"Donkey Kong (character) Donkey Kong is a fictional character who appears in games belonging to the ""Donkey Kong"" and ""Mario"" video game franchises. He is a gorilla and is Mario's former nemesis. A popular character, he has appeared in many video games. He has a nephew named Diddy Kong. Donkey Kong was Mario's first opponent in the game of the same name, Nintendo's popular 1981 arcade game, ""Donkey Kong"". Since then he has starred in his own series of games, starting with 1994's ""Donkey Kong Country"" for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and remains an important character in the ""Mario"""
"Super Mario The ""Super Mario"" games follow Mario's adventures, typically in the fictional Mushroom Kingdom with Mario as the player character. He is often joined by his brother, Luigi, and occasionally by other members of the ""Mario"" cast. As in platform video games, the player runs and jumps across platforms and atop enemies in themed levels. The games have simple plots, typically with Mario rescuing the kidnapped Princess Peach from the primary antagonist, Bowser. The first title in the series, ""Super Mario Bros."", released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, established gameplay concepts and elements prevalent in nearly"
"As Nintendo's primary mascot, Mario is widely considered to be the most famous video game character in history, and has been called an icon of the gaming industry. The ""Mario"" series of video games has sold more than 510 million copies, making it the best-selling video game franchise. Mario was one of the first video game character inductees at the Walk of Game in 2005, alongside Link and Sonic the Hedgehog. Mario was the first video game character to be honored with a wax figure in the Hollywood Wax Museum in 2003. In the 1990s, a national survey found that"
"Luigi Luigi first appeared in the 1983 arcade game ""Mario Bros."" as the character controlled by the second player, and retained this role in ""Super Mario Bros."", ""Super Mario Bros. 3"", ""Super Mario World"", and other titles. The first game where he was available as a primary character was ""Super Mario Bros. 2"". In more recent appearances, Luigi's role became increasingly restricted to spinoffs such as the ""Mario Party"" and ""Mario Kart"" series, though he has been featured in a starring role on three occasions: first in the 1991 educational game ""Mario Is Missing!"", in ""Luigi's Mansion"" for the GameCube"
"Mario"". In the sequel """", he appears yet again as a non-playable character, going on a separate adventure from Mario's. ""Super Paper Mario"" features him as a playable character after he is initially brainwashed into working for the antagonist under the name ""Mr. L."" The ""Mario & Luigi"" series features Luigi as a main protagonist; the events of the games focus on him and his brother Mario. He has appeared in all five ""Mario & Luigi"" games. Luigi made his animated debut in the 1986 film """". In the film, he was voiced by Yū Mizushima and had a different"
"Mario Characters"". In November 1998, the duo of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik started ""Penny Arcade"", a comic Nich Maragos from ""1UP.com"" described as the ""most popular, the most lucrative, and the most influential"" video game webcomics, and by Mike Meginnis as ""one of the most commonly emulated comics out there."" ""Penny Arcade"" also proved to be a huge player in fields outside of webcomics in the early 2000s. In 2003, Holkins and Krahulik founded Child's Play, a charity that managed to raise over $100,000 USD in its first year, which it used for donating toys for the Seattle Children's"
"consists of five games: checkers, Go Fish, dominoes, backgammon, and ""yacht"", a version of Yahtzee. In these games, players face off against Mario. The games all play similarly to their real world counterparts, featuring pieces based on the ""Mario"" universe. ""Mario's Game Gallery"" is the first game in the series to feature Charles Martinet as Mario's voice actor, who has now since gone on to always act as Mario's voice actor in every single game that always gives Mario a voice since. ""Mario's Game Gallery"" was published by Interplay Entertainment Corp. and developed by Presage Software, Inc. for the PC."
