Super Mario

(also known as and is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every major Nintendo video game console. However, there have also been a number of ''Super Mario'' video games released on non-Nintendo gaming platforms. There are more than 20 games in the series.

The ''Super Mario'' games are set primarily in the fictional Mushroom Kingdom, typically with Mario as the main player character. He is usually joined by his brother, Luigi, and often other members of the ''Mario'' cast. As platform games, they involve the player character running and jumping across platforms and atop enemies in themed levels. The games have simple plots, typically with Mario and Luigi having to rescue the kidnapped Princess Peach from the primary antagonist. The first game in the series, '' Super Mario Bros.'', released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, established the series' core gameplay concepts and elements. These include a multitude of power-ups and items that give the character special powers such as fireball-throwing and size-changing.

The ''Super Mario'' series is part of the greater ''Mario'' franchise, which includes other video game genres and media such as film, television, printed media, and merchandise. More than 430 million copies of ''Super Mario'' games have been sold worldwide, making it the sixth-bestselling video game series, behind the larger ''Mario'' franchise, the puzzle series ''Tetris'', the ''Call of Duty'' series, the ''Pokémon'' video games, and ''Grand Theft Auto''.

Gameplay

The objective of the game is to progress through levels by defeating enemies, collecting items and solving puzzles without dying. Power-up use is integral to the series. The series has installments featuring both two and three-dimensional gameplay. In the 2D games, the player character (usually Mario) jumps on platforms and enemies while avoiding their attacks and moving to the right of the scrolling screen. 2D ''Super Mario'' game levels have single-exit objectives, which must be reached within a time limit and lead to the next sequential level. '' Super Mario Bros. 3'' introduced the overworld, a map of nonlinear levels that branches according to the player's choice. '' Super Mario World'' introduced levels with multiple exits.

3D installments in the series have had two subgenres: open world exploration based games and more linear 3D games with a predetermined path. Levels in the open world games, '' 64'', '' Sunshine'' and ''Odyssey'', allow the player to freely explore multiple enclosed environments in 360-degree movement. As the game progresses, more environments become accessible. The linear 3D games, ''Galaxy'', ''Galaxy 2'', ''3D Land'' and ''3D World'', feature more fixed camera angles and a predetermined path to a single goal.

Playable characters

The series often features the option to play as characters other than Mario, usually Luigi. Earlier games have offered an alternating multiplayer mode in which the second player controls Luigi on their turn. Luigi is often only playable by player one in a second, more challenging iteration of the base game, such as in ''The Lost Levels'', ''Galaxy 2'', ''New Super Luigi U'' and the special worlds in ''3D Land''; these feature lower gravity and reduced friction for Luigi. Later games allow four player simultaneous play. Other playable characters include Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toads, Yoshi, Rosalina, and Nabbit, among others. Characters are sometimes differentiated by special abilities.

Power-ups and transformations

Mushroom power-ups appear in almost every ''Super Mario'' game. The most iconic of these is the Super Mushroom. The ''Super Mushroom'' increases the character's size, turning them into a "Super" variant, and allows them to break certain blocks. When hit by an enemy, the character reverts to their smaller size instead of losing a life. When the character is in their "Super" form, most blocks that would contain a Super Mushroom instead offer a more powerful power-up such as the Fire Flower. The Super Mushroom is similar in appearance to the ''Amanita muscaria'', with an ivory stalk below a most commonly red and white (originally red and orange) spotted cap. Created by chance, Shigeru Miyamoto stated in an interview that beta tests of ''Super Mario Bros.'' proved Mario too tall, so the development team implemented mushrooms to grow and shrink Mario. Different variants of mushroom power-ups appear in the series. For example, ''Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels'' introduces the ''Poison Mushroom'', which causes damage when collected; and ''New Super Mario Bros.'' introduces the Mini Mushroom, which shrinks the character to miniature size; and the Mega Mushroom, grows the character into a towering, invulnerable giant who destroys enemies and the environment by running through them.

''Super Mario Bros. 3'' introduces suits to the ''Super Mario'' series, many of which are based on animals or Mario enemies. The Raccoon Suit (provisioned by a Super Leaf) and the Tanooki Suit each provide the character with a tail that enables flight. In addition, the Tanooki Suit lets the character spontaneously change into an invincible statue for about five seconds. ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' includes a Hammer Bros. suit, which allows Mario and Luigi to throw hammers as projectiles to defeat enemies at a distance. Other suits in later games in the series include the Frog Suit, Penguin Suit, Cat Suit, Boomerang Suit, and Bee Suit. ''Super Mario Maker'' includes costume power-ups that depict many more characters (''Super Mario Maker 2'' includes only a Link power-up).

