Mario Mario

""It's a me, Mario""

- ~ Mario

Mario is the main protagonist of the Mario series and the mascot for Nintendo. He was created by Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, and has appeared in over 200 games. Originally, he only appeared in platform games. However, he now also features in sporting games, racing games, and fighting games and others. He is considered by many to be the most famous character in video game history, and is known to many as "The Face of Video Games," having 6 games out of the top 10 on the list of best-selling video games of all time. Mario is a super hero who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom. In the Mario series, he uses his well-known jump and combat abilities to stop Bowser from kidnapping Princess Peach and taking over the Mushroom Kingdom. Along with Bowser, he has had other enemies such as Wario and Donkey Kong. In the video games, Mario is voiced by Charles Martinet.

Appearances
Mario was first seen as "Jumpman" in the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong. He was first seen as "Mario" in the following arcade game Donkey Kong Jr. in 1982, where he was the enemy of the player. The following year, his brother Luigi was introduced in the arcade game Mario Bros. However, it was the release of Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System that sparked major popularity for the character.

Several sub-series have also been released. The successful Mario Kart series started with Super Mario Kart, and has become one of the most successful kart-racing franchises, selling over 30 million copies worldwide. Other sports games in the franchise include Mario Golf, Mario Tennis and Super Mario Strikers.

Role-playing games, such as Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, have also been created, along with party games such as Mario Party which have popular minigames.

Personality
Mario is basically a simple character without a solid personality, since he was meant for players to integrate their own personality into his character. When his demeanour is shown, Mario is kind, smart, brave, and heroic.

Mario is a brave and kindhearted hero with a strong sense of justice, morality and righteousness. He puts, more often than not, other people's needs and he is willing to risk his life to save millions of others from the forces of evil. Mario will never give up on anyone, ever. He'll always be there no matter what, even if it's extremly dangerous

Although Mario is generally a good natured person, it seems he doesn't enjoy losing much, often when losing in spin off games (i.e Mario party) he has a sad look on his face, but in Luigi's ending in Mario Power Tennis he is shown congratulating his brother,

He remains quiet but when he talks he talks heavy and harshly. In the cartoons, Mario speaks with a characteristic Brooklyn accent, but his current incarnation -- voiced by Charles Martinet - has a blatant Italian accent. Mario is friendly, persistent, and always knows what he is doing.

Physical Description
Mario appears as a short and portly adult man in most of his appearances. Most of the time, he is wearing his trademark outfit: his red cap (with the M symbol), blue overalls -with gold colored buttons-, red shirt, white gloves and brown shoes. He has short light brown hair and a thick black mustache. Every part of his looks has had, at some point, a certain significance in plot and gameplay: the cap worked as a "shield" of sorts in Super Mario 64, and when he had his cap stolen, he´d lose 50% more the health with each hit, making its recovery a top priority. In the Mario and Luigi RPG series, the ´Stache stat is the equivalent of Charisma in RPGs, meaning that a high number here (a "well groomed mustache") will translate to healthy discounts in stores. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, his overalls (and Luigi´s) appear to be made of denim.

Mario´s looks were a product of the limited graphics technology of the time: his arms would vanish with a shirt of a solid color, hair could not be properly drawn, detailed or animated; and the head could not host a proper mouth. As the developing team, headed by Shigeru Miyamoto, wanted a properly detailed character, so they gave him overalls, the mustache, the cap and a big nose, in order to make a recognizable sprite. Mario´s looks have been mostly unchanged for much of the franchise´s history, except for the first games: in Donkey Kong, he had red overalls and a blue shirt, and in Super Mario Bros his sprite had red overalls and a brown shirt, while the artwork retained the original red/blue outfit. It wasn't until Super Mario Bros. 2 that Mario got his current clothes. Unsurprisingly, due to the notoriety of the first Mario games, his appearances in merchandising and the Super Mario Bros. Super Show cartoon segment, his clothes had the Donkey Kong palette. It´s also worth noting that Lou Albano, Mario in the Super Mario Bros. Super Show live-action segment, often wore a plain white shirt.

