Mario (series)

Mario is a video game franchise created by Nintendo. It stars the titular character, Mario. The franchise is known for being a consistently family-friendly franchise, and does not have any Mature-rated titles. Even Teen ratings from the ESRB are infrequent, and Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl of the related Super Smash Bros. series are two notable examples of ones with Mario. Three other characters from the Mario series, Yoshi, Wario and Donkey Kong, have each received their own spinoff series.

## History[edit]

Mario first appeared in the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. At the time, he was referred to as "Jumpman." In 1983, he appeared in his own game, Mario Bros., which also saw the debut of his brother, Luigi. In 1985, Super Mario Bros. was released in the United States with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Super Mario Bros. is often regarded as the game that helped save the video game industry after the Video Game Crash of 1983. Since then, Mario has appeared in various games spanning Nintendo's systems.