Mario

Mario is one of the most recognizable video game characters in the world, serving as the mascot of the video game company Nintendo. Mario is the titular character of his own series, and is a plumber who often goes on adventures to save Princess Peach. He has a brother named Luigi. Mario was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and was originally a carpenter called Jumpman. Mario has appeared in over 100 games since 1981's Donkey Kong. Mario is an extremely recognizable character, and at one point was more recognizable than Mickey Mouse. A majority of games that Mario appears in are family-friendly, and have been given an E rating from the ESRB.

Appearance[edit]

Mario is known for his famous red cap, blue overalls, and white gloves. He has a mustache and a rather large nose. Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Super Mario and numerous other Nintendo games, designed Mario that way in order to create a recognizable character for the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong.^[1] In an interview, Miyamoto said that he thought that Mario was around 25 years old.^[2]

Abilities[edit]

In most games Mario can jump particularly high, can grow to become Super Mario by eating (touching) mushrooms, obtain the ability to throw fireballs by grabbing flowers or become temporarily invincible by grabbing stars. In various games, including Super Mario Bros. 3, he can also fly by obtaining special items that vary from game to game.

History[edit]

Mario was created by Shigeru Miyamoto as one of his attempts to create a best-selling video game for Nintendo. Mario began as "Jumpman" in the video game Donkey Kong in 1981. He then appeared in Donkey Kong Jr. ,as the villain and Mario Bros. in 1983, which began Mario and Luigi's portrayal as Italian-American plumbers. Since then, Mario has then appeared in many other games for Nintendo consoles and handhelds. The first Mario console game was Mario Bros for the Atari and other consoles, followed by Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Games[edit]

Donkey Kong[edit]

Donkey Kong is an arcade game released by Nintendo that the protagonist, Mario, known at the time of release as Jumpman, must save Pauline from the primate antagonist Donkey Kong. The game repeats four stages that after the final stage is completed, the four stages repeat and get more challenging each time they are played and more points are earned.

Super Mario Bros.[edit]

Super Mario Bros. is one of the most well known video games in the industry. It is a platform game created by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System, first released in 1985. It features the intrepid Mario in his adventures through Mushroom Kingdom to save Princess Peach from Bowser's hands. It is the game that has sold the most copies worldwide and numerous ports, sequels and other merchandise has been made out of it. It lacks any kind of realistic violence and can be enjoyed safely by the whole family.

The player controls Mario (or possibly Luigi in two-player mode) and must reach the goal in each side-scrolling level which is populated by numerous obstacles such as enemies, pitfalls and other hazzards. The player may obtain a red mushroom (increasing Mario's side and allowing him to be hit twice before losing a life), a fire flower (allowing Mario to throw bouncing fire balls to eliminate some enemies), a bouncing starcalled Starman (making Mario invisible and eliminating enemies he comes in contact with), a green mushroom (giving Mario an extra life) or coins (collecting 100 of these will grant Mario an extra life). Most enemies are defeated by jumping on them directly and by throwing fire balls or shells (obtained by jumping on Koopa Troopas, turtle-like enemies and Buzzy Beetles, a beetle-like equivalent) at them or The player travels through eight worlds, each consisting of four levels, the last one being a castle where an impersonation of Bowser dwells and must be defeated by reaching an axe and destroying the bridge he is standing on or by throwing enough fire balls at him, when he does, the player encounters a humanoid mushroom who tells him that the princess is in another castle (with the exception being the last one, where he finds the princess). The player may encounter Warp Pipes that allow him to skip levels or even whole worlds.

Super Mario Bros. was the first original Mario game for the NES (previous Mario games on the NES such as Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. were ports of pre-existing arcade games), and was bundled in with the NES in a cart with Duck Hunt. The game spawned numerous sequels including Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, which are regarded by many as two of the greatest games of all time. The game is generally regarded as the most innovative video game of all time.

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