Mario

**Mario** is a fictional character and protagonist from the highly successful *Mario* video game series created by Nintendo. Mario is perhaps the most recognizable video game character, and his likeness is well known across the world. Mario has been featured in over 200 games, a feature film, television programs, books, and merchandise.

## Physical Appearance

Mario is a short, rounded man of Italian descent. His face is rounded and of light tone. He has curvy black eyebrows, wide blue eyes, and a large nose. His most recognizable feature is his black bushy mustache, which sports a unique shape that contrasts the stereotypical Italian mustache. His head hair is short and clean, and is of a medium brown shade.

He wears a red long-sleeved shirt, blue overalls with yellow buttons, white gloves, and brown shoes. He also sports his iconic hat, which has been stamped with the letter "M" in his namesake.

## Role in *Super Mario 64*

Mario receives a letter from Princess Peach, who has seemingly baked a cake for Mario. Mario then heads to her castle, but he notices that nobody is there. Upon entering the castle, Mario realizes that Peach and her Toad servants have gone missing. Mario figures out that Bowser is behind the plot, and that he needs to collect the castle's missing Power Stars in order to rescue the Princess.

Throughout the course of the game, Mario visits many diverse worlds, with abstract and unique obstacles in each one. He collects increasing amounts of Power Stars, which allow him to access locked areas of the castle. He meets Bowser himself twice, before finally fighting him in a grand finale.

Upon Bowser's defeat, Mario will return to the castle and witness Peach and her toads’ safe return. Peach will thank Mario for his effort before giving him a kiss. The group will then head into the castle before the credits roll.

### Role in *Super Mario 64 DS*

In the DS edition, Mario is no longer the sole protagonist. He has been captured by Goomboss, whom the first playable protagonist, Yoshi, must defeat so that Mario can be freed. Mario himself performs the same as he did in the original game, and there are some exclusive missions for him; however, some missions require other characters to complete. Later in the game, Mario himself must be used to complete the game during the final Bowser battle, as Bowser refuses to fight anyone else.

In terms of skill, Mario is a unique character, as he is the only character that can perform the useful wall-jump move. Furthermore, the Wing Cap is exclusive to him in single-player mode.

## Behavior

Mario will follow the player's inputs as accurately as possible. He will do almost anything the player wants him to do, meaning that Mario would willingly jump into a bottomless pit or get himself hurt if the player desires.

Certain actions will be met with resistance, though. If Mario walks over to most edges and slowly makes his way off the edge, Mario will hang on to the ledge, allowing the player to either jump off or climb back up.

Certain materials will also complicate Mario's movement, namely ice and fire. Mario will tend to slide on the ice, which requires the player to make stronger inputs to control him. If Mario makes contact with lava or fire, he will scream in pain and run around. Mario is not completely uncontrollable, but he will tend to move in different directions at random before the fire dissipates.

### Idle Animation

Mario will go idle if the player does not make any inputs for a certain amount of time. This helpful video by pannenkoek2012/UncommentatedPannen shows his behavior in detail:

When Mario is standing still, he will repeatedly move his head in both directions. When he moves his head from left to right, this completes a cycle. After Mario completes a total of ten uninterrupted cycles (roughly 30 seconds), Mario will close his eyes halfway, yawn, and then sit down and fall asleep.

While it may seem simple, there are four conditions that must be met for Mario to fall asleep. Failing to meet all four will cause Mario to remain awake:

1. Mario's head must be doing the cycle.
2. Mario must not be in a "cold course".
3. Mario must be standing on stationary ground.
4. The floor height that is 60 units behind from Mario must be within 24 units of his height.

1: Mario must be standing still and his head must not be doing anything besides turning left and right. If Mario is standing in Toxic Gas (i.e in Hazy Maze Cave), he will cough. If he is trapped in quicksand (Shifting Sand Land), he will do a similar but separate animation, and lastly, when Mario is low on health (Health Meter is red), he will pant loudly and not turn his head at all.

