Mario Community

Mario is a fictional character created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto as Nintendo's mascot. He is arguably the most recognizable video game character of all time. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Though originally only appearing in platforming games, currently Mario appears in all types of games like racing games, puzzle games, role-playing games, fighting games, sports games, and many others.

Mario is depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom, where he is regarded as a hero; he is best known for constantly thwarting the plans of the evil King Bowser to kidnap Princess Peach and subjugate the Mushroom Kingdom. He is well known for his plucky personality, enthusiasm and spirit in the face of enemies, unexpected physical agility, cooperation with his brother, Luigi, and his close relationship with Princess Peach whom he has repeatedly saved. He has an evil doppelg�nger by the name of Wario.

As Nintendo's mascot, Mario is one of the most famous characters in video game history, and his image has become synonymous with video games. Mario games, as a whole, have sold more than 285 million units, making the Mario series the best-selling video game series of all time. Outside of the platformers with which he is traditionally associated, Mario has appeared in video games in different genres, including the Mario Kart racing series, Nintendo's arcade sports games (such as the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series), and Nintendo's series of Mario role-playing games (including Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Paper Mario, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Paper Mario, and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and its sequel, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time). Outside the original games, television shows, film and comics, he spawned a line of licensed merchandise.