Mario (universe)

The Mario () universe refers to the series' collection of characters, stages, items, and properties that hail from Nintendo's expansive and hugely successful Mario video game franchise. The Mario universe is Nintendo's most lucrative franchise, and it is flat-out the most successful game franchise in global sales and in history. Mario himself is Nintendo's mascot and is considered the most well-known video game character in the world, and he and his many friends and nemesis have appeared in dozens-upon-dozens of Nintendo video games, many of them best-sellers and several of which are considered some of the greatest games ever released. Directly as a result from this, there are more Mario-themed characters, items, and properties to be found in the Super Smash Flash series than any other Nintendo franchise, not the least of which are eight distinctive playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Waluigi, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Wario. The Mario universe is so expansive, in fact, that the last three characters are considered stars of their own sub-universes: the universe, the universe, and the universe.
== Franchise description ==
Nintendo had an arcade game called Radar Scope that was successful in Japan but not very much so in the United States. The then Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi turned to the young game developer Shigeru Miyamoto and entrusted him with the development of a new game, which would be built from units of the Radar Scope game. Miyamoto came up with the game , the game that would be the debut for the characters Mario (then referred to as "Jumpman" but later named Mario by Nintendo of America's employees due to Mario's supposed resemblance to Nintendo of America's late landlord, Mario Segale) as the hero, the ape Donkey Kong as the enemy and the damsel-in-distress Pauline (initially referred to simply as "Lady"). Mario reappeared in under his proper name, and he appeared again along with his newly introduced brother Luigi in the 1983 arcade game , battling the turtle-like Shellcreepers and crab-like Sidesteppers as newly-introduced enemies.
It was not until the 1985 release of for the Famicom/NES that the Mario franchise exploded into international renown. A side-scrolling platformer developed by Shigeru Miyamoto to feature far more attractive gameplay, graphical, and audio elements than any game beforehand, Super Mario Bros. became a worldwide hit, holding the Guinness World Record for best-selling game of all time (40 million units) for over 20 years, cementing Nintendo as a world-renowned corporation by 1986, and single-handedly beginning a new era of video gaming that would evolve over many years to become what gaming is today. Super Mario Bros. introduced the Mushroom Kingdom as the fictional world that Mario and Luigi live in, and it introduced Princess Peach (originally called Princess Toadstool in her early appearances) as the new damsel-in-distress and Mario's love interest, as well as the evil King of the Koopas, Bowser, as the consistent series nemesis, along with many other Mario-related elements such as Super Mushrooms and Super Stars (then called Starmen) as power-up items, Goombas and Piranha Plants as enemies, Bowser's Castle as a location, and Toads, (known as a Mushroom Retainers in that game), among characters introduced.
The 8-bit NES-era that took place as a result of Super Mario Bros. featured several Mario follow-up games. The game's released exclusively in Japan for the Famicom Disk System in 1986, but it initially did not see a worldwide release due to its high difficuly and similarities to its predecessor. Instead, 1988's was modeled off a Japan-only side-scroller called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic and released in North America (with Europe receiving this version of the game as well a year later) and thereby introducing characters like Birdos, Bob-ombs and Shy Guys as mainstay Mario enemies. A more adequate sequel to Super Mario Bros. called was released in 1988 in Japan (and later for the rest of the world in the following years) and introduced more elements to the Mario franchise, such as suit upgrades like Raccoon Mario and major characters such as Boos or the Koopalings. The launch of the Game Boy in 1989 demanded the release of a Mario platformer with (the first game to not have involvement of series' creator Shigeru Miyamoto but rather his mentor, Gunpei Yokoi) and introduced a new setting, the country Sarasaland ruled by the tomboyish Princess Daisy. These games were massive successes as well. Then when it came time to release the SNES for the 16-bit era, Nintendo developed , once again a massively successful side-scrolling platformer. The game introduced Yoshi, a dinosaur that would serve forever afterward as Mario's mount and pet-like companion in subsequent Mario games, as well as a star of some of its own games, including the 1995 SNES sequel , which further introduced characters such as Baby Mario.
