is the in-game announcer. Mario appears as a playable character in ''NBA Street V3'' and ''SSX on Tour''. He also appears as a playable character in '' Super Smash Bros.'' series. He makes countless cameo appearances in many forms in many games, such as portraits and statues in ''The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past'', ''The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time'', and ''Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes''. On an ending screen that appears in the NES version of the video game Tetris (NES video game), Tetris, Mario appears with Luigi dancing to the music, which is a version from prelude to the opera Carmen (opera), Carmen. In that screen also appears Peach, Bowser and other Nintendo characters such as Link, Samus, Donkey Kong or Pit.

In other media

The first appearance of Mario in media other than games was ''Saturday Supercade'', an animated television series produced by Ruby-Spears Productions in 1983. The 1986 original video animation ''Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!'' features Mario (voiced by Toru Furuya) as the protagonist. The animated series ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'' features a live-action series of skits that stars former WWF manager Lou Albano, "Captain" Lou Albano as Mario and Danny Wells as Luigi. Mario appeared in a book series, the Nintendo Adventure Books. Mario is portrayed by Bob Hoskins in the 1993 film loosely based on the ''Super Mario'' series, titled ''

''. In the film, he is the cynical older brother who takes great pride in being a plumber and is a parental figure to Luigi, portrayed by John Leguizamo. At first he holds no belief in unusual things happening, but meeting Daisy and a trip to Dinohattan soon changes his mind. Hoskins was ultimately cast to play the character after other choices falling out such as Dustin Hoffman and Danny DeVito. Hoskins had previously done multiple roles in children's films and kept suggesting changes to the script before he agreed to portray the character. According to one of the films' directors, Annabel Jankel, Hoskins was mainly considered due to his physical appearances. In a 2007 interview, Hoskins considered the role his worst choice in his acting career and admitted to constantly drinking before and during filming. Mario will be voiced by Chris Pratt in the upcoming 2023 film adaptation.

Reception

As Nintendo's mascot, Mario is widely considered to be the most famous video game character in history, and has been called an icon of the gaming industry. The ''Mario'' series of video games has sold more than 510 million copies, making it the List of best-selling video game franchises, best-selling video game franchise. Mario was one of the first video game character inductees at the Walk of Game in 2005, alongside Link (The Legend of Zelda), Link and Sonic the Hedgehog. Mario was the first video game character to be honored with a wax figure in the Hollywood Wax Museum in 2003. In 1990, a national survey found that Mario was more recognizable to American children than Mickey Mouse. Mario has also been called the "most recognisable" figure in the gaming industry. Creator Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that Mario is his favorite out of all characters that he has created. ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' gave Mario their "Coolest Mascot" award for 1996, calling him "an age-old friend." ''

'' listed Mario as their favorite hero, citing his defining characteristics as his mustache, red cap, plumbing prowess, and his mushrooms. In a poll conducted in 2008 by Oricon, Mario was voted the most popular video game character in Japan. GameDaily listed the "unlikely hero" on its top 25 video game archetypes, and used Mario as an example of this. It stated that in spite of the fact that he should have run out of energy through the first level, he kept going. Mario ranked fourth on GameDaily's top ten ''Smash Bros.'' characters list. Mario was fourth on UGO's list of the "Top 100 Heroes of All Time". They also listed Mario's hat twenty-first on their list of "The Coolest Helmets and Headgear in Video Games", stating "there's always somebody at your Halloween party wearing one." ''Empire (film magazine), Empire'' ranked him as the second-greatest video game character. CNET listed him first on its list of the "Top 5 video game characters". He was voted 100th in IGN's Top 100 Villains for his appearance in ''Donkey Kong Junior'', adding "This Mario is a total jerk, holding Donkey Kong Jr.'s dad hostage", and he has also been elected by GamesRadar as the 90th "most dastardly ne'er-do-wells" villain in video games in their "top 100".

Legacy

Cerimônia de encerramento dos Jogos Olímpicos Rio 2016 1039534-21082016- mg 8618 (cropped)

Mario has been established as a popular culture, pop culture icon, and has appeared on lunch boxes, T-shirts, magazines, commercials (notably, in a Got Milk? commercial), in candy form, on shampoo bottles, cereal, badges, board games, and as a plush toy. Mario has inspired unlicensed paintings, performances on talent shows such as ''India's Got Talent'', and short films, which have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The character has been present in a number of works created by third parties other than Nintendo, such as in the iOS and Android (operating system), Android video game ''Platform Panic'', in which one of the purchasable skins is a reference to him. Many people and places have been named or nicknamed after Mario. Bergsala, the distributor of Nintendo's products in the Nordic countries, Nordic and the Baltic countries, is located at Marios Gata 21 (Mario's Street 21) in Kungsbacka, Sweden, named after Mario. Many sports stars, including Bundesliga Association football, football players Mario Götze and Mario Gómez, National Hockey League player Mario Lemieux, Football in Italy, Italian footballer Mario Balotelli, and Italian cyclist Mario Cipollini have been given the nickname "Super Mario". In a suburb of the Spanish city of Zaragoza, streets were named after video games, including "Avenida de Super Mario Bros". Mario's legacy is recognized by

, who awarded the Nintendo mascot, and the series of platform games he has appeared in, seven 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 original games. In 2009, ''Guinness World Records'' listed him as the second most recognizable video game character in the United States, recognized by 93% of the population, second only to Pac-Man who was recognized by 94% of the population. In 2011, readers of ''Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition'' voted Mario as the top video game character of all time. Mario appeared in the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony to promote the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. In a pre-recorded video, the prime minister Shinzō Abe became Mario to use a Warp pipe, Warp Pipe planted by Doraemon (character), Doraemon from Shibuya#Shibuya Crossing, Shibuya Crossing to Maracanã Stadium. Abe then appeared dressed as Mario in an oversized Warp Pipe in the middle of the stadium. Mario Day (previously known as National Mario Day) is celebrated on March 10, as when that date is presented as Mar 10 it resembles the name MARIO. Since 2016, the day was officially observed by Nintendo, and celebrates this day annually by promoting ''Mario'' games and holding ''Mario''-related events.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Mario
on Super Mario Wiki
Official website for the ''Mario'' series

Mario entry on Nintendo.com
{{authority control Action video game characters Animated human characters Corporate mascots Fictional American people in video games Fictional characters from New York City Fictional hammer fighters Fictional Italian American people Fictional Italian people in video games Fictional physicians Fictional plumbers Male characters in advertising Male characters in video games Mario (franchise) characters Mario (franchise) Nintendo protagonists Super Smash Bros. fighters Twin characters in video games Video game characters introduced in 1981 Video game characters with fire or heat abilities Video game characters Video game mascots