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Super Mario

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The Mario video game series of platform games by Nintendo, featuring the Mario brothers themselves, Nintendo's mascot Mario, and in most of the games, his brother Luigi.

Gameplay

Mario games are platformers. In the games, the player usually kills enemies by jumping on them. Power-ups such as fire flowers and super mushrooms power-up the player by allowing them to throw fireballs and grow big, respectively. The most common theme in the games is Bowser, the main antagonist of the series, kidnapping Princess Peach, whom the Mario brothers must save. The game's levels are usually divided into different worlds, each with a certain number of stages. These games undergo considerable changes as the series progresses, most notably in Super Mario World as a result of a change of gameplay to 16-bit on the SNES, as well as the introduction of Yoshi the dinosaur, and in Super Mario 64 with the introduction of 3D gameplay on the Nintendo 64.

Recurring gameplay elements

Question blocks above Mario in Super Mario Land 2

Question blocks originated as a digital artifact from the game Super Mario Bros.[1]. In that game and many of its sequels, question blocks contain either coins or power ups which can aid the player's progress.

A Super Mushroom

The Super Mushroom is a power-up from the Mario series of video games. It is, traditionally, about the size of "regular" Mario, and has a white stalk below a red and white (originally red and orange) spotted cap. Originally, it was shaped after a common mushroom, but since Super Mario Bros. 2 it gained a more cartoonish shape, with an almost-spheric cap and a stubby stalk. Shigeru Miyamoto stated in an interview that the Super Mushroom was created by chance. The first sketches of Mario turned out to be too big, for which they were forced to shrink them. Then the development team thought it would be interesting to have Mario grow and shrink by eating a magic mushroom.[2]

1-up Mushrooms are common items that appear in the games. These mushrooms have green caps with white spots (originally orange caps with green spots). When Mario picks up one of these mushrooms, he will be given an extra life.

A Fire Flower is a power-up from the Super Mario Bros. series of video games. It transforms Mario into Fire Mario. Fire Mario's trademark distinction is his mostly-white suit in many of the Mario game. Fire Mario has the ability to throw bouncing fireballs at enemies.

The Starman is a power-up from the Mario series of video games. It is a flashing star, traditionally about the size of "regular" Mario, that grants the player about 15 seconds of invincibility.

Games

Further information: [[:List of Mario games by year]]
  1. Donkey Kong (1981)
  2. Mario Bros. (1983)
  3. Super Mario Bros. (1985)
  4. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (1986)
  5. Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)
  6. Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988)
  7. Super Mario Land (1989)
  8. Super Mario World (1990)
  9. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992)
  10. Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (1994)
  11. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995)
  12. Super Mario 64 (1996)
  13. Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
  14. New Super Mario Bros. (2006)
  15. Super Mario Galaxy (2007)
File:Peach (smb1).jpeg
An appearance by Princess Peach (at the time, called "Princess Toadstool") in Super Mario Bros., in which she is rescued by Mario.

Mario first appeared in the video game Donkey Kong as a character named "Jumpman". The game was surprisingly successful.[3] Mario also starred in an arcade game called Mario Bros., and when the NES was released, Mario was given the starring role in the revolutionary Super Mario Bros.. Mario also starred in the NES puzzle game Wrecking Crew.

"Jumpman" was called "Mario" in certain promotional materials for the game's release overseas.[4][5] His namesake was Mario Segale, the landlord of Nintendo of America's office/warehouse, who barged in on a meeting to demand an overdue rent payment.[6][7]

Mario made his 3D debut in Super Mario 64

In Super Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi live in the Mushroom Kingdom where they must rescue Princess Toadstool from Bowser.

Mario later returned in Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3. In Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario and his companions are out to stop Wart. In Super Mario Bros. 3, he and Luigi track down Bowser and the Koopalings to save seven kingdoms and Princess Peach once again.

In Super Mario Land, Mario has to rescue a different princess named Daisy in Sarasaland from Tatanga the Alien. The sequel, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, introduced Mario's rival Wario, who takes over Mario's castle during the events of Super Mario Land and forces Mario to collect the six golden coins to reclaim his castle.

Mario reappears in various other platform games. In Super Mario World, Mario and Luigi have to save the princess from Bowser once again with the help of Yoshi, who serves as a dinosaur for Mario and Luigi to ride on. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island shows Mario's beginnings. As a child, he is being brought by a stork to his parents' home, along with Luigi. Kamek, foreseeing that the babies will cause Bowser trouble in the future, tries to kidnap them. He only manages to capture Luigi, forcing the stork to drop Mario towards Yoshi's Island. Mario is found by a group of Yoshi; they keep Mario safe from harm, rescue Luigi from Bowser, and return the two home.

A Mario game also accompanied the publication of Nintendo's next home console, the Nintendo 64. Super Mario 64 advanced the plumber into the third dimension and defined the term "3-D platform game". The game was not as linear as the previous installments, and the new Analog Stick made an extensive repertoire of precise movements in all directions possible. Mario could now not only run, jump, swim, and carry certain objects, but he could also punch, perform a Triple Jump, use a Wing Cap, and more. It is also the first game in the main Mario series to feature the voice acting of Charles Martinet for Mario. Mario must once again save Princess Peach from Bowser, and collect up to 120 Power Stars from the paintings and return them to her castle.