By this time, a sequel to Super Mario Land titled was released on Game Boy in 1992; it introduced an "evil counterpart" to Mario, the series anti-hero Wario, who would star as the main character in the following game, . Also by this time, Donkey Kong had successfully been integrated into his own series of games, starting with . Nintendo's next system was the Nintendo 64. The primary launch game was the seminal , the game to define the term "3D platformer" and therefore become one of the most influential games ever, contributing to the system's success and helping to permanently usher in an era of 3D gaming. Every Mario game released afterward, for pretty much whatever genre and system involved, would continue to conform to a generally high quality of design and would usually garner high-scoring reviews from the press, and the Mario franchise's appearances in the series, from 1999's up to 2018's , would not be any different.
With the arrival of the new millennium; the series continued to thrive with a new 3D platforming game called for the Nintendo GameCube in 2002, and a revival of the original 2D series began with for the Nintendo DS in 2006, which spawned three sequels/follow-ups, starting with in 2009 and culminating with both for Nintendo 3DS and for Wii U in 2012. The release of the highly acclaimed for Wii in 2007 started a new era of Mario platforming games which mix up elements from the 2D side-scrolling games in a 3D environment, this was further expanded for its sequel, , in 2010. The formula became more straightforward and linear with for Nintendo 3DS and its follow-up for Wii U. Years later, a series of level editor, platform games started with for Wii U in 2015 (released on time to commemorate the series' 30th anniversary) and was followed by for Nintendo Switch in 2019, with both games offering different level styles based on other Mario game such the original Super Mario Bros. or New Super Mario Bros. U while incorporating new gameplay elements not seen in the originals. In the in-between of these games, the very first Nintendo game and consequently the very first Mario game designed for mobile devices was released in 2016 with . Two years later, in 2018, was released for Nintendo Switch and saw the return to the more open, less linear, 3D environment-formula introduced in Super Mario 64. The most recent, original game in the series is , released in 2023 for the Nintendo Switch as well, and it is yet another reinvention of the traditional 2D Mario formula.
As a whole, the Mario franchise is essentially Nintendo's primary thematic tile set with which to create games of various genres that adhere to a colorful aesthetic. There have been a lot of games featuring Mario and his many cohorts and nemesis released regularly for the past three decades: a series of popular kart-racing games under the banner of ; a long-running series of multiplayer-based party games under the name; sub-series of Mario sports games such as Golf and Tennis, among other sports; role-playing games such as the and series; and of course, the Super Smash Bros. series of fighting games. Aside from the RPGs, however, the Mario games rarely feature long, emotionally involved story-lines to facilitate character development; the various characters and properties of the Mushroom Kingdom are generally meant to represent personalities in a game-like atmosphere rather than storybook characterization and plot progression.
== In the Super Smash Flash series ==
=== In Super Smash Flash ===
The Mario universe easily outnumbers every other universe represented in Super Smash Flash, perhaps not with playable characters, but it does with stages and items.
==== Characters ====
With two of the 28 fighters hailing directly from the Mushroom Kingdom, the Mario series easily outnumbers most of the one single-playable character series and equals many others. However, it is outnumbered by , , and even the in terms of character representation.
*: Himself a somewhat short, pudgy, and mustachioed man with a big nose and simplistic attire somewhat reminiscent of a plumber, with blue overalls, red cap, and white gloves as iconic features, Mario is the undisputed mascot of Nintendo and is the most well-known video game character in the world. He has appeared in many, many Nintendo games spanning a large variety of genres, such as platforming, kart racing, sports, and puzzle games, and in almost every appearance he is playable as the most balanced character of that game. He is made to be the most balanced character of the Super Smash Flash. roster, of which this is his first appearance in a fighting game, and new Smash players are encouraged to try out the game as him because of that.
*: Mario's younger, lankier brother in green rather than red has always been relegated to the role of Mario series co-star. In many Mario games where Luigi appears, he is a selectable alternative character to Mario, such as in the Mario Kart and Mario Party game series, while in some games like Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for GBA, the brothers are on equal terms in importance. There have even been instances where Luigi was the main star in Mario's place, such as in the GameCube puzzle-adventure game Luigi's Mansion where Luigi must use a vacuum-cleaner to suck up ghosts in a haunted mansion to rescue Mario. In Super Smash Flash, Luigi appears as an unlockable, alternative fighter to Mario, with his own unique quirks in his fighting style.