"Mario With more than 500 million units sold worldwide, the overall ""Mario"" franchise is the best-selling video game franchise of all time. Outside of the ""Super Mario"" platform series, other ""Mario"" genres include the ""Mario Kart"" racing series, sports games such as the ""Mario Tennis"" and ""Mario Golf"" series, role-playing games such as ""Mario & Luigi"", ""Super Mario RPG"" and ""Paper Mario"", and educational games such as ""Mario Is Missing!"", ""Mario's Time Machine"" and ""Mario Teaches Typing"". The franchise has branched into several media, including television shows, film, comics, and licensed merchandise. Since 1990, Mario has been voiced by Charles"
"in 2003 for """". In 2012 after Charles Martinet voiced Mario declaring himself ""Mario Mario"" at the San Diego Comic-Con the next month Satoru Iwata said he had no last name, which Shigeru Miyamoto agreed with the month after. Two months after Iwata's death in July 2015, Miyamoto changed his stance September 2015 at the Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary festival, asserting that his name was indeed Mario Mario. Mario debuted as ""Jumpman"" in the arcade game ""Donkey Kong"" on July 9, 1981. He is shown to be a carpenter and has a pet ape called Donkey Kong. The carpenter"
"developed for non-Nintendo hardware. (stylized as ""D℞. Mario"") is a series of arcade-style action puzzle video game originally developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, and later developed by Arika and produced by Nintendo Software Planning & Development. The first in the series, ""Dr. Mario"", was launched in 1990 on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy to critical and commercial success. In the ""Dr. Mario"" series, the player character Mario, who assumes the role of a doctor, is tasked with eradicating deadly viruses. The player's objective is to destroy the viruses populating the on-screen playing field by using falling"
"game appearances, Mario has made guest appearances in non-""Mario"" games, such as ""Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!"", where Mario is a referee. Mario appears as a playable character in ""NBA Street V3"" and ""SSX on Tour"". He makes countless cameo appearances in many forms in many games, such as portraits and statues in """", """", and """". The first appearance of Mario in other media than games was ""Saturday Supercade"", an animated television series produced by Ruby-Spears Productions in 1983. Each episode was composed of several shorter segments featuring video game characters from the golden age of video arcade games. Mario (voiced"
"featuring ""Mario"" series characters in which 4 human- or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. There have been numerous sports games in the ""Mario"" franchise. The first appearances of Mario in tennis games were as a referee in ""Tennis"" for the NES and Game Boy. These games did not use the ""Mario"" branding and only featured Mario in the capacity of a cameo. He then appeared in ""Mario's Tennis"" for the Virtual Boy. After this, Camelot Software released ""Mario Tennis"" for the Nintendo 64. They would subsequently develop other games in this series: ""Mario Power Tennis"""
"Mario's Game Gallery Mario's Game Gallery is a compilation of games published by Interplay Productions and developed by Presage Software, Inc. for DOS, Windows and Macintosh. It was released in 1995 in the United States. It was later re-released as ""Mario's FUNdamentals"" for Macintosh in 1996, and for Windows in January 1997, though it was published by Mindscape for the DOS and Windows versions and by Stepping Stone for the Macintosh version. It was also developed by Brainstorm Entertainment. ""Mario's Game Gallery"" is also notable for being the debut of Charles Martinet as the voice actor for Mario. The game"
"""Mario"" games ""Yoshi's Safari"", ""Mario Is Missing!"", and ""Hotel Mario"", released from 1992 to 1994 on various platforms. They then appeared in the 2003 Game Boy Advance video game """", where they served as bosses in Bowser's Castle, the last area of the game. They were supposed to be included in the Nintendo DS game ""Super Princess Peach"" but were cut for unknown reason, and only leftover sprites remain in the game. In ""Mario Kart 8"" for the Wii U in 2014, the Koopalings made their debut as playable characters for the first time. They also then reappeared in ""Mario"
"almost every ""Mario"" franchise game, usually serving as the main antagonist. Bowser is voiced by Kenny James. In addition to his usual animated and video game appearances, he also appears in the 1993 live-action film, where he is portrayed by Dennis Hopper. Bowser was created by Nintendo designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto had first envisioned Bowser as an ox, basing him on the Ox King from the Toei Animation film ""Alakazam the Great"". However, Nintendo designer Takashi Tezuka pointed out that the character looked a lot more like a turtle than an ox. Miyamoto and Tezuka then began to"
"""Dr. Mario"" itself first released in 1990). In these games, Dr. Mario throws vitamins that the player must align to destroy the viruses that populate the playing field. 1996's ""Super Mario RPG"" is the first ""Mario"" role-playing game; ten games have followed, including five in the ""Paper Mario"" series (""Paper Mario"" for the Nintendo 64, """" for the GameCube, ""Super Paper Mario"" for the Wii, """" for the Nintendo 3DS, and """" for the Wii U) and six in the ""Mario & Luigi"" series ("""" for the Game Boy Advance, """" and """" for the Nintendo DS, """", """", and"
