Mario

Mario is Nintendo's most successful and most popular character. Some of his most popular games include Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64, and the Mario Kart series. His first appearance was in Donkey Kong, where he was the protagonist. Mario was originally known as Jumpman.
Mario is also the most recognized video game character of all time. But besides being in video games, Mario has been in books, TV shows, and even a movie. He also has a brother named Luigi who is a plumber and went with Mario to the Mushroom Kingdom, and a rival named Wario.
===Creation===
Mario's first game was Donkey Kong. At first, he was known as Jumpman, but his name became Mario, from the first name of the Nintendo of America landlord, Mario Segali. In his first game, Mario had to climb up construction girders to save Pauline, his girlfriend, from Donkey Kong, a large monkey that threw barrels down at Mario to block his way. Donkey Kong was the first game with a "damsel in distress", and the first with cutscenes and a plot. It was just the beginning for Shigeru Miyamoto, who now creates the Mario series.
Donkey Kong's popularity lead to another game, Donkey Kong Jr., being created. This time, Mario had kidnapped Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong's son, had to rescue him. He could do so by finding keys to unlock each cage Donkey Kong was trapped in. The game was not as successful as Donkey Kong however.
Later, Mario Bros. was created. It introduced Luigi, Mario's brother. He was pretty much just a palette swap of Mario. In Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi had to get rid of pests in the sewers. They could do this by bumping the platform the enemies were on below, making them tumble over, and then going and kicking the enemies. One enemy was the Sidestepper, which may have been the idea for Koopa Troopas.
Sometime later, Donkey Kong 3 was released. Instead of Mario being in the game, Nintendo replaced him with Stanley. Because of that, it was the least popular Donkey Kong game. That showed Nintendo that even though Donkey Kong had been in the title, Mario made the Donkey Kong games successful. But, Mario would be even more successful with the release of the Famicom.
Category:Stubs
Category:Nintendo characters
Category:Characters from the Mario series
Category:Characters from the Super Smash Bros. series
Category:Characters from Super Smash Bros. Melee
Category:Characters from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Category:Protagonists