Projectiles

The flower power-ups let the player character shoot projectiles. The Fire Flower, introduced in ''Super Mario Bros.'', transforms the character into a Fire variant who can throw bouncing fireballs at enemies. ''Galaxy'' is the first 3D ''Super Mario'' game to have the Fire Flower. In ''Land'' and ''Maker 2'', the Superball is a bouncing ball obtained from a Super Flower, which the character can use to defeat enemies and collect coins. The Ice Flower transforms the character into an Ice variant who can shoot balls of ice as projectiles similar to those of the Fire Flower; they freeze enemies in blocks of ice that can be used as platforms or thrown as projectiles, as seen in '' New Super Mario Bros. Wii'' and '' New Super Mario Bros. U''. In ''Galaxy'', the Ice Flower turns Mario or Luigi into ice and lets him walk on lava or water for a limited time by freezing the surface. Lastly, ''New Super Mario Bros. 2''s Gold Flower lets Mario or Luigi turn bricks into coins and earn bonus coins for defeating enemies.

Koopa Shells serve as a major projectile in the series, featuring since the original game. The character can throw them to defeat enemies, collect coins, and activate the functions of blocks. Power-ups are available for Yoshi to breathe fire in ''World'', ''Yoshi's Island'', and ''64 DS'', breathe freezing air and spit seeds in ''Yoshi's Island'', spit out enemies in the ''World'' games, and spit juice in ''Sunshine''. Other power-ups let the character throw bombs, boomerangs, and baseballs and shoot cannonballs. In ''Odyssey'', Mario can possess characters, some of which can launch various projectiles. Flying shoot 'em up gameplay also appears in the series. Mario pilots the armed Sky Pop biplane and Marine Pop submarine in ''Land''. The Koopa Clown Car, aircraft of Bowser and the Koopalings, can sometimes shoot fireballs in ''Maker''.

Ridable animals and vehicles

Apart from automated objects in levels that may transport the player character, certain ridable animals and vehicles have appeared that the player controls. Mario's dinosaur friend Yoshi has appeared as a mount to the player character in several ''Super Mario'' games since ''Super Mario World''. In ''Yoshi's Island'' and ''64 DS'', instead of the player character merely riding on Yoshi's back, Yoshi is the player character. Yoshis generally have abilities including eating enemies, flying, and breathing fire. Miyamoto had originally wished for Mario to be able to ride a dinosaur in ''Super Mario Bros.'', but this wasn't possible due to the technical restraints of the system. Poochi is a dog featuring in ''Yoshi's Island'' who Yoshi can ride. Plesiosaurs Dorrie and Plessie can be ridden by the player characters in ''64'' and ''3D World'' respectively, with Plessie serving a larger role in ''Bowser's Fury''.

Various vehicles that the player character can control have also appeared. These include a magic carpet in ''2'', flying clouds in several 2D games, submarines in ''Land'' and ''Yoshi's Island'', an airplane in ''Land'', a helicopter, train, and mole tank in ''Yoshi's Island'', cars in ''Yoshi's Island'' and ''Maker 2'', and the Koopa Clown Car aircraft in the ''Maker'' games.

Blocks

Most items in the ''Super Mario'' series appear from item blocks when hit, which originated in '' Super Mario Bros.'' and have persisted throughout the series, where the character hits a block to receive either coins or power-ups. Variations include those that are invisible until hit, advice dispensers, produce another block, move, frozen, contingent on a switch, bouncy, etc. The propeller block lets the character spin up into the air and slowly descend, and the Gold Block generates coins through running. A single block is the unit of measurement in the design of ''Super Mario'' levels.

Extra lives

Player characters can gain extra lives in most of the games. The 1-Up mushroom was introduced in ''Super Mario Bros.'', with the term 1-up subsequently being used generically in other video game series to refer to extra lives. In the monochromatic ''Super Mario Land'' and '' Super Mario Land 2'', instead of a differently colored mushroom, the 1-Up is shown as a heart. ''Super Mario World'' introduced the 3-Up Moon. 1-Ups can also be earned through collecting a certain number of coins or playing minigames.

