Mario

**Mario** (**マリオ** *Mario,* **Mario**) (originally called **Mr. Video Game**, introduced as **Jumpman** and also called **Super Mario** or by his full name **Mario Mario**) is the titular protagonist of the long-running and highly successful Nintendo video game franchise of the same name. He is a mustached Italian plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario also sometimes rules his own land, Mario Land. Mario and his brother, Luigi, were originally designed as being plumbers from Brooklyn. Mario mainly fulfills the role of rescuing Princess Peach and other innocents from the clutches of power-hungry villains such as Bowser, the ever-persistent King of the Koopas, in Super Mario games. While not adventuring, Mario participates in a variety of parties, races, sporting events and even works as his alter-ego, Dr. Mario.

## Personality

Mario is known for being kind, cheerful, playful, daredevil, courageous, and headstrong and is also eager and cocky in certain occasions. Nintendo producers have stated that Mario's biography is kept simple in order to make the character versatile and reusable in many different games and situations. Mario is considered one of the most underdeveloped characters in the *Mario*franchise. Mario has proven himself to be a competent fighter, all-around sports player, and party lover in *Mario* spin-off titles.

Mario shows generally good sportsmanship, even complimenting his opponents, as shown in instances like *Mario Kart 8* and *Fortune Street*, as well as smiling if he loses in *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*. However, in other spin-offs, he is usually sad after a loss and sometimes sobs. For example, in *Mario Kart 64*, if Mario does not place on the podium, he is shown wiping a tear. In *Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour*, if he attains a Double Bogey, he throws a small fit. Finally, it has been said that Mario loves animals, especially the most unusual ones, and he also enjoys music, particularly opera or new-wave Europop, although there is no further comment for these statements. *Mario Strikers Charged* gives Mario a rock-n'-roll theme for his entrance and scoring animations and an orchestrated theme for his Super Ability. It is revealed that Mario can play the piano, guitar, synthesizer, timpani, xylophone, saxophone, and trumpet.

Mario has been shown on various occasions to have an almost overbearing attitude towards his brother, as displayed by certain cutscenes in *Mario Power Tennis*; this is shown most often in *Super Mario-kun*. However, this could also just be Mario's outgoing "big brother" personality interacting with Luigi's more introverted nature. Additionally, Mario is much more impulsive and aggressive than his brother, Luigi, and is willing to enter dangerous situations all alone. In *Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars*, Mallow even had to physically restrain Mario from brawling several times, such as before the battle with Bowyer, so that the heroes could figure out what exactly was happening to their world.

Mario has occasionally shown aggressive or vulgar tendencies throughout his appearances, but in a lighthearted and comic-relief manner. A notable exception to this is in *Super Mario Momotarō*, when Mario is seen holding a gun and aiming at Bowser, although to intimidate him. The title itself and the art style of the *Super Mario-kun* manga also depict Mario with a childish personality. "*Kun*" is a generally masculine Japanese honorific for juniors such as boys or teenagers.

In a virtual magazine for the Japan-exclusive Satellaview, Mario's vulgar and aggressive tendencies are exaggerated for the purpose of adult-oriented humor. Mario is shown smoking a cigarette and abusing his friends and love interest; he abuses Toad in particular often due to the latter's own perverse behavior in the magazine (or else for no reason at all), stomps on both Toad and Peach repeatedly for having oral sex behind Mario's back, and kills the former character with a gun.

The *Super Smash Bros.* series makes Mario a much more serious character in comparison to his typical playful depiction, whereas his younger brother is made into somewhat of a "comical and childish, yet depressive" character. This is evident in Mario's actions, since all of his attacks are "straightforward and serious," while his brother looks unwilling, hesitant, or too drowsy to be on the offense. Mario also keeps a straight face or firm expression when battling, unlike Luigi. Mario's other facial expressions are not wild or gloomy like his brother's, since he will appropriately smile during his side taunt and victory poses; appear surprised or shocked when grabbed, pummeled, or launched; or appear angry when hanging on to ledges or attacking. However, Mario's personality does not change drastically, since he is still a person who values fairness. This is evident in his losing animation, where he claps for his opponent with a smile. In Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary, Mario assumes a leadership role, since he makes it his job to unite the playable roster of *Brawl* to combat the evil Tabuu and the Subspace Army. Mario is friendly, since he is able to bond with most characters, including Kirby and Pit, and is very happy to cooperate with them. Mario, however, depending on how the game's story is followed, can witness witness Link and Yoshi defeating the False Peach (thinking she is the real Peach), causing him to try fighting them. In *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*, Mario is more whimsical and lighthearted during battle. One of his new taunts has him flash a thumbs-up.

Mario seems to have a fixation with food. This is most notably seen in the DiC cartoon trilogy, which may also be the origin of this trait, where Mario is almost constantly hungry and fascinated with Italian food (mostly pizza and pasta), typically wanting to stop Bowser's latest scheme simply so he can eat and going to nearly any length to do so. In fact, in the *The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!* episode "Koopenstein," when Princess Peach asked him if he ever thought about anything besides food, Mario, with pure honesty, replied, "What else is there?" As in *Super Mario 64* and its remake, the original reason Mario came to the castle is that Peach was baking him a cake, which becomes a recurring trend in future games, such as *Super Mario Galaxy 2* and *New Super Mario Bros. Wii*, although Mario, as well as his friends, has also fallen for false invitations to a big feast, shown in *Mario Party DS*. Mario also dreams of pasta when he falls asleep in *Super Mario 64*, in *Super Mario Odyssey*, and in the Game Over screen of *Mario vs. Donkey Kong*. In the opening of *Super Mario Sunshine*, Mario is apparently daydreaming about seafood. In *Fortune Street*, he offers Yoshi to help by finding Yoshi's cookies but before playfully saying, "Just give me a second to brush these cookie crumbs out of my mustache!" Quite a few characters in other games also advised Mario to refrain from eating much. For instance, when Mario holds on to Hootfor too long, Hoot may complain about Mario's eating habits before getting exhausted and letting him go. Additionally, the Star Temple gate from *Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time*, while praising Mario for his pure heart, has criticized his diet, advising him to limit the Alfredo sauce and carbonara in tandem with more exercising.

