Super Mario (franchise)

The Mario franchise is a media franchise consisting of video games published and produced by the Japanese company Nintendo. The title character is a fictional Italian-American plumber who serves as the hero of a realm called the Mushroom Kingdom. The franchise was created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and its first installment was the arcade game Donkey Kong, released on July 9, 1981. The games are primarily published and/or developed by Nintendo itself, with some games in the franchise being developed by other companies under Nintendo's supervision, such as Hudson Soft, Camelot Software Planning, Intelligent Systems, and AlphaDream. Most Mario games have been released for Nintendo's various video game consoles and handhelds, from the third generation onwards.

The main series in the franchise is the Super Mario series, consisting of platform games that typically involve Mario and his brother Luigi working to save the Mushroom Kingdom and its ruler, Princess Peach, from the villainous Bowser and his Koopa Troop. The two brothers use their trademark jumping ability to help them progress through levels, while also making use of power-ups of various kinds. Mario games of other genres include the Mario Kart racing series, sports games such as Mario Tennis and Mario Golf, role-playing games such as the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, and several educational games. In total, over 200 video games are included in the franchise, which combined have sold over 500 million copies. The franchise has also been licensed into other media, such as television series, comics, children's books, and a critically lampooned feature film. Mario has gained massive critical acclaim and recognition throughout the world, and is the best-selling video game franchise of all time.

Plot, themes, and characters
The franchise revolves around the adventures of an extensive cast of recurring characters. The main protagonist of the franchise, the titular Mario, is a fictional Italian-American plumber who is portrayed as the hero of a realm called the Mushroom Kingdom, which he endeavors to defend by traversing his way through stages filled with obstacles and enemies. His arch-nemesis is Bowser, the king of the Koopas, a race of evil-driven anthropomorphic turtles. Bowser is responsible for most, if not all, of the Mushroom Kingdom's invasions, and almost always appears as the final boss, who constantly and consistently attempts to put an end to Mario and his friends. Mario's younger but taller brother, Luigi, often participates in his adventures alongside him; in early games, he was only playable in the two-player mode. The Mushroom Kingdom's ruler, Princess Peach, is Mario's love interest and recurring damsel in distress; she repeatedly falls victim to Bowser's kidnappings and has to be rescued by Mario, but occasionally serves as a protagonist herself. Another prominent sidekick of Mario's is Yoshi, a dinosaur-like creature who serves as a riding mount to Mario, and has a long tongue which he uses to eat food and enemies; this character became so popular after his debut that he was spun off into his own sub-series. Mario also has a greedy, hot-tempered doppelganger rival named Wario, who has antagonized Mario on various occasions, and also serves as an anti-hero with his own adventures which generally involve money grubbing and treasure hunting. Donkey Kong, a muscular and somewhat dim-witted ape, originally served as Mario's first rival in his arcade debut, but eventually became the main protagonist of his own series. Other significant recurring characters in the franchise include the Toads, inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom and servants to Peach, who often support Mario during his adventures; Princess Daisy, the tomboyish ruler of a mysterious kingdom called Sarasaland; Wario's partner in crime Waluigi; Professor Elvin Gadd, an aging scientist and inventor; and Rosalina, a very powerful figure who watches over the cosmos.

Throughout his adventures, Mario faces a wide variety of enemies that make attempts to hinder his progress. The Goombas, mushroom-like creatures that betrayed the Mushroom Kingdom, are extremely weak to the extent that a single stomp is enough to defeat them. Koopa Troopas, foot soldiers of Bowser, retract in their shells if stomped on, after which they can be used to attack other foes. Many different subspecies of Koopa exist, including the aerial Koopa Paratroopas, the projectile-wielding Hammer Bros., the hard-shelled Buzzy Beetles, the cloud-riding Lakitus and their pets the Spinies, the skeletal Dry Bones, and the sorcerous Magikoopas. Other recurring enemies of Mario include the Boos, timid ghosts that cover their faces whenever the hero stares at them; Piranha Plants, man-eating flora that dwell within pipes; Bullet Bills, projectiles that are shot out of cannons called "blasters"; Bob-ombs, anthropomorphic bombs with short tempers leading to inevitable explosions; Chain Chomps, tethered ball-and-chain creatures that lunge at Mario when in close proximity; Bloopers, squids that like to corner and close in on their prey; Cheep Cheeps, fish with wing-like fins and the ability to attack above the surface of the water; Thwomps, rectangular rock creatures that flatten whoever passes below them using their own weight; and Lava Bubbles (also known as "Podoboos"), living fireballs that inhabit lava pits and attack by leaping upward out of the lava. Major individualized minions of Bowser include his son Bowser Jr.; a seven-member clan called the Koopalings; Kamek, a high-ranking Magikoopa who often serves as one of Bowser's top acolytes; and Boom Boom, a powerhouse that attacks by flailing his arms.