Invincibility

Invincibility is an effect first appearing in the three ''Super Mario Bros.'' games, where it is granted by a "Starman", an anthropomorphized, flashing star. The star has also been named the "Super Star" in the two ''Super Mario World'' games as well as the ''New Super Mario Bros.'' games and the "Rainbow Star" in the two ''Super Mario Galaxy'' games. Picking up the star makes the character temporarily invincible, able to resist any harm. Use of the item is accompanied by a distinctive music track that appears consistently across most of the games. The player character flickers a variety of colors – and in some games, moves with increased speed and enhanced jumping ability – while under the Star's influence. While invincible, the character defeats any enemy upon contact with it. In '' Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island'', the star gives the normally immobile baby Mario the ability to run as well as become invincible. In ''Super Mario 64'' and ''64 DS'', invincibility is provided when the character becomes metal or intangible. The Mega Mushroom provides temporary invincibility with the addition of giant size and environment destruction (see Power-ups and transformations).

Collectibles

''Super Mario'' level design traditionally incorporates many distributed coins as puzzles, rewards, and guidance through the level. Coins are often found floating in the air in groups. Most ''Super Mario'' games award the player an extra life once a certain amount of gold coins are collected, commonly 50 or 100. Several coin variants exist, such as silver coins, dragon coins, star coins, and more. In ''64'', ''Sunshine'', ''Galaxy'', and ''Galaxy 2'', coins replenish health (and air, when the character is underwater). In ''64'' and ''Sunshine'', collecting 100 coins in a level results in a Power Star or Shine Sprite respectively. There are also stages in that game reward a Power Star for collecting eight red coins in a level, worth two normal coins each. In ''64'', a blue coin is worth five normal coins. In ''Sunshine'', blue coins act as a side quest when brought to the Delfino Bank and for every ten blue coins deposited, Mario will earn a Shine Sprite. In the ''Galaxy'' series, after finishing each game once, stages unlock where Mario or Luigi can collect 100 purple coins to earn a Power Star. In ''Galaxy 2'', they can also be used to feed some hungry "Luma" characters that can turn into either an item or another planet.

The games often feature other tokens found in levels to progress in the overworld, most frequently with the visual motif of a star. They are typically situated in locations that are not readily found or reached, or awarded for completing stunts, or objectives given by NPCs. They include the Power Stars in '' Super Mario 64'' and the ''Super Mario Galaxy'' games, Shine Sprites in ''Super Mario Sunshine'', Cat Shines in ''Bowser's Fury'', Star Coins in the ''New Super Mario Bros.'' series, Star Medals in ''Super Mario 3D Land'', Green Stars in the ''Galaxy'' games and ''Super Mario 3D World'', and Power Moons in ''Super Mario Odyssey''. In ''Super Mario Land 2'', there are six Golden Coin tokens that must be collected to finish the game.

Warp Pipes and Warp Cannons

The Warp Pipe is a common method of transportation used in many of the ''Mario'' series games. Warp Pipes are most often green but also appear in other colors (early games included silver pipes, newer games have introduced red, green, blue and yellow pipes), and have many uses in the series. Warp Pipes can also contain enemies, usually Piranha Plants, and sometimes launch the player into the air (most commonly seen in the '' New Super Mario Bros.'' series). In early ''Mario'' games such as '' Super Mario Bros.'', special, well-hidden areas known as Warp Zones contain pipes that allow players to skip several worlds (handfuls of levels) at once. In the ''New Super Mario Bros.'' series, pipe-shaped Warp Cannons work similarly to the Warp Zones of the earlier games and are unlocked by finding secret exits in levels. Cannons appear in most of the 3D games in the series starting with '' Super Mario 64''. The character uses the cannon by jumping into the barrel, aiming themself and being fired at a distant target. This allows the character to progress through a level or reach otherwise inaccessible areas.

Music

Much of the original ''Super Mario Bros.'' music and sound effects have become iconic to the series and incorporated into modern games. The original ''Super Mario Bros.'' theme, composed by Koji Kondo, has become one of the most well known video game themes around the world.

''Super Mario Galaxy'', released in 2007, became the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series to feature orchestrated music, which would return in its sequel and other subsequent games such as ''Super Mario 3D World''.

History and development

1980–1989: Conception and ''Super Mario Bros.'' games

In 1980, Nintendo released '' Radar Scope'', their first arcade video game, which was a commercial failure. Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi appointed Shigeru Miyamoto to repurpose unused ''Radar Scope'' arcade cabinets into a new game. While Miyamoto wanted the game to star ''Popeye

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