==== Common Enemies ====
The Mario series is one of two universes in SSF to feature a stage where a minor character appears as an obstacle, the other universe being the Sonic universe (Emerald Hill Zone e.v.).
*Flying Goomba: Known in other kind of media as Paragoomba, it is an upgraded version of the wimp Goomba, these sport wings and fly around in set of a character player, unlike in the Mario series, in where you stomp them removing it is wings, converting it into simple Goomba enemies. They are beaten once they are hit.
*Koopa Troopa: These turtle-like henchmen of Bowser's army retract into their shells when jumped upon, and while withdrawn the shells can either be kicked picked up or thrown at other enemies in many Mario platformers. A single hit is enough to defeat it, meaning its shell cannot be used as weapon in SSF.
==== Stages ====
The Mario universe, along the Super Smash Bros. universe, is the only franchise to feature in more than one stage in this game. Super Smash Flash features the following stages that are specifically Mario:
*Peach's Castle: The version of this Peach's Castle is very different to all and like Emerald Hill Zone and is a custom stage and never has appear in any of the original Super Smash Bros. It consist of a large plain with Peach's Castle in the background and a below little plain with a warp pipe and a pond of water. It is the largest stage in the game.
*: Based on the 's stage, it is a stage made up of 3 sections. There are two upper platforms on either side of the stage and one lower one in the middle. The center platform is actually 2 platforms connected by a log. There is a pit on either side of the middle platform. No small logs fall in the waterfall.
Additionally, there is an Adventure mode level called Super Mario World which is a replica of the level Yoshi's Island 2 from the game of the same name. It has the same structure, but the enemies are limited to those pointed above.
==== Items ====
*Bob-omb: A walking bomb (which does not walk in this game), that usually patrols around and explodes when it feels like in the Mario games, making it very dangerous to Mario to run into in his games. In some games, Bob-ombs can be picked up and thrown at an opponent as a volatile projectile; this is the style of Bob-omb usage featured in its appearance as an item.
*Fire Flower: A semi-sentient flower imbued with the power of fire. In many Mario platformers, Mario and Luigi can pick this up and gain the ability to launch fireballs from their hands. In Smash Flash, however, it is used more as a weapon that can be wielded to project a continuous stream of fire into the area in front of the wielder.
*Green Shell: Bowser's army of turtle underlings, called Koopa Troopas, come in several colors of these protective shells. Green-shelled Koopas often walk off the edges of platforms, and if jumped on by Mario, the Koopa will be ejected from its shell. The now-empty Green Shell can then be used as a weapon, either kicked at enemies or thrown at them. As a Smash item, it can be picked-up and thrown at enemies to do damage and often cause them to be sent flying a far distance.
=== In Super Smash Flash 2 ===
The Mario series once again returned in the reboot with new features. The Mario series is currently the most represented franchise in SSF2 with a combination of characters, items and stages. This is excluding the sub-series franchises. However, if included, the Mario series would be the biggest series in SSF2 without competition with having 12 stages and 7 characters in total.
==== Characters ====
The roster saw a huge addition in terms of Mario-centered characters, making five characters from the Mario franchise playable in SSF2, not counting any sub-franchises, in which case the total number is eight.
*: Mario was among one of the first four playable characters in the first demo. Mario underwent several redesigns until finally sticking with a design based on his look from . Aside completely expanding his moveset, Mario has also gained a Final Smash, an attack where he launches a barrage of two gigantic twin flames called the Mario Finale.
*: It took a while for Luigi to be confirmed. Like his twin brother, he appears with a revamped look based on his appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U along with having the same move set from said game.
*: Peach is a damsel-in-distress for Mario to rescue from Bowser's clutches in many Mario games. She is the princess who assumes lordship over the Mushroom Kingdom with her half-sized mushroom-headed servants named Toads. She became playable in demo v0.7. Her sprites are based on her appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
*: The King of the Koopas and Mario's arch-enemy, Bowser is often made to be a final boss in many Mario games, but also a playable guest in many spin-offs. Bowser is constantly trying to kidnap Princess Peach and take over the Mushroom Kingdom with his Koopa Troop. Bowser is among the bulkiest characters of the game. His moveset is mostly taken from Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with his sprite design based on the latter.
