Mario storyline

Mario's Origin: 1981-1988

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong is an arcade game created by Nintendo, released in 1981. The game introduced two of Nintendo's most important characters, Mario and Donkey Kong. The unusual name of the game is commonly believed to be due to a mistranslation of the Japanese for "monkey", but Shigeru Miyamoto actually intended for it to have this name. The "Kong" part is obvious , but the "Donkey" part represents "Stubborn". In the game, the player's character "Jumpman" must rescue his girlfriend. She was not called Pauline until the TV cartoon, and later the NES version; in this context, she is referred to as simply "the lady".

Mario Bros.

Mario Bros. is a classic arcade game made by Nintendo, released in 1983 as an arcade game and later ported to many home systems. It was a spin-off from the Donkey Kong series. It was the first game to feature Mario's name in the title. It was also the debut of Mario's brother, Luigi. Unlike in Donkey Kong, where he was a carpenter, in this game Mario became a plumber, exterminating pests who exit from pipes. The game's popularity declined following the release of Super Mario Bros.. Versions of the game are bundled with Super Mario Bros. 3. In addition, all four of the Super Mario Advance games, along with Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, also feature an enhanced remake of the Mario Bros. arcade game with increased graphics and more enemies, and are updated with character voices, increased color and graphics, new enemies, new bonuses and secrets, more difficult obstacles, and even some new abilities.

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. is a video game produced by Nintendo in 1985. Universally considered a classic of the medium, Super Mario Bros. was one of the first side-scrolling platform games of its kind, introducing players to huge, bright, expansive worlds that changed the way video games were created. Super Mario Bros. is one of the best-selling video games of all time, and was largely responsible for the initial success of the Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System. It has inspired countless imitators and was one of Shigeru Miyamoto's most influential early successes. The game gave Mario, a starring role. Mario, who became Nintendo's mascot, was at one time more recognizable among American children than Mickey Mouse.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is a sequel to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. It was first released in Japan on June 3, 1986 for the Famicom Disk System. The game is very similar to Super Mario Bros. both graphically and in terms of gameplay. It is generally considered to be the most difficult game in the NES Super Mario series.

Super Mario Bros. 2

Super Mario Bros. 2 is the name applied to two video games, both sequels to Super Mario Bros. The Japanese game was a followup to the original and featured the same style of gameplay and level design as the original, and was released in North America much later as part of the Super Mario All-Stars collection as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, and later as a bonus for the Game Boy Color's Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. The American game was a massive departure from the original's gameplay and style, and was eventually released in Japan as Super Mario USA in 1992, a year before All-Stars came out on the SNES. The reason for this difference is that the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is a remake of a different Japanese game, Doki Doki Panic. Neither the original Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 nor Doki Doki Panic were ever released in their original formats outside of Japan.

The New Mario Era: 1989-1996

Super Mario Land

Super Mario Land is Mario's first video game adventure for Game Boy. In this game Mario has to save Princess Daisy from Tatanga the Mysterious Spaceman. This game was made in 1989. The music was composed by Hirokazu 'Hip' Tanaka. Unlike all previous "Mario" games, Super Mario Land was not created by Shigeru Miyamoto. As a result, almost all of the characters, and settings introduced in this game have not reappeared in any subsequent games, although most of the items were taken directly from Super Mario Bros. Though a popular seller, the game is now generally regarded by many as being inferior to most other side-scrolling Mario games. This game deviates slightly from tradition as Mario's must save Princess Daisy, rather than Princess Toadstool.

Super Mario Bros. 3

Super Mario Bros. 3 was the last major Mario video game made for the Nintendo Family Computer and the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released on 1988 October 23 in Japan, 1990 February 12 in the United States of America, and 1991 August 29 in Europe. It was directed by Shigeru Miyamoto, and the music was composed by Koji Kondo. It features the first appearances of Bowser's children. Mario and Luigi have to save seven kingdoms of the Mushroom World from the Koopa Kids by recovering the magic wands that they stole from the seven kings, and also save Princess Toadstool from the clutches of King Bowser. Although widely regarded as being the best-selling video game of all time, the original Super Mario Bros. is actually the best-selling video game, at 40.23 million copies compared to Super Mario Bros. 3's 17.28 million. It is, however, the best-selling "standalone" video game, i.e., not bundled with a console.