Locations
The central location of the Mario universe is the Mushroom Kingdom, which Peach rules over and Bowser regularly invades. The kingdom has a diverse landscape that includes forests, deserts, snowlands, beaches, mountains, and plains. When Bowser invades the kingdom and kidnaps Peach, he takes her to his castle, usually situated in a volcanic world, and Mario and his friends have to travel there and defeat some of Bowser's most powerful minions, as well as Bowser himself, in order to get the princess back. Some games have been set in locations other than the Mushroom Kingdom, such as the island where Yoshi and his dinosaur friends live, and Isle Delfino, a large dolphin-shaped tropical resort.

Gameplay mechanics
In the main Super Mario series, Mario traverses his way through the games' various levels by defeating enemies, collecting coins, and solving puzzles. Since his earliest games, Mario has been defined by his trademark jumping ability, which he commonly uses to help him progress through the playfield and defeat the majority of his enemies. This ability has seen numerous evolutions throughout the series, including the Spin Jump from Super Mario World; and the Triple Jump, Wall Kick, and Long Jump, all introduced in Super Mario 64. In the 2D platformers, Mario must reach a single-exit objective (marked by a flagpole or other object) within a set time limit to get to the next sequential level; the 3D games' levels, however, are more linear and allow Mario to walk around freely and gather special objects, like Power Stars and Shine Sprites, that allow him to progress further into the game.

Another integral element of Mario franchise gameplay is the use of items, which Mario can use to power himself up. Often these items can be found in special item blocks, labeled with a question mark (?), which alternatively can also yield coins.

Many power-ups in the Mario games are mushrooms. The most iconic of this category of power-ups is the Super Mushroom, which increases Mario's size and allows him to break brick blocks. When hit by an enemy, Mario reverts to his smaller size instead of losing a life. While Mario is already in Super form, most blocks that would contain a Super Mushroom instead offer a more powerful power-up. The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 introduced the Poison Mushroom, which behaves more like an enemy, shrinking or killing Mario whenever he comes in direct contact with it. The New Super Mario Bros. series introduced two additional mushroom power-ups: the Mini Mushroom, which shrinks Mario into miniature size, allowing him to access areas he normally cannot; and the Mega Mushroom, which grows Mario into a towering, invulnerable giant who destroys enemies and the environment by running through them.

Certain items exist that grant Mario an extra life. The most recurring and significant is the 1-Up Mushroom, which appears similar to the Super Mushroom but is green instead of red. It is sometimes hidden in invisible item blocks, and in the 3D games, it sometimes appears when Mario walks in a particular area. Although the 1-Up Mushroom is the most common extra life-granting item in the franchise, there are other items that serve the same or a similar function, such as the 3-Up Moon introduced in Super Mario World, which grants three extra lives instead of one.

There are also power-ups taking the form of flowers, which allow Mario to shoot projectiles of various kinds. The first and most significant is the Fire Flower, which turns Mario into his fire form, in which he is able to sling bouncing fireballs at incoming enemies. Mario's fireballs instantly kill most enemies on contact, except for certain enemies which are fire-resistant, like the Buzzy Beetle. Later games introduced alternate variants of this item, such as the Ice Flower, which allows Mario to shoot balls of ice that can also freeze enemies in ice blocks to be used as platforms or projectiles; and the Gold Flower from New Super Mario Bros. 2, which turns Mario into gold and allows him to turn bricks into coins and earn bonus coins for defeating enemies.

Another prominent item in the series is the Super Star (also called the Starman), a flashing anthropomorphic star which grants Mario temporary invincibility, allowing him to kill virtually any enemy upon making contact with it. Some games feature substitutes for this item, like Super Mario 64, where Mario can resist harm using the Metal and Vanish Caps; and Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel, where invincibility is provided by the "Rainbow Star," which also progressively increases Mario's speed, to the point where he becomes almost uncontrollable as his power wears off, and allows him to break through certain objects.

Coins are a common element in Mario game design, traditionally incorporated as puzzles and rewards. Most Super Mario games award the player an extra life once a certain amount of coins are collected, commonly 50 or 100. There are also special variants of Coins, such as Dragon Coins in Super Mario World, Red Coins in Super Mario 64 and a number of games afterwards; and Star Coins in the New Super Mario Bros. games. In Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and the Galaxy games, coins replenish health (and air, when Mario is underwater). In RPGs, Coins can be used to purchase items and other useful things.

One of the Mario franchise's most common modes of transportation is the Warp Pipe, a drain pipe-like structure which comes in a number of different colors (the most common being green). Warp Pipes provide access to secret underground areas that often host mass amounts of Coins, and can also function as platforms that allow Mario to traverse from one area to another; some pipes even launch the hero into the air. Special well-hidden areas in early games, known as "Warp Zones," contain pipes that allow players to skip several levels and even entire worlds at once. Most 3D games in the series feature cannons that allow Mario to progress through levels and reach otherwise inaccessible areas; to use them, he jumps into the barrel, aims himself and is fired at his target.