## Powers and abilities

#### Powers

* **Superhuman Strength** - Mario can lift and press objects that are several times his weight. The exact upper limits of his strength are unknown, but in *Super Mario World*, Mario can easily lift a castle, as shown after defeating Larry Koopa. In *Super Mario 64*, Mario is shown to lift King Bob-omb. He demonstrates his skill when fighting against Bowser.
* **Superhuman Leap and Jumping** - Mario's strength also extends to his legs, allowing him to perform his signature jumping. Mario is extremely good at jumping and is capable of leaping two stories high.
* **Superhuman Durability** - Mario can endure great impacts, such as falling from a height of several stories or being struck by an opponent with superhuman strength. Mario can also endure extreme environments, such as volcanoes and tundra. Also, he can withstand fire, electricity, and ice.
* **Superhuman Stamina** - Mario can maintain continuous physical activity for an indefinite time.
* **Superhuman Speed** - Mario is capable of running up walls in *Super Mario World*, and is capable of outpacing sound in *Super Paper Mario*. Koopa the Quick has referred to Mario as a "human blur".
* **Superhuman Reflexes and Agility** - Mario has shown himself time and time again to be very agile and nimble. This power allowed him to survive many dangerous situations that would kill a normal human.
* **Enhanced/Master Combatant** - Mario has his fighting style as shown in *Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars*.
* **Indomitable Will** - Mario is shown to have a powerful force of will, completely free of evil or temptation.
* **Weapon Proficiency** - Despite not usually using guns, Mario has shown that he is very skilled with weapons. In *Yoshi's Safari*, Mario has shown he is competent and skilled with guns.
* **Expert Vehicular Driver** - As shown in the Mario Kart series, Mario is skilled in driving vehicles, such as karts and motorbikes.
* **Dimension Flipping** - In *Super Paper Mario*, Mario can flip 3D after Bestovius grants the ability, but he will slowly lose a life if he stays 3D too long.
* **Pyrokinesis** - Mario can create and manipulate fire. This ability changes throughout the games he has appeared. In the platform games, such as *Super Mario Bros.*, Mario needs a Fire Flower to obtain this power. But in the RPGs, Super Smash Bros. series, and some of the sports titles, Mario already has this ability. Also, in the *Super Smash Bros.* series, Mario uses the Mario Finale, in which he unleashes a powerful blast of fire. In spinoffs, Mario is always associated with the element of fire.
* **Supernatural Survivability** - Mario constantly died in his games. Despite dying from hard injuries, Mario cheated death and returned to where he had left off.

### Abilities

* **Leadership** - Mario has proven to be a capable leader, inspiring others with his charisma, ardor, and idealism.
* **Olympic Competitor** - As shown in the *Mario & Sonic* series, Mario is good at all-around type.

## Trivia

* Mario's birthday is on October 11.
* Mario has had more playable appearances than any other character in video game history.
* According to the team name *Super Mario Bros.*, many among the fanbase had inferred that Mario and Luigi's last names were "Mario." Miyamoto states that this information is untrue before eventually going along with it, thus making "Mario" the brothers' canon surnames.
* In the classic games and in the DiC cartoons, Mario's attire consisted of a blue shirt with red overalls; this color scheme would later be inverted. However, the classic blue shirt and red overalls color scheme appears in a number of games as an alternate costume.
	+ Strangely enough, said color scheme is not available in *Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U* or *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*.
* Mario has always worn his signature cap, ever since he was a baby.
* Mario used to have a very low New York voice.
	+ In the *Mario & Luigi* series, neither Mario or Luigi talk with speech bubbles.
* Despite people assuming that Mario says "*So long, gay Bowser*" when throwing Bowser far in *Super Mario 64*, Charles Martinet has confirmed that Mario is, in fact, saying "*So long, king-a Bowser!*."
* Mario may be good spirited, but he's done some devious things, too. This includes cussing on promotional images for the Mario anime movie; "Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Save Princess Toadstool", smoking in the Japanese exclusive "Lilly Franky Theater", becoming waist naked in a fit of rage in a Mario manga. However, it could be argued that these examples are not canonical to the game series.
* In the first appearance from Donkey Kong in 1981, Jumpman was a carpenter. Then in his own game as Mario in 1983, he appears as a plumber throughout the rest of the *Super Mario*series.
* Through Mario's career, he was a rival of Sonic the Hedgehog from Sega. Their rivalry may have been the "cause of the Console Wars".
	+ Despite Nintendo being victorious, Sonic and Mario having been to the Olympics together since implies that Sega and Nintendo made up after the long battle.
* Many fans argue "when was Charles Martinet's first role as the plumber". Two common arguments are Mario's Game Gallery and an old Mario pinball machine.
* Mario, Luigi and Wario are the first three symbolic characters voiced by Kevin Afghani.