File:Supermariogalaxydemo1.JPG
Mario traveling from one planetoid to another in the latest game, Super Mario Galaxy.

In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario and Peach travel to Isle Delfino for a vacation. However, a Mario doppelgänger, having no color and a slight transparency, appears and vandalizes the entire island. With the help of FLUDD (and because Mario was sentenced to an indefinite number of hours of community service), it is up to Mario to clean up the entire island. The gameplay here is identical to that of its predecessor: from Delfino Plaza, Mario enters different worlds, in which he must master different tasks in order to receive a Shine Sprite. The largest innovation in this game is the FLUDD: By using different nozzles, Mario can not only spray water forward, but can also spray downward, rocket up into the air, and receive a boost of speed.

In New Super Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi have to save Peach once again from Bowser's youngest child, Bowser Jr.. This reuses elements and power-ups from almost all other platformers in the series, such as the Super Mushroom, while adding new ones like the Mega Mushroom.

In Super Mario Galaxy, the successor to Super Mario Sunshine, Mario must once again rescue the kidnapped princess, this time in the reaches of space. Because of the low gravity in space, it is now possible for Mario to jump higher than ever before, experiment with physics and new locations. This and other new movements are executed by the player with the Wii Remote.

Common elements of the Mario games are powerups. Mushrooms, for example, are an ubiquitous and iconic element of the series, frequently employed to change the character's size..[2]

Other appearances

File:Papermario.png
Mario as shown in the Paper Mario series.

Apart from the platform-games, the series has launched other games (usually on Nintendo's systems). After the relatively unknown Game & Watch title Mario Bombs Away, Mario's first non-platformer game was released in 1990. Dr. Mario's gameplay was similar to Tetris, which was later ported to nearly all of Nintendo's consoles. Mario later explored other genres. Two examples include the educational game Mario Paint, which appeared in 1992 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Mario Pinball Land for the Game Boy Advance. 1996's Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System marked Mario's first role-playing game. Since then, five role-playing games have followed: Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the Nintendo GameCube, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time for the Nintendo DS, and Super Paper Mario for the Wii.

Multiplayer games represent a more important sub-range of Mario games. The Mario Kart franchise began with 1992's Super Mario Kart for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and still continues to be the most successful and longest-running kart-racing franchise today, having sold over 30 million copies worldwide.[8][9][10][11][12] Also notable are sports games such as Mario Golf and Mario Tennis. In 1999, the Hudson game Mario Party was released for the Nintendo 64, a set of mini-games for up to four players, with the most recent incarnation being Mario Party DS, which was released in November 2007 in the U.S. for the Nintendo DS. 2005 saw the release of Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix by Konami, the soccer game Super Mario Strikers by Next Level Games, and the baseball game Mario Superstar Baseball by Namco. The basketball game Mario Hoops 3-on-3, published by Square-Enix, was released in 2006. In each game, Mario and other characters play against each other, nearly all of them being playable.

Remakes and re-releases

Main article: Super Mario remake series

The Super Mario Bros. series is also noted for having many of its games remade. Some games have also been remade in the Classic NES series.

  1. Super Mario Bros. — Vs. Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
  2. Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels — Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (as an unlockable game)
  3. Super Mario Bros. 2 — Super Mario Advance
  4. Super Mario Bros. 3 — Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
  5. Super Mario World — Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
  6. Super Mario 64 — Super Mario 64 DS

Note that all four NES games of the series were remade in a 4-in-1 package entitled Super Mario All-Stars, then a Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World package was released, including Super Mario World.

In addition, the aforementioned games have seen re-releases through Virtual Console, Mario Bros. has also been re-released through Virtual Console. The original versions of each game have been available for download.

Super Mario in other media

The Mario franchise also had a number of comics, manga and TV series based on the games of the series. The series launched two films, the animated Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen and the live-action film Super Mario Bros., that was considered a flop.

References

  1. ^ Posterchild Mario Question Blocks!
  2. ^ a b O'Connell, Patricia (November 7, 2005). "Meet Mario's Papa". BusinessWeek online. Retrieved 2005-11-26.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  3. ^ Nintendo Power, no. 61, Nintendo, June 1994 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ "The Arcade Flyer Archive - Video Game: Donkey Kong, Nintendo". Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  5. ^ "The Arcade Flyer Archive - Video Game: Donkey Kong, Nintendo". Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  6. ^ "10 Mario Fun Facts!". Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  7. ^ "History of Mario". Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  8. ^ "All Time Top 20 Best Selling Games". 2005-05-23. Archived from the original on 2006-02-21. Retrieved 2006-12-01.
  9. ^ "Japan vs. US Sales". IGN. 1999-11-30. Retrieved 2006-11-26.
  10. ^ "Japan Platinum Game Chart". The Magic Box. Retrieved 2006-11-26.
  11. ^ "Nintendo of America 2004 Annual Report" (PDF). 2004-03-31. p. 42. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  12. ^ Matt Casamassina (2007-07-25). "Nintendo Sales Update". IGN. Retrieved 2007-07-25.
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