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Mario

From Sonic Retro

Revision as of 16:53, 18 June 2009 by MathUser (talk | contribs)
It's a me, Mario!

Mario is Nintendo's mascot, a fat Italian plumber (originally a carpenter) from Brooklyn. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and quickly became extremely popular.

He is easily one of the most recognised video game icons of all time, particularly in Japan, but in recent years his popularity has diminished slightly due to new competitors in the video game market, specifically Sony and Microsoft.

History

He debuted in the game "Donkey Kong" with the name "Jumpman." He had to rescue his girlfriend Pauline from the clutches of an evil, gigantic ape (DK). He was supposedly named after Nintendo of America's landlord, to whom he bore a striking resemblance. The preceding games usually involved him saving Princess Peach, and the Hollywood movie based on the game followed this theme, but used Princess Daisy instead.

Mario and Sonic both experienced the peaks of their careers at the same time, and as a result they were seen as fierce rivals and are often used to represent each company in the battle between the Sega Mega Drive and the SNES. Mario is often seen as the opposite of Sonic, despite both sharing similarities in their playing styles.

After SEGA gave up on creating consoles, Yuji Naka and Shigeru Miyamoto have both expressed an interest in creating games together, including the possibility of a game with both Sonic and Mario in it. The two earliest Mario and Sonic games were Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, which was published by Nintendo in Japan and Sega elsewhere to tie in with the Beijing Olympics of that summer. The other is Super Smash Bros Brawl. A third title, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, is currently in development for release before the Vancouver Winter Olympics of 2010.