Super Mario World

Super Mario World was the first launch game for the Nintendo Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System game consoles, and thereby the 16-bit console debut of Mario. It was first released on 1990 November 21 in Japan and in 1991 August in the United States. The game was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, the music was composed by Koji Kondo, and the graphics were designed by Shigefumi Hino.

Super Mario Land 2

Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is the second entry in the Super Mario Land series for the Game Boy. Like Super Mario Land before it, this game was not created by Shigeru Miyamoto. In Super Mario Land 2, Mario must get his castle back from Wario by finding six golden coins that Wario scattered throughout Mario Land. Super Mario Land 2 is the first game to feature Wario, who starred in the sequel, Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, beginning the Wario Land spin-off series and replacing Mario as the star in subsequent Mario-themed Game Boy platform games.

The visuals are greatly enhanced from those of Super Mario Land, approaching the style seen in Super Mario Bros. 3. Due to the advanced graphics, the game is susceptible to slow down in many places. In the Mario tradition, worlds from many different themes are featured. Super Mario Land 2 is regarded by some as the best Mario title for the Game Boy.

Super Mario Land 2 contains many other improvements over its predecessor: the player may now scroll the screen to the left, multiple powerups are available, levels are not linear by virtue of a map screen that permits the player to choose a level, and the game has battery backup saves. Hidden levels have been added too, another element that was missing in the first game.

Super Mario 64

Super Mario 64 is a video game for the Nintendo 64. It debuted in Japan on 1996 June 23, in the U.S. on 1996 September 29 and in Europe on 1997 March 1. Along with PilotWings 64, it was made available as a launch game for the console. As the Nintendo 64's flagship killer game, it drove initial sales of the console, and has sold over six million copies in total.

Super Mario 64 was the first 3D game in the Mario series, and though it was not the first-ever 3D platformer, it revolutionized and defined the genre, much as Super Mario Bros. defined the 2D sidescrolling platformer. Indeed, Super Mario 64 was considered so revolutionary that many consider it the benchmark for all later games in the genre.

In going from two to three dimensions, Super Mario 64 replaced the linear obstacle courses of traditional platform games with vast worlds set up with multiple and diverse missions, with an emphasis on exploration. While doing so, it managed nonetheless to preserve the feel of earlier Mario games, including many of their gameplay elements and characters. It is widely acclaimed by critics and players alike as one of the greatest video games of all time.

The Present Mario: 2002-2006

Super Mario Sunshine

Super Mario Sunshine is the latest platformer console title in the Mario series. It was released in Japan on 2002 July 19, ten months after the release of the GameCube. It is the first game on the Nintendo GameCube to exclusively feature Mario, though he appeared in Luigi's Mansion and Super Smash Bros. Melee. Super Mario Sunshine was one of the first GameCube games to become a Player's Choice title.

Main Characters

Mario

Mario, also known as Super Mario and originally Jumpman in Japan, is a video game character created by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. He is one of Nintendo's best-known characters, and is the best-known video game icon in history, appearing in hundreds of games, many of them bestsellers. Mario first appeared in the 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game, while Mario's brother Luigi first appeared in Mario Bros., the arcade game. The Mario franchise has, as of 2005 September, sold 184 million games, making it by far the biggest selling franchise in the history of video games.

Luigi

Luigi is Mario's younger brother from Nintendo video games. He first appeared in Mario Bros. as the character controlled by the second player, and his role as the second player's character continued in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. Fanon accepts his full name as Luigi Mario. Luigi's name was inspired by a pizza parlor near Nintendo of America's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, called Mario & Luigi's. His name also serves as a pun on the Japanese word ruiji, meaning "similar".

Wario

Wario is a fictional Nintendo video-game character who was created as an antagonist to Mario and has since become the protagonist of his own games. He first appeared in the 1992 video game Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as the main villain and final boss. He is voiced by Charles Martinet, who also voices the Mario, Luigi, and Waluigi characters.

