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| “ | 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 superpowered super hero 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 with the help of his younger brother, Luigi. He has had helpful friends like Yoshi and Toad. He also has had other enemies and rivals 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. Also Mario is handsome and many creatures have a crush on him. He has a major crush on Princess Peach
Mario always retains a good heart and a love of adventure. He cares more about his friends and family and would do anything to protect them.
Relationships
- Luigi: Mario is Luigi's older twin brother, though in some incarnations just the older brother. He and Luigi are opposites when is comes to personality. While they both retain a strong sense of morals and justice, Mario is much more braver than Luigi. Despite Luigi being slightly jealous of Mario on rare occasions, the two brothers love each other and share a close bond. It's speculated that the reason Mario doesn't always bring Luigi with him on adventures are because Mario doesn't want him getting hurt and is protective of him. While Mario sees potential in Luigi, he can be protective of Luigi as shown in some of the games. Both brothers are a duo that while strong on their own their true power is shown as a team.
- Princess Peach: some time after his break up with Pauline in the first Donkey Kong Game, Mario has shown some interest in Peach some time after he came to the Mushroom Kingdom. The two has a strong friendship and have romantic feelings for each other. Despite having to rescue her almost twenty four-seven, Mario doesn't seem to mind as he cares more for Peach's safety. Mario loves getting affection from Princess Peach and is just as protective of her as he is to Luigi.
- Toad: Toad is one of Mario's close friends, and the two seem to have a mutual respect. In Super Mario Bros. 2, Toad adventures alongside Mario and his allies in saving the land of Subcon. However after Super Mario Bros 3, Toad has actively aided Mario, by giving him Power-Ups, and other good items, whenever Mario visits Toad's Toad Houses.
- Yoshi: Yoshi is Mario's best friend who saved Mario and Luigi from the Koopa Troop, when they were babies. In the present day, Yoshi continues to help Mario against Bowser in several games, such as Super Mario 64 DS.
- Donkey Kong: Donkey Kong is Mario's friend. Despite Mario fighting Cranky Kong in the first game, he appears to be on good terms with Donkey Kong in various sport titles. Donkey Kong has helped out Mario and his friends in the Mario Party (series). However the two had to fight on multiple occasions, such as the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series, because Donkey Kong got angry and either kidnapped Mini-Marios or Pauline. But in the end, the two would make peace again. All in all, the two seem to develop a friendship, and yet friendly rivalry.
- Bowser: Bowser is Mario's arch-enemy, and the two are shown to fight in various games. Bowser often tries to take over the Mushroom Kingdom and kidnap Peach, but Mario stops at nothing to defeat him in order to set things right. Despite their heated rivalry, they team up to fight a common threat in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, and Super Paper Mario. Bowser also saved Mario from Wario and Waluigi in the end of Mario Super Sluggers, due to Bowser's desire to defeat Mario himself.
- Wario: Wario is Mario's rival. Their relationship started out to be violent in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins. Although their rivalry still can continue today such as Mario Super Sluggers, Wario became an ally to Mario in Super Mario 64 DS, etc. There are also rumors about the two being cousins, though this is unconfirmed.
- Waluigi: Waluigi and Mario don't interact with each other much. Waluigi does team up with Wario to defeat Mario, but however Waluig's main rival in Luigi
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 and Abilities
Superhuman Strength: Mario is able to lift and press objects that are several times his own weight. The exact upper limits of his strength in unknown, 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.
- Jump: 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.
- 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, in some games(eg. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, various sports installments, etc), control and manipulate fire and is usually associated with the element..
- Transformation: Mario can use Power-Ups to transform and gain new abilities such as flight and invincibility. For example, in Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mario can collect a Rock Mushroom to turn into Rock Mario and bowl over his enemies by using limited terrakinesis to gather enough rocks to become a large, indestructable boulder.
- Master Combatant: Mario has his own fighting style. However, he never uses it in his games, except in the Super Smash Bros. series.
- Enhanced Hammermanship: Mario can weild a hammer as a weapon and shows great proficiency with it.
- Leadership: Mario has proven many times to be a capable leader, inspiring others with his charisma, ardor 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 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!!. Mario also made a cameo along with Link and Yoshi at the end of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest.
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.
- In the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, Mario wore a red jumpsuit with a blue collar and blue long sleeves along with a red cap and mechanical jumping boots.
- 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 accent.
- 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.
- In Wreck-It Ralph, he was mentioned by Fix-It Felix Jr. He may appear in Wreck-It Ralph 2.
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