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Mario

From Sonic Retro

Revision as of 17:48, 18 March 2006 by Ss is testing (talk | contribs)

Nintendo's mascot, a fat Italian plumber (originally a carpenter) from Brooklyn. 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's landlord.

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.

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 Genesis and the SNES. Many fan movies have a "Sonic versus Mario" theme because of this. Mario is often seen as the opposite of Sonic, despite both sharing similiarities 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. However, nothing of the sort has been announced, and with Nintendo preparing themselves for a new console generation and Sonic Team working on the next Sonic game, it seems unlikely that we will see an official crossover in the near future. This has not stopped hundreds of rumours, fan games and discussions about the two characters, however.