Mario

Mario is a fictional character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the video game franchise of the same name and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian plumber who resides in the Mushroom Kingdom, his adventures generally center on rescuing Princess Peach from the Koopa villain Bowser. Mario has access to a variety of power-ups that give him different abilities. Mario's fraternal twin brother is Luigi.

Mario first appeared as the player character of Donkey Kong (1981), a platform game. Miyamoto wanted to use Popeye as the protagonist, but when he could not achieve the licensing rights to do so, he created Mario instead. Miyamoto expected the character to be unpopular and planned to use him for cameo appearances; originally called "Mr. Video", he was renamed to Mario after Mario Segale. Mario's clothing and characteristics were themed after the setting of Donkey Kong. He then began to star in the Super Mario series of platform games, beginning with the critically acclaimed Super Mario Bros. in 1985. Since 1992 until 2023, Mario has been voiced by Charles Martinet.

After Super Mario Bros., Mario began to branch off to different genres. These include puzzle games such as Dr. Mario, role-playing games such as Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi, and sports games such as Mario Kart and Mario Tennis. He has appeared in other Nintendo properties, such as in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games. Mario has also appeared in various animations, including three series produced by DIC Entertainment, and was portrayed by Bob Hoskins in the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. film. He is voiced by Chris Pratt in the 2023 animated film adaptation The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Mario is near-unanimously considered to be the most famous character in the video game industry and an established pop culture icon. Mario's likeness has appeared in a variety of merchandise, such as clothing and collectible items, and people and places have been nicknamed after him. He has also inspired a considerable amount of unofficial media. With more than 750 million units sold worldwide, the overall Mario franchise is the bestselling video game franchise of all time.

Voices

 * Larry Moran (1981)
 * Peter Cullen (1983)
 * Leon Reeder (1983)
 * Tōru Furuya (1986-1998)
 * Lou Albano (1989)
 * Walker Boone (1990-1991)
 * Charles Martinet (1991-2023)
 * Takeshi Aono (1992-1993)
 * Steve Coyle (1992, 1997-1998)
 * Ronald B. Ruben (1992, 1995)
 * Nicholas Gleaser (1993)
 * Kōsei Tomita (1993-1994)
 * Marc Graue (1994)
 * Dale Johannes (1996, E3 puppet)
 * David Plaschon (1996)
 * Chris Pratt (2023)
 * Mamoru Miyano (2023)

Live-Action

 * Lou Albano (1989)
 * Bob Hoskins (1993)

Moon Silvight's ideas

 * While Mario doesn't appear in person, in the Nintendo Switch/Console versions of Disney vs. Capcom: Warriors of Weirdmageddon, Captain Jake would wear a Cosplay Costume that turns him into Mario himself and by extension, it can be applied into almost all of the other Playable Fighters who can turn into other familiar and recognizable faces from Nintendo as a whole. The exact same thing also applies to Nintendo Switch/Console versions of other kinds of video games that are made and published by Developers, Distributors and Publishers in between (both Big and Small) other than Nintendo as well. Mario himself even appears as one of the Memory Heart Cards to obtain alongside with not just his fellow Super Mario/Mario alumni along with the ones who came from the Mario franchise's spin-offs but also, with everyone else who came from the entire Nintendo Omniverse as a whole (series included, but not limited to are: Fire Emblem, The Legend of Zelda, F-Zero, Pokemon, Golden Sun, Earthbound/Mother, StarTropics, Star Fox, Excitebike, Kid Icarus, Splatoon, Custom Robo, ARMS, Rhythm Heaven and several others), all by itself.

Joint ideas

 * Mario appears in The Voice Comic Con, voiced again by Charles Martinet. In a episode, he performs a duet alongside Princess Peach, on which they perform the Italian song "Gli Ostacoli del Cuore" by Elisa and Ligabue.
 * Mario appears in Super Mario Infinity, voiced again by Martinet.