Mario

A newer version of this article is available: see Mario at Schools Wikipedia

Super Mario

Mario (Japanese: マリオ) is a video game character created by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo, supposedly named after the Italian warehouse manager, Mario Segali, at Nintendo of America.

Mario is the official mascot of the Nintendo Corporation, and is almost synonymous with the Nintendo brand. He first appeared in the video game Donkey Kong as Jumpman. The game was surprisingly successful, and when the Nintendo Entertainment System was released, Mario was given the starring role in the revolutionary Super Mario Brothers game. Shortly thereafter Mario took on role of mascot of Nintendo and has since been extensively merchandized.

Mario has appeared on television (in several cartoons), in comic books, and in a feature film where he was played by Bob Hoskins.

Mario's supporting characters include Luigi, Princess Peach Toadstool, Toad, Yoshi, and King Bowser Koopa among others.

Mario is an Italian-American man, born in the Mushroom Kingdom, and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. He wears red overalls and is a plumber, although he has experience in demolition, sanitation and cement work, and apparently is a physician of medicine. In Donkey Kong, Mario (then Jumpman) was a carpenter. He spends his leisure time eating, playing tennis and golf, and racing in his go-cart.

His surname, also Mario, first became known in the 1993 feature film Super Mario Bros. This was to explain how both Mario and his brother Luigi could both be known as the "Mario brothers".

The original Super Mario Brother series pioneered many concepts in modern video games, such as 1-ups and warp zones.

Table of contents

1 Games

1.1 1980s
1.2 1990s
1.3 2000s

Games

Over the years Mario and his brother, Luigi, have appeared in several popular video games, both their own and others. According to Nintendo, Mario has appeared in 67 games, and has sold a total of 170,000,000 copies of them as of December 17, 2003. Here is a brief chronological list:

1980s

Donkey Kong (1981, Arcade) - The first game to feature Mario, although at this point he is named Jumpman.
Donkey Kong Junior (1982, Arcade) - Mario is the bad guy in this one.
Mario's Cement Factory (1983)
Mario's Bombs Away (1983)
Mario Brothers (1983, Arcade) - Introduced Luigi, it featured 2-player simultaneous play.
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (1984, 1987, NES) - Mario is the referee.
Super Mario Bros
Super Mario Brothers (1985, NES) - First scrolling platformer. 32 KB of program; 8 KB of graphics.
(1986, Famicom) - Released initially in Japan on the Famicom Disk System, this used a slightly modified version of the original SMB engine with much harder levels. The "Lost Levels" title was created when this game was brought to the U.S. in Super Mario All Stars, without the "2".
Super Mario Brothers Special (1986) - A flick-screen version of Super Mario Brothers with all new levels, which was released for the NEC PC88 series.
Vs. Super Mario Brothers (Arcade) - A mixture of the original SMB and The Lost Levels that ran on the arcade VS Unisystem. Powerups and solution to mazes (e.g. 4-4) have been moved, and more enemies have been added thanks to new flicker-reduction programming, along with other bugfixes.
Tennis (1985, NES) - Mario was the referee.
Wrecking Crew (1985, NES) - Mario is the protagonist, but gameplay is unrelated to other Mario games. Many NES games featured Mario as a character, even though they game doesn't fit the theme of the series.
All Night Nippon Super Mario Brothers (1986) - Japan only.
Super Mario Brothers 2: Mario Madness (1988, NES) - Released initially in markets outside of Japan, this is a hack of a Japanese game called Doki Doki Panic with some of the graphics replaced by Mario-themed graphics. This game tends to be overlooked by some Mario fans as being the runt; however, some of the characters unique this game have now become staples of the Mario world, including POW! blocks, Bob-ombs, Snifits, and Shyguys.
Super Mario Bros 3 (1988, NES) - Mario gains several new abilities, including the first appearance of his ability to fly. Also of note is that this is the best selling video game of all time.
Alleyway (1989)
Tetris (1989, NES) - Mario appeared in some cut-scenes in the NES and Game Boy versions.
Super Mario Land (1989, Gameboy) - Game Boy game with tiny graphics; gameplay quite similar to SMB1.