*: Waluigi is known to be Wario's partner ever since Waluigi made his first appearance in Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64 and was voiced by Charles Martinet ever since. He is personified as a comic relief character and a boastful, ill-tempered foil to Luigi. He has bad chemistry with most other characters besides Wario, and is an openly rude and mean-spirited troublemaker. He has a perpetual scowl and is quick to anger, with earlier bios stating that he dislikes others being happy.
==== Assist Trophies ====
*Bullet Bill: Bullet Bills are anthropomorphic, bullet-like projectiles with arms in the Mario World, they are shot out of Bill Blasters and fly in a straight line, hoping to get a clean shot at the red plumber.
*Hammer Bro: A species of Koopa that stand upright and throw hammers at passing by-standers. Hammer Bro starts throwing hammers in direction of opponents while also occasionally jumping.
*Lakitu & Spinies: A small Koopa minion of Bowser who rides a cloud, known for thrown Spinies at players. Lakitu soars over opponents and drops Spiny Eggs on them that eventually turn into Spines that start walking around, damaging them on contact.
==== Stages ====
As for now, 6 stages have been confirmed to appear while others are proposal only and have not been confirmed yet.
*Bowser's Castle: This stage takes elements from the final levels of the Super Mario games. Though a medium-sized stage, it is surrounded by damaging lava and players have to avoid the Thwomp that come and crush the levels of the platforms, causing them to come into contact with the lava below.
*Galaxy Tours: This stage tours players throughout various galaxies from Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. It mainly takes place on the Starship Mario and occasionally changes the layout to one of the aforementioned galaxies, including Good Egg Galaxy, Freezeflame Galaxy, and Toy Time Galaxy. Unlike in the original games' galaxies, the planetoids will not be affected by their own gravity, as players will fall normally.
*: A stage that was originally seen in the original . This stage is based on the settings from the overworld of Super Mario Bros. Battles mainly take place on two large platforms with a gap in-between. Balancing platforms are placed over them, but standing on one for too long will cause them to fall and temporarily disappear. The stage also features three soft platforms and a hard platform on the left side, and two pipes that players can use to travel back and forth from. A Piranha Plant may also appear from a pipe and will bite players it touches, but it will disappear if it takes enough damage.
*: A stage that was originally seen in Melee. This stage is based on the settings from the first world of Super Mario Bros. 2. Battles take place on three platforms, the middle of which is lower than the others and in-between two gaps. A Birdo will occasionally appear from one of the side platforms and shoot eggs in a straight line forward, attacking whoever they hit. A Pidgit will also occasionally appear riding on a magic carpet, which players can jump onto and ride until it eventually goes away.
*Mushroom Kingdom III: This stage is based on the settings from the first world of Super Mario Bros. 3, Grass Land. Battles mainly take place on the brick blocks that are found above a chasm; if they are attacked, they will get destroyed, but they will re-appear again after a short time. A P-Switch usually appears on one of the sides and if it gets pressed, it will cause all the brick blocks on-screen to disappear. While the blocks are gone, a moving platform will be the only way to "cross" the chasm.
*Princess Peach's Castle: Based off of Princess Peach's Castle from Super Smash Bros. Melee. Battles take place on the rooftops of Peach's Castle, which takes its incarnation from its appearances from Super Mario 64-onward. A Banzai Bill occasionally flies by and impacts with the middle tower, and after a while it explodes. Colored switches also appear, and when pressed, they will create ! blocks. When they're hit, they cause items to spawn and flying platforms to appear temporarily.
A whole new Adventure mode named as the place where the settings of many Mario game take place, appears as the first stage of this mode. It is divided in three sections, known so far; an overground section, and underground section and a larger Bowser's Castle.
==== Items ====
*Bob-omb: Returning from SSF, now with minor changes. If the player leaves it alone it will get up and walk around on its own. Once enough time has passed in Sudden Death, Bob-ombs start to fall from the sky in droves.
*Fire Flower: Returning from SSF, the Fire Flower now has its modern design and can only be used when standing still. It can also now be thrown to inflict flame damage to whoever it hits.
*Freezie: A new item hailing from Mario Bros. When it appears, it slides in one direction and will fall off the stage if not picked up in time. It can be hurled at an opponent to encase that opponent in a slab of ice, and he/she will be temporarily immobilized as you whale on him and pile on the damage without any knockback.
