Mario

**Mario** (マリオ, *Mario*) is a video game character and Nintendo's primary mascot. He has appeared in many games of all genres and he is one of the most recognized characters in the video games industry. He is the main protagonist of the *Mario* series. With the help of his younger brother Luigi, and friend, Yoshi, he protects the Mushroom Kingdom from evil forces, such as Bowser, and primarily rescues Princess Peach in the series. He appears in *Super Smash Bros. Tussle* as a playable character.

## Character description

Years before video gaming exploded into mainstream popularity, prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto designed the original arcade game *Donkey Kong* in 1981, debuting Mario as the main playable character and Donkey Kong as his in-game nemesis. Mario's character design was heavily influenced by the extreme technical limitations of digital games at the time; as a small batch of pixels, Mario was given a mustache under his big nose to show he had a face, and suspenders with his shirt to show a distinction between his arms and body. In this game Mario was originally known as "Jumpman" in the initial Japanese release, and he was portrayed as a carpenter whose girlfriend Pauline (originally "Lady" in Japan) was held captive by the colossal ape Donkey Kong, and must jump his way over the barrels and flames DK throws at him to rescue Pauline.

After his initial appearance in this pioneering game, the sequel *Donkey Kong Junior* introduced Mario (under his proper name for the first time in Japan) and was identified as of Italian ethnicity by Nintendo's president Hiroshi Yamauchi; Mario was named as such because of his comical resemblance to Nintendo of America's landlord Mario Segale. Then Mario and his newly introduced brother Luigi starred in the 1983 arcade game *Mario Bros.* as plumbers.

Miyamoto's next game was the world-famous *Super Mario Bros.* for the Famicom/NES, the game that singlehandedly brought video gaming into the mainstream and made Nintendo a major company in a now major industry. Many iconic aspects of Mario and his franchise were established; Mario and Luigi now live in the Mushroom Kingdom ruled under Princess "Peach" Toadstool and her mushroom-retaining Toad servants, and the King Bowser (Koopa in Japan) kidnaps the princess for Mario to rescue, and Mario must bound across side-scrolling platform stages to rescue her, jumping on the heads of common enemies like Goombas and Koopa Troopas to defeat them. He starts out tiny but can grow to double his size if he grabs a Super Mushroom powerup, gain the ability to shoot out fireballs by grabbing a Fire Flower, and can turn invincible for a short period of time by grabbing a Starman. *Super Mario Bros.* became a franchise with these elements, lasered into video game iconography, consistent in future games in the *Mario* series.

For over twenty years afterward, Mario would star in many, many games for Nintendo systems. Mario and his accompanying franchise can be viewed as Nintendo's thematic tileset with which to create games of a whimsical, colorful, and light-hearted nature. Mario himself is meant to be a character anyone can enjoy playing as, and can fit well as a protagonist figure and/or main balanced character in many genres of games; to this end he is not portrayed as a character that undergoes development like what you would see with a character in an epic RPG's story. He in fact is rarely depicted speaking coherent English sentences. In contemporary Mario games, his high-pitched Italian voice, provided by Charles Martinet, is used mainly for grunts and yells, and the occasional catchphrase ("Mama-mia!", "It's-a-me, Mario!", "Let's-a-go!"). As a semi-silent, optimistic protagonist, Mario is inherently easy for players of his various games to appreciate, and he is ideally the most balanced selectable character in any game he appears in.
Genres of games in which Mario appears in a playable role include the traditional 2D side-scrolling platformer, including various sequels to Super Mario Bros., the seminal Super NES launch platformer *Super Mario World* which introduced Yoshi as a mount of sorts for Mario, and the DS and Wii "new" versions to these games in the form of *New Super Mario Bros.*, *New Super Mario Bros. Wii*, *New Super Mario Bros. 2* and *New Super Mario Bros. U*; 3D platforming adventures such as the especially seminal *Super Mario 64* 3D platforming adventure game launching for the Nintendo 64, which is one of the most influential and best-reviewed games ever, followed up by *Super Mario Sunshine* for GameCube, *Super Mario Galaxy* and *Super Mario Galaxy 2* for Wii; *Super Mario 3D Land* for the Nintendo 3DS and *Super Mario 3D World* for the Wii U; the *Mario Kart* series of power-up and obstacle course-based racing games; a long-running series of multiplayer-based party games named *Mario Party*; various series of Mario-themed Sports titles such as *Mario Golf*, *Mario Tennis*, *Mario Football* and *Mario Baseball*; hands-on RPGs such as *Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door* for GameCube and *Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story* for the Nintendo DS; and a puzzle game named *Dr. Mario*, where Mario in the garb of a medicine man throws pills into a bottle to combat viruses. Throughout a lot of these games have been appearances by a baby version of himself as well, named Baby Mario, who's often treated as a separate character. Outside of his own series and spin-offs, he made appearances as a playable character in the 4 installments of the *Super Smash Bros.* series, Olympic sport games along with Sonic, etc.

## In *Super Smash Bros. Tussle*

Mario is a playable default fighter in Super Smash Bros. Tussle. Mario is an overall balanced character, and the majority of his attacks are fire-based, except for his down b move, F.L.U.D.D.

Due to being overly balanced, Mario ranks very low on the tier list of this game.