"create an educational Mario game. Nintendo licensed the Mario characters but was otherwise not involved in the game's development, nor was Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto. The Software Toolworks released the game for MS-DOS in January 1993. ""Mario Is Missing!"" marked Luigi's first starring role in a video game, followed by ""Luigi's Mansion"" (2001) and """" (2013). Nintendo later re-released the game for their own video game consoles. In the United States, The Software Toolworks had released the NES and SNES versions by June 1993. By October 1993, Mindscape had published NES and SNES versions in Europe. The SNES version used"
"Mario 3D World"" contains Luigi Bros, a version of ""Mario Bros."" starring Luigi. This game will be unlocked if the Wii U console contains save data from ""New Super Luigi U"" or the player completes all normal worlds. On September 27, 2017 the original arcade version of Mario Bros. was released for the Nintendo Switch as part of the Arcade Archives series of emulated arcade machine games. ""Mario Bros."" was only modestly successful in Japanese arcades. The arcade cabinets have since become mildly rare. To date in Japan, the NES version of ""Mario Bros."" has sold more than 1.63 million"
"first appearance was in the 1983 arcade game ""Mario Bros."" as the character controlled by the second player. He retained this role in ""Wrecking Crew"". He later appeared in ""Super Mario Bros."" for the NES, and again in """", ""Super Mario Bros. 2"", ""Super Mario Bros. 3"", and ""Super Mario World"". ""Super Mario Bros. 2"" introduced Luigi as the taller of the two brothers, as well as the better jumper. ""Super Mario Bros. 3"", and ""Super Mario World"" returned to featuring Luigi as a reskinned Mario. He made a minor appearance in his baby form in """". Luigi was conspicuously"
"Paper Mario Paper Mario is a role-playing video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 home video game console. It was first released in Japan in 2000 and in the rest of the world in 2001. ""Paper Mario"" was re-released for Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console in July 2007 as well as Wii U Virtual Console in 2015. ""Paper Mario"" is set in the Mushroom Kingdom as the protagonist Mario tries to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser, who has imprisoned the seven ""Star Spirits"", lifted her castle into the sky and has successfully defeated his"
"instalment in the series. It was released in 1998 and 1999 for the Nintendo 64. Its roster of playable characters includes Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach (referred as simply Peach in-game), Donkey Kong (referred to as DK in-game), Yoshi, and Wario. It features 50 minigames, ten of which are single-player-only. ""Mario Party""s standard game mode, Party Mode, lets up to four players play on a board interspersed with minigames. The game features eighth different boards with varying difficulties. ""Mario Party"" features Toad as its host, who guides the characters on their journeys throughout each board. In addition to the standard Party"
"Wario (franchise) The franchise comprises various video games created by Nintendo, starring the character Wario. The franchise began with """", the first game to feature Wario as a playable character, and gained many further installments. The ""Wario"" series includes mostly platforming video games and minigame compilations, but also includes other genres. It is a spin-off of the ""Mario"" series. The ""Wario Land"" series is a platforming series that started with """", following Wario's first appearance in """". In ""Wario Land"", Wario has a castle in Kitchen Island, and often journeys to find treasure. Its gameplay consists of platforming through levels,"
"Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros. is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo. The successor to the 1983 arcade game, ""Mario Bros."", it was released in Japan in 1985 for the Famicom, and in North America and Europe for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985 and 1987 respectively. Players control Mario, or his brother Luigi in the multiplayer mode, as they travel the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist, Bowser. They must traverse side-scrolling stages while avoiding hazards such as enemies and pits with the aid of power-ups such as the Super Mushroom,"
"first game was """" for the Famicom, and the second was """", for the MSX computer. In 1988, Konami featured the character in the crossover game ""Konami Wai Wai World"". All these games were only released in Japan. Data East released a pinball game called ""King Kong-The Eighth Wonder of the World"" in 1990. In 1992, Nintendo produced an educational game called ""Mario is Missing"" that features a treasure hunt level involving King Kong in New York City. The character is represented by images of his arm grabbing the Empire State Building in the NES version and a full body"