In addition to his trademark clothes, Mario has used several other outfits depending on the activities. He has been seen with several sporting clothes (tennis, soccer, golf) and he wore lighter, more laid-back shirts in Super Mario Sunshine, in tune with the tropical vacation setting of the game.

Although Mario's age is never really confirmed, Super Smash Bros. Melee says that Mario is 26 years old when reading the description of his trophy in the game.

Powers

 * Superhuman Strength: Mario is able to lift and press objects that are several times his own weight. The exact upper limits of his strength, but in Super Mario World, Mario can easily lift a castle. In Super Mario 64, Mario is shown to lift King Bob-omb. An even more impressive feat is during the fight with Bowser. Mario can lift him by the tail, spin him around and then throw him. Mario spins Bowser around faster and farther with more spins. Mario's incredible strength also extends to his legs, allowing him to perform his signature move, the jump. Mario is extremely good at jumping, and is capable of leaping two stories high. He is the second best jumper in the Mushroom Kingdom, bested only by Luigi.
 * Superhuman Durability: Mario has a significant level of durability. He can endure great impacts, such as falling from a height of several stories or being struck by an opponent with superhuman strength. Mario can also endure extreme environments, such as volcanoes and tundras. Also, he can withstand fire, electricity and ice.
 * Superhuman Stamina: Mario can maintain continuous physical activity for an indefinite period of time.
 * Superhuman Speed: Mario is capable of running up walls in Super Mario World, and is capable of outpacing sound in Super Paper Mario. Koopa the Quick has referred to Mario as a "human blur."
 * Pyrokinesis: Mario has the ability to create and manipulate fire. This ability changes throughout the games he has appeared. In the platform games, such as Super Mario Bros., Mario needs a Fire Flower to obtain this power. But in the RPGs and Super Smash Bros. series, Mario already has this power. Also, in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario uses the Mario Finale, in which he unleashes a powerful blast of fire. In spinoffs, Mario is always associated with the element of fire.

Abilities

 * Master Combatant: Mario has his own fighting style. However, he never uses it in his games, except in the Super Smash Bros. series.
 * Indomitable Will: Mario is shown to have a powerful force of will, completely free of evil or temptation. He is very optimistic and never gives up, even when things look bad.
 * Leadership: Mario has proven many times to be a capable leader, inspiring others with his charisma, ardour and idealism.
 * Expert Vehicular Driver: As shown in the Mario Kart series, Mario is skilled in driving vehicles, such as karts and motorbikes.

Cameos in Non-Mario related games

 * He made a cameo in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in Princess Zelda's room in Hyrule Castle in a window, along with other Mario characters, such as Luigi and Yoshi.
 * In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, he appears in several portraits within NPC homes.
 * Mario made a cameo in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask as a mask hanging in the Happy Mask Salesman's backpack.
 * In Kirby Super Star, as well as its remake Kirby Super Star Ultra, he can be seen in the crowd when battling King Dedede, and Rock Kirby can transform into a golden Mario statue.
 * Mario makes a cameo in the Japanese-only Captain Rainbow as a portrait above Tracy's (from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening) throne. An empty portrait and Link are sitting to the left of his picture. The portrait is Mario's artwork from Mario Party DS.
 * Mario makes a cameo as the referee in Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!.

Trivia

 * In the classic games and the DIC cartoons, Mario used to have red overalls and a blue shirt underneath. But it was later changed to blue overalls and a red shirt.
 * Mario has always had his signature cap, ever since he was a baby.
 * Mario used to have a very low, New York voice instead of high-pitched Italian.
 * Mario is one of the very few Nintendo characters who actually talk in sentences.
 * Mario's name before "Jumpman" was supposed to be "Mr. Video"
 * In Mario Bros Mario might have been a plumber but current games do not depict Mario as a plumber.