The name "Wario" is Mario's name blended with the Japanese adjective warui meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad Mario". In English-speaking countries, the name is a play on the word "war" and on the fact that the letter W resembles an upside-down M. As Wario is Mario's evil counterpart, his personality, self-aggrandizing and narcissistic, are the inverse of Mario's, just as the first letter in Wario is the inverse of that in Mario.

Waluigi

Waluigi is a fictional character from the Mario series who appears in the spin-off games. He is Luigi's "evil" counterpart, Wario's possible brother and one of Wario's few friends. He first appeared in Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64. He was created by Camelot's Fumihide Aoki and is voiced by Charles Martinet, the same voice actor for Mario, Luigi, and Wario.

Yoshi

Yoshi is a species of fictional dinosaur from various Nintendo video games and, more commonly, the name of a specific member of that species. Yoshis have very long, sticky tongues, and can swallow almost anything, even things that are much larger than they are. Almost everything they swallow is transformed into an egg, which they can throw as a weapon. They prefer fruit, although they can and usually will eat other things, including living creatures. Even though they have teeth, these are rarely seen or used. While Yoshi himself is depicted as green, other Yoshis in general come in a variety of colors, much like how Birdo is usually portrayed pink, but is also shown in many other colors.

Minor Characters

Toad

Toad is a humanoid mushroom in games of the Super Mario Bros. series by Nintendo. Like many characters in Nintendo games related to Mario, Toad is both a unique character called "Toad" and a specimen of an entire, homonymous race. For instance, in Paper Mario, there is an entire race of Toads who live in Toad Town. Toads, the general collective name of the "Mushroom People" found in the Mushroom Kingdom, are a sapient, anthropomorphic mushroom race, with a peaceful, human-following monarchistic culture. Toad as a species is officially established in the English games as of Paper Mario. Prior to this, manuals called them "Mushroom People".

He and others like him made their debut in Super Mario Bros. Called merely "Mushroom Retainers" at the time, Toad didn't get his personal name until Super Mario Bros. 2. It is believed that his name originated from the word "toadstool." A folk etymology attests that Toad is simply a variation of the word "toadie", or loyal follower: Toad is viewed as a sort of son by Princess Peach and always her constant companion. He lives with the princess in her huge castle.

Princess Peach

Princess Peach is a fictional character in Nintendo's Mario video games series. Formerly called Princess Toadstool in the early English translations of the games, Peach is the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom with a multitude of Toad servants, and is Mario's apparent love interest. In North America, Peach is no longer regularly referred to as Princess Toadstool since Yoshi's Safari for the Super NES, although most players first discovered the change in Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64. The text in the Nintendo DS remake, Super Mario 64 DS, did occasionally use the retro moniker.

Peach first appeared in Super Mario Bros. and has since appeared in many subsequent games, where she is usually kidnapped by Bowser. She has also shown her fighting abilities in Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario RPG, Super Princess Peach and Super Smash Bros. Melee.

She also stars in her own game for the Nintendo DS entitled Super Princess Peach; the game has been released in Japan, and North American version will be released on 2006 February 27.

Bowser

Bowser, known in full as King Bowser Koopa, and known in Japan as Koopa or Kuppa, is a fictional turtle-like creature from Nintendo's Mario series, and is Mario and Luigi's arch-nemesis. Although Bowser has joined forces with the good guys in a few games, he never ceases to attempt to kidnap Peach and conquer the Mushroom Kingdom since his first appearance in Super Mario Bros. His first name may be Morton and his last name Bowser as one of his Koopa Kids' name is Morton Koopa Jr., but this is just a rumor. As the central villain of one of the world's most popular video game franchises, Bowser is one of the most recognizable video game villains ever.

In all of his various incarnations throughout the Super Mario Bros. series, he has been depicted as obsessed with Peach. Though he has repeatedly tried to kidnap her, Bowser has never declared what he plans to do with her once she's in his grasp, although the most likely theory is that Bowser is in love with Peach and wants to make her his wife. According to Mario Party Advance he "has the hots for Peach", and in Paper Mario, he talks affectionately to her in several scenes. Bower is depicted fairly consistantly as nasty, brutish, and not particularly bright, though still a bit of a sarcastic wit.

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