2: The "cold courses" are Cool, Cool Mountain, Snowman's Land, and [[Wing Mario
Over the Rainbow]]. Mario will instead begin to shiver rather than fall asleep, and he won’t change the animation at all until he moves again.

3: Mario must be standing on something considered part of the world geometry. If he is standing on an object (i.e. A conveyor belt, an elevator, a cannon lid, or a log), then Mario simply won’t fall asleep.

4: Mario must have his back facing a floor that is within 24 units of his height. Units are very small in measurement, so the 60 units can be changed just by moving Mario a few feet. If Mario's back is towards a steep incline or cliff, he won’t fall asleep. This is because the falling asleep animation moves Mario back a bit, meaning he needs adequate space to sit down. The same thing will happen if Mario's back faces the out-of-bounds area, since there is no floor.

Eventually, after Mario has been sleeping long enough he will move himself so that he is laying completely in his side. During his sleep, Mario will utter various phrases, such as his desire for various pastas

Whenever the player makes any movement after Mario falls asleep, he will wake up.

## Controls

This section describes the ingame controls when playing as Mario in *Super Mario 64*.

### **Basic Movement**

##### **Walking/Running**

If the player moves the control stick  in a direction they want Mario to go, he will move into that direction at a speed equivalent to how hard the player moves the control stick.

If the player moves it slightly, Mario will slowly seak around, if they press it slightly more, he will casually walk. When it is pressed hard, Mario will run.

Pushing the control stick to another direction while Mario is running, will cause him take a swift turn to the left or right (depending on what direction he the player presses), run in circles or skid and turn around.

##### **Crouch/Crawling**

If the player presses the crouch button , Mario will go into a crouching position with his hands over his head.

If they keep it pressed and use the control stick  along with it, Mario will crawl around like a baby, which allows him to climb some steep slopes, he can't climb by walking or running normally.

##### **Swimming**

If Mario walks or falls into the water, he will float in it. Pushing the control stick  will make Mario face in the corresponding direction, but he won't move yet.

To swim, the player has to press the jump button

If the player keeps the jump button  pressed, Mario will swim slowly by wiggling with his legs. If the player continuously presses the jump button instead, Mario will swim by using his arms, which is faster.

When Mario is close to the surface and the control stick isn't being pressed into a direction that makes Mario face the water, he will make a small jump instead of swimming.

If the player presses the attack button  instead, Mario will attempt to grab whatever is in front of him.

Be careful as Mario's health will slowly deplete while he's submerged. Resurfacing before it runs out will save Mario, otherwise he will drown and lose a life.

As Mario's health meter doubles as his air meter ingame, the swimming feature can also be used to refill Mario's health. If he submerges for a short time and then goes back to the surface, his health will be refilled to its maximum, making taking a short dip into the water an alternative to collecting coins or using the spinning hearts.

### **Jumps**

##### **Basic Jumps**

Not only is Mario well known for jumping, there's also a jump-button ingame .

Pressing it while Mario is standing, sneaking, walking or running, will cause him to jump. Pressing it a second time shortly after the first time, will cause Mario to perform a second, higher jump.

If Mario presses it a third time, he will start over doing the first jump again, if he's standing, sneaking or walking. If he does this while running, he will do a really high jump.

##### **Advanced Jumping Techniques**

If Mario does his full turnaround while running and the player presses the jump button  Mario will do a backwards flip.

If Mario jumps towards a wall while doing his running jump or backwards flip and the player continuously presses the jump button while Mario is close to a wall, he will do walljumps, allowing him to reach higher areas, otherwise unavailable to him.

But be careful as the player needs to angle Mario properly, or he might jump away from the wall and fall down again, getting himself hurt once he lands or falling into the bottomless void, losing a life. (or ending up in any kind of other harmful place)

Later areas ingame require the player to use both the basic and the advanced jumping techniques, so be sure to practice them.