1990s

Qix (1990, Gameboy) - Mario appeared in cut-scenes.
Dr. Mario (1990, NES & Gameboy) - Puzzle game with mechanics similar to Tetris and Columns.
F-1 Race (1990)
Mario the Juggler (1991)
Super Mario World
Super Mario World (1991, SNES) - Mario's first Super NES game
Mario Teaches Typing (1991) - Computer only.
NES Open Tournament Golf (1991)
- Computer only.
Super Mario USA (1992) - Japanese release of Super Mario Bros. 2: Mario Madness.
Lazer Blazer (1992)
Super Mario Kart (1992, SNES) - Go-kart racing.
(1992, Gameboy) - Mario faces ones of his rivals, Wario, for the first time.
Mario Is Missing! (1993, SNES) - Luigi must fight his way through 15 geography lessons to save Mario.
Mario's Time Machine (1993, SNES) - Mario must fight his way through 15 history lessons.
Super Mario All Stars (1993, SNES) (in Japan, Super Mario Collection) - collection of original SMB, both SMB2 games, and SMB3, with enhanced graphics and sound.
(1995) - Mario appeared only in the ending cut-scene.
(1995, SNES) - The player controls Yoshi rather than Mario, and carries a baby Mario around on his back.
Mario's Tennis (1995, Virtual Boy) - pack-in for Virtual Boy
Mario's Super Picross (1995, Super Famicom) - Japan only.
Undake30 Same Game (1995) - Japan only.
Mario Excite Bike (1995) - Japan only.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (1996, SNES) - The first RPG to feature Mario. It used prerendered graphics to appear to be 3D.
Super Mario 64 (1996, Nintendo 64) - First Mario platform game for the Nintendo 64. Also Mario's first appearance in true 3D.
Mario Kart 64 (1996, Nintendo 64)
Kirby's Super Star (1996, SNES)
Mario's Picross 2 (1996) - Japan only.
Wrecking Crew '98 (1998, Super Famicom) - Japan only.
Mario Party (1998, Nintendo 64) - noted for lawsuit over "roto-torture" levels that caused damage to players' hands; Nintendo had to provide free padded gloves.
Super Mario Brothers DX (1999, Gameboy Color) - Game Boy Color port of original SMB; contains extra goals, Game Boy Printer pictures, and a hidden SMB2:LL.
Mario Golf (1999)
Mario Tennis (1999, Nintendo 64) - for N64 and GBC; not related to VB game
Super Smash Brothers (1999, Nintendo 64)
Mario Party 2 (1999, Nintendo 64)

2000s

Paper Mario (2000, Nintendo 64) - Mario's 2nd RPG, this time in true 3D, but with 2D characters.
Mario Party 3 (2000, Nintendo 64) - noted for confusion between Mario Party 3's box art and that of the original Mario Party; the original had a die showing a number 3 below the word "PARTY" on the box. Also noted for same initials as MPEG audio layer 3 audio layer 3, as the press release points out.
Donkey Kong 64 (1999, Nintendo 64) - Mario (AKA Jumpman) appears in the original Donkey Kong standup arcade console in the area called Frantic Factory.
Super Mario Advance (2001, Gameboy Advance) - pixel-perfect port of SMB2:MM from SMA*S, plus an upgrade of the original Mario Brothers.
(2001, Gameboy Advance) - Slight update of SMW for the Gameboy Advance, with voices added in for Mario and Luigi.
Luigi's Mansion (2001, Gamecube) - Mario is the man you must save in this "ghostbusteresque" title.
Super Smash Brothers Melee (2001) - largely a facelift of SSB with a new Final Fight-style side-scrolling brawler
Super Mario Sunshine (2002, Gamecube) - First Mario platform game for Nintendo's Gamecube
Mario Party 4
(2002, Gameboy Advance) - Slight update of SMW2:YI for the Gameboy Advance, with voice added in for Yoshi and extra levels.
(2003, Gameboy Advance) - Update of SMB3, with new levels and items to unlock with the use of the Card eReader.
Mario Party 5 (2003, Gamecube)
(2003, Gamecube) New features include 2-drivers system, and the support of 16 players playing at the same time, using Gamecube's LAN feature.
(2003, Gameboy Advance) - Mario's third RPG.

In Super Smash Bros and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mario is a balanced character (as he is in many games featuring other playable choices). He is said to "reflect the actual skills of the player", according to the Super Smash Bros. Melee "Smash" character trophy description. His trademark move is the fireball. His fireballs are affected by gravity (unlike Luigi's fireballs). Also, Mario's fireballs are red in color, whereas Luigi's are green.

There are ten trophies of him in the game: three Mario ones, three Dr. Mario ones, one as he appeared in Paper Mario, one Racoon Mario, one Metal Mario, and one Baby Mario.

In , his weapon is the fireball. In Super Mario Kart, the computer controlled Mario has unlimited invincibility. In Super Mario Brothers 2, Mario is an average jumper and second only to Toad in carrying capacity.

Super Mario is also a nickname for Mario Monti, as well as for Mario Lemieux.