*Green Shell: Returning from SSF, now this shell has been improved to work like it does the Super Smash Bros. games, being touched in anyway will cause this shell to send it sliding along the ground. Green Shell can ricochet back the direction it is traveling if it bumps into a wall or is hit by an attack, so players must keep an eye on this item.
*Ice Flower: A new item. The Ice Flower first appeared in Super Mario Galaxy and has been a standard in 2D Mario games ever since New Super Mario Bros. Wii. When picked up, it would let the player fire short-ranged ice balls that would freeze any enemies they hit. As an item, it fires a stream of ice falls with a chance to freeze opponents they hit. It can also be thrown at an opponent, which is guaranteed to freeze them.
*Metal Box: A new item hailing from Super Mario 64. Once unlocked, hitting a Metal Box will drop a Metal Cap, which temporarily makes Mario completely made out of metal when picked up. This grants Mario complete invincibility at the cost of not being able to swim, instead only being able to walk on the floor underwater due to being heavier. The power-up returned in the remake Super Mario 64 DS, where only Wario is able to use it. In Melee, attacking a Metal Cap will make the player metallic, which makes them much heavier. While this makes opponents much harder to launch, they also fall much faster, making it much harder to recover back onto the stage.
*Poison Mushroom: A new item. After the release of Super Mario Bros., a direct sequel was released in Japan afterward that would later be released stateside as "The Lost Levels", part of the package for Super Mario All-Stars for the Super NES, and it featured mushrooms that looked similar to Super Mushrooms but would actually hurt Mario instead of make him bigger if he grabbed it. The Poison Mushroom is an item that looks like the Super Mushroom, but will cause the character that touches it to temporarily become tiny, and therefore much weaker and easier to KO.
*Red Shell: A new item. Red-shelled Koopas do not fall off the edge like the Green-shelled Koopas. They just turn around and go the other direction and, if jumped on by Mario, the Koopa will be ejected from its shell. The now-empty Red Shell can then be used as a weapon, either kicked at enemies or thrown at them. As a Smash item, when set in motion, the red shell will spin by itself on the ground and head towards the X-position of the nearest character on the stage for a short period of time, and characters hit by it will receive some damage and be knocked back.
*Spiny Shell: A new item from the Mario Kart series. Once thrown, it knocks everyone in its way then disappears off screen. It then comes back a few seconds later and blows up on the character that is currently leading the match, the player that, either, is the most point or lives. It will not backfire if it is thrown by the leading player.
*Super Mushroom: A new item based on the classic Super Mushroom power-up of many Mario games, starting from Super Mario Bros. onward. In many of its appearances, the Super Mushroom increases whoever grabs it in size and extends his life meter by 1. In Melee, touching it enlarges the character to make it bulkier and stronger for a duration of time. It looks nearly identical to its polar opposite, the Poison Mushroom, so if both items can appear in a match, it is hard for the player to tell what kind of mushroom it is when one of these two mushrooms appear, so grabbing it may be a risk.
*Super Star: A new item based on the classic Super Star power-up of many Mario games, starting from Super Mario Bros. onward. Picking one up in almost any Mario game it appears in will cause a recurring upbeat jingle to play and give the player temporary invincibility, which also lets the player defeat almost any enemy it makes contact with. In Super Smash Bros., touching it has almost exactly the same effect, granting the player temporary invincibility (omitting the ability to attack with it) as the same jingle plays over the music.
*Yellow Shell: A new item. Yellow-shelled Koopas tend to chase after Mario, but act like faster green-shelled Koopas in movement. When a Yoshi lands with a yellow shell in his mouth, sand clouds will surround him. This will cause the enemies to flip over and it will defeat all nearby grounded enemies. As an item, the yellow shell moves the same way as a green shell when thrown, but hitting a player with one, even the one throwing it, will bury the player for a short period of time.
== Media with elements appearing in the Super Smash Flash series ==
The Mario universe is among the most highly represented universes throughout the Super Smash Flash series, currently having a total of 44 games represented in some way.
Category:Super Smash Flash
Category:Super Smash Flash 2
Category:Super Smash Flash series
Category:Nintendo