### **Attacks**

##### **Default (punching/kicking)**

If the player presses the attack button , Mario will punch and kick anything directly in front of him. When the player continuously presses the button, Mario will keep attacking, saying "Yah! Whoa! Huh!". After this triple combo, he will take a split second and then start over (if the player is still continuously pressing the button).

If Mario punches or kicks while he's in front of an indestructable object or a wall, he will receive a small knockback (by bouncing off) as he hits the object or wall.

##### **Jumping Kick**

If the player presses the jump button  and then presses the attack-button  while Mario is jumping, Mario will do a kick in mid-air.

This allows Mario to hit airborne enemies like the Fly Guy or kicking away the head (if well timed) or a spiked blob of a Pokey.

Mario can't change directions while he's kicking in mid-air and will end up free falling after doing the kick. From this point on, the player won't be able to do little more than slightly moving Mario into a desired direction by holding the control stick into that direction.

Mario can't attack or jump while free falling, but he can grab onto ledges in front of him. Keep in mind this only works if they are in front of Mario and he passes them at the right time. Otherwise he won't grab onto the ledge and will keep falling.

Mario can also use the jumping kick as an advanced jumping technique, that, if used with precice timing and rhythm, allows him to climb even steeper slopes than the baby crawling. This requires a lot of timing, but might save one or another of Mario's lives.

##### **Forward Charge**

If the player presses the jump button  and then presses the attack-button  and the control stick  forward while Mario is jumping, Mario will throw himself forward at a great speed.

If Mario hits a lesser foe while doing this, he will grab the foe and will hold it. This also works when trying to catch MIPS the rabbit, who is a harmless NPC that gives Mario a star.

Whenever Mario does the forward charge, he won't be able to change directions or grab onto ledges, so be careful when using it.

Chuckyas, King Bob-Omb and Bowser will still grab Mario if he forward charges into them head on, but if he gets them from behind, he will lift the Chuckya/King Bob-Omb or grab Bowser's tail.

Mario can also do the forward charge by running forward and pressing the attack-button while running, which will make Mario slide on the ground. This is especially useful against the aforementioned foes and when playing the racing courses to gain a head-start. But be careful as his faster speed will make Mario harder to control and racing thus more dangerous, as he will be more prone to falling off the race-track.

Mario can also use the Forward Charge to take out the head or a blob of a Pokey, but be careful not to slide into the Pokey, which will hurt Mario instead.

##### **Ground Pound**

If the player presses the jump button  and then presses the crouch button  Mario will do a ground pound, flattening enemies when he lands on them. This move is similar to the one from the Yoshis of Super Mario World 2 - Yoshi Island and seemingly based on the one from the older game.

##### **Breakdance Kick**

If the player presses the crouch button  keeps it pressed and uses the attack button  , Mario will do a breakdance kick, which has him holding himself up on his hands while doing a little dance while sitting in place.

This hits any ground enemy close to Mario and in a full 360° degree, but it has a very short range and deals little damage, so it's mainly useful when being cornered by Goombas.

#### **Buttons**

: Move Mario

: Jump

: Attack

: Crouch

: Move camera

: Zoom In

: Zoom Out

: Toggle Camera mode

: Pause the game

## Gallery

Mario as he appears in the Nintendo 64 version.Mario in a drowsy state.Mario making a victory sign after collecting a Power Star.Mario's modern design, which shows him using the Wing Cap.Metal Mario as he appears in *Super Mario 64*.Mario with wings.
## Trivia

* Mario will sit down and fall asleep if the player stays idle. See the Idle Animation section for more information.
* If Mario receives the maximum amount of stars, he can visit the castle roof and meet Yoshi in the *N64* version. In the *DS* version, he will find 1-Ups instead.
* Mario can use all special power-ups in *Super Mario 64*, but in the remake, he can only use the Wing Cap in single-player and float like a P-Balloon. Luigi is exclusive to the Vanish Cap, and Wario is exclusive to the Metal Cap. Yoshi doesn’t use a cap and instead breathes fire.