A Brief History Of Mario



With the Release of the Limited Edition of Super Mario All-Stars, it is important to look back at the history of one of Video Games most well known figure. You will see a character who not only successfully has tried his hand at a great number of sports and driving, but has a series of wonderful games to his name. This is, of course, Mario. From his humble beginnings on the Nintendo Entertainment System, he has appeared on EVERY Nintendo Console (even the Virtual Boy), and been brought forward into the realm of 3D and out to the stars.



The Beginning in the 1980's

If you want to talk about Mario, you need to start with “Jump Man”. Who is that and what does he have to do with Mario? Before Mario was Mario, he appeared in the original arcade “Donkey Kong” as “Jump Man”, out to save Pauline, originally known as the Lady. This was his humble beginning before he even got a game of his own. In this game, Mario, is a carpenter with a pet ape, who mistreats it. The ape, Donkey Kong, then steals his girlfriend to get even. Good story huh? After that, he starred in his first game, “The Mario Bros.”, with his brother Luigi. Here is where the Mario brothers are established as Italian-American Plumbers in New York fighting Koopas beneath the city. This is also where Mario's full name of Mario Mario is established. That covers it for the very beginning of Mario's history.



The Super Mario Bros. Series

This is what put Mario onto the map in every regard. A three part series of games, Mario would work his way from one side of the stage to the other, dodging various enemies, pits and other hazards. The first game, more than any other was one that could eat your coins in the arcade and your free time at on the NES. It was hard. Taking each level at break neck speed, even with the warp zones was a testament to one's reflexes and skills. While most levels were very straight forward, it was the enemies, pits and other hazards that made the game. The last dungeon was perhaps the worst of all requiring you to hop through a particular section in a specific order to reach King Koopa. After that, Super Mario 2 introduced a wonderful world that was even harder in terms of difficulty but also introduced a character selection, which made it so you had to think about which character would be best for the up coming level. It turns out to be a dream, but it was still a fun game. Super Mario 3 though was what really set the bar high for many Mario games to come. With a level select and the freedom to move around from each level in no particular order (generally). It also introduced a number of different power ups that would become the norm for every Mario game after. Here we are also introduced to the Kooplings, who help Bowser in his conquest of the Mushroom Kingdom.



Moving to the Super Nintendo

The Super Nintendo saw a great upgrade in capability and whole new venues opened up for our plumber. Here, we are introduced to Yoshi, Mario's now faithful dinosaur companion. Again the kooplings and Bowser are causing trouble. It was one of the first console Mario games where you could revisit levels and were encouraged to do so. Yoshi took on a life of his own after this and got the sequel of Super Mario World focused around him (and his own series too). Here, the first of the Mario Rpgs was introduced, the Legend of the Seven Stars. It was a great time for Mario. It was also the first time the Super Mario All Stars compilation was released. It contained all the Mario games, graphically revamped for the Super Nintendo, from the Nintendo. This included the Japanese Super Mario Bros 2 (called the Lost Levels). In Japan, what is known in the US as Super Mario 2 is Super Mario USA. This was also when Mario really started to obviously branch out into other areas beyond just platforming. Here is where the famous “Mario Kart” series has its roots along with a number of sports games themed around Mario.



Mario Goes 3D

While Mario only got full adventure one game on the Nintendo 64, it was one that was quite good. Here, Mario again took the sky with his Wing cap and had various abilities thanks to different caps that he could find throughout the castle. This one took time and dedication to clear all the way, but it was usually worth it to do. For your efforts you got 100 lives and you got to meet Yoshi. While it was here we are introduced to one of the best Mario Karts, a few other games of note emerge (like Mario Tennis!) Mario saw no slacking here.



After the time with the N64, the Gamecube came out. Again, Mario went 3D for Super Mario Sunshine. This was also a time when we saw a number of Mario Spin-offs happen as well. While there were a number of fun Mario games, they were not part of the main story. This well established Mario in a number of different series and really made it so you knew that Mario could make just about any game good thanks to the fun mechanics.



Mario In Space!

When it came time for the Wii, Mario came along too. While he eventually returned to his roots with side scrolling platforming, he did put in some good time in outer space. This proved to be a challenging, though to some, a very dizzying and disorienting game. These were great games to play and something for the fans to really enjoy. Eventually we saw the return to 2d side scrolling, but much more so in the 2.5D style, with fully rendered 3D characters running on a 2D plane. This return marked something new, a return to a style at everyone loved as well as the first platforming Mario with 4 players.



Wrapping it up

With Mario, to even mention all of his games would take several days to write up properly. He has been involved in so many from the start. He is Nintendo's Mascot and arguably the most recognized video game character out there. This is a series that from the start had a captive audience and one that has managed to hold that audience quite well over all the years, platforms and different series that you could get Mario into. It is because of this success that Mario is who he is today, the world's most beloved Plumber.





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