"and is the first in the series to boast HD graphics. Possibly the most popular spin-off series in the franchise, the ""Mario Kart"" series began in 1992 and is currently the most successful and longest-running kart racing series, having sold over 100,000,000 copies worldwide. The first role-playing game in the ""Mario"" franchise was ""Super Mario RPG"". It has since expanded to the ""Paper Mario"" and ""Mario & Luigi"" series. is a series of RPG video games developed by Intelligent Systems and produced by Nintendo Software Planning & Development. The first game in the series, ""Paper Mario"", was launched in 2000"
"foreman. Although he bears a slight resemblance to Spike, Wario did not debut until 1992. The first named appearance of the character occurred in the game """". He was designed by game artist Hiroji Kiyotake. Wario's design arose from ""Super Mario Land's"" design team's distaste of making a game based around someone else's character. The creation of Wario allowed them a character of their own to ""symbolize their situation"". Wario is portrayed as a caricature of Mario; he has a large head and chin, huge muscular arms, a wide and short body that's slightly obese, short legs, a large, pointier,"
"were raised about the legality of fan-made characters under Japan's copyright law. Created by Nintendo in 1985, ""Super Mario"" is a long running series of platform games that primarily revolves around the protagonist, Mario, and other playable characters such as his brother Luigi rescuing the kidnapped princess Princess Peach from often primary antagonist, Bowser. As the player progresses, they can gather in-game power-up items that let the player character gain new abilities or forms. During a prerecorded Nintendo Direct presentation broadcast in September 2018, Nintendo showcased a trailer for their 'Deluxe' re-release of ""New Super Mario Bros. U"" for the"
"and ""Official Nintendo Magazine"" listed it at 73 in its top 100 Nintendo games. After her debut in ""Super Mario Land"", Princess Daisy appears in later ""Mario"" series sports and racing games. Super Mario Land Super Mario Land is a 1989 side-scrolling platform video game developed and published by Nintendo as a launch title for their Game Boy handheld game console. It is the first ""Mario"" platform game ever to be released for a handheld console. In gameplay similar to that of the 1985 ""Super Mario Bros."", but resized for the smaller device's screen, the player advances Mario to the"
"audition tape ran out. He says that Petruchio from William Shakespeare's ""Taming of the Shrew"" was an inspiration for his portrayal of Mario. Martinet's video game voice over debut was as Mario in the 1995 Windows release of Interplay's game ""Mario's FUNdamentals"". However, most were first exposed to Mario's voice in the landmark 1996 game ""Super Mario 64"". During the recording session, he and a few developers wondered what Mario would do when the player leaves him alone. In the end, Martinet came up with the idea that Mario would dream of pasta during his sleep and Mario says ""Nice"
"Mario to take multiple hits, the Star Man makes him temporarily invincible, and the Fire Flower allows him to throw fireballs. In 1989, Nintendo and Sony agreed to develop a CD-ROM-based add-on for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), known as the SNES-CD or Nintendo Play-Station, that would allow for full motion video (FMV) and larger games. However, Nintendo instead signed with Philips to make the add-on, and Sony redesigned their console as the PlayStation. By 1993, Nintendo had abandoned plans for the add-on. As part of dissolving the agreement, Nintendo licensed Philips to use some Nintendo characters for their"
"to the gameplay mechanic of previous games featuring Boo, if Mario looks away from Boo, it will attempt to move closer and attack Mario. However, if Mario retains eye contact with Boo, it will become translucent and impervious to attack. In the 2001 GameCube launch title, ""Luigi's Mansion"", the Boos were given the role of primary villains, alongside other miscellaneous ghosts of the mansion. The game's primary antagonist is King Boo, a Boo who leads the Boos of the mansion and who is responsible from trapping Mario inside a portrait. It was this game that established Luigi's fear of ghosts"
"Mario Is Missing! Mario Is Missing! is a 1993 educational video game developed and published by The Software Toolworks for MS-DOS, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). A Macintosh version was released in 1994. The player controls Luigi, who must travel around the world to find and return stolen treasures as part of a quest to find his brother, Mario, who has been captured by Bowser. ""Mario Is Missing!"", part of a series of educational Mario games, marked Luigi's first starring role in a video game, which would not occur again until 2001, when"
"Mario Is Missing! Mario Is Missing! is a 1993 educational video game developed and published by The Software Toolworks for MS-DOS, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). A Macintosh version was released in 1994. The player controls Luigi, who must travel around the world to find and return stolen treasures as part of a quest to find his brother, Mario, who has been captured by Bowser. ""Mario Is Missing!"", part of a series of educational Mario games, marked Luigi's first starring role in a video game, which would not occur again until 2001, when"