Donkey Kong
After the commercial failure of Radar Scope, Shigeru Miyamoto was assigned to create an arcade game to save Nintendo. Miyamoto came up with the idea of a game in which the playable character has to make his way through an obstacle course consisting of sloped platforms, ladders and rolling barrels. Miyamoto named the game Donkey Kong, and its main protagonist "Jumpman". Donkey Kong, originally released on July 9, 1981, is an early example of the platform genre. In addition to presenting the goal of saving the lady (later known as Pauline), the game features a scoring system where points are awarded for finishing screens, leaping over obstacles, destroying objects, collecting items, and completing other tasks. The game was surprisingly successful. "Jumpman" was internationally and permanently renamed Mario, his namesake being Mario Segale, the landlord of Nintendo of America's office/warehouse, who barged in on a meeting to demand an overdue rent payment. The success of the arcade game spawned ports to numerous platforms such as the ColecoVision and the Atari 2600.

A direct sequel to this game, Donkey Kong Jr., was released the following year; it was the only game to feature Mario as the antagonist, in which role he kidnaps Donkey Kong and cons the ape's son into saving him. Another sequel, Donkey Kong 3, was released in October 1983 and was a shooting game that featured an exterminator named Stanley as the hero instead of Mario.

Mario Bros.
The Mario branding was used for the first time in Mario Bros., released to the arcades in 1983, where Mario was paired with a recolor that became his brother Luigi. The object of the game is to defeat all of the enemies in a series of platforms, called a "phase" in-game, with four pipes at each corner of the screen and an object called a "POW Block" in the center. The gameplay mechanics involve only running and jumping; in this game, enemies cannot be jumped on until Mario or Luigi flips them over, either by jumping under the platform they are on or with a POW Block. Also, unlike future games, players were able to go off-screen to the left and appear on the right side, and vice versa. The game has reappeared as a minigame in various later titles, and was also reimagined as Mario Clash, released for the Virtual Boy in 1995.

Game & Watch
Nintendo released eleven Mario-relevant LCD electronic games as part of the Game & Watch line between 1982 and 1991. Six Mario games were also licensed to Nelsonic Industries for use in its "Game Watch" toy line between 1989 and 1994. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nintendo released four "Game & Watch Gallery" games on the Game Boy, featuring a combined sixteen Game & Watch handheld games in both their original forms and new "Modern" versions which feature updated graphics and enhanced gameplay, and replace the generic Game & Watch characters with the characters of the Mario series.

Super Mario series
In 1985, Mario became the star of his own side-scrolling platform game called Super Mario Bros., which was the pack-in title for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game centers around Mario's quest to save the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Peach (then known to the Western world as Princess Toadstool) from Bowser and the Koopa Troop. To save the princess, Mario conquers the eight worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom by going to the castle in each to defeat one of seven impostors of Bowser. To reach each castle, Mario battles through three sub-worlds by defeating the Koopa Troop. If Mario successfully fights his way through the castle and defeats the impostor, he frees a "Mushroom Retainer"; inside the eighth castle, Mario has a final fight with the real Bowser and frees the princess. The plot of Bowser kidnapping the princess has been repeatedly reused throughout the subsequent games in the core Super Mario series.

A direct follow-up to Super Mario Bros., with significantly more challenging levels, was released in Japan in 1986. However, Nintendo of America deemed the game far too difficult for Western gamers and instead released its own Super Mario Bros. 2 in 1988. In this game, Mario travels the dream world of Subcon, along with Luigi, the princess, and an individualized Toad character, to free the land from the curse of an evil frog king named Wart. Two years later, the next mainstream Mario game was released: Super Mario Bros. 3, one of the most expansive games in the NES library. Here, Mario quests to save the rulers of seven kingdoms from Bowser and the Koopalings (then portrayed as his children), traveling across these kingdoms to restore order. When Mario finishes saving the Mushroom World, Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach, and Mario must traverse his kingdom and storm his castle in order to rescue her. In 1991, Mario was revolutionized once again for the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System, with its flagship title Super Mario World. Mario, while on vacation, traverses through an island country called Dinosaur Land to foil Bowser and the Koopalings, who have kidnapped Peach and imprisoned seven of the native Yoshis in eggs; the dinosaurs help Mario on his quest by allowing him to ride them. In 1993, a game called Super Mario All-Stars was released on the SNES, which compiled the entire Super Mario Bros. trilogy into one cartridge, adding a save system to these games and enhancing the graphics and audio of all three for the more powerful console; additionally, the cartridge included a remake of the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, labeled in-game as "The Lost Levels," introducing that game to Western audiences for the first time.

The Game Boy had three Mario installments of its own. Super Mario Land was released in 1989 as one of the handheld's launch titles, and became its best-selling game despite not being bundled with the system. It follows Mario as he travels through Sarasaland, a kingdom with four geographical areas, to corner the alien Tatanga and rescue the region's kidnapped ruler, Princess Daisy. A sequel, subtitled 6 Golden Coins, was released in 1992 and had Mario working to save a land he ruled over from an evil spell conjured by Wario. The plumber's one-time nemesis became so popular that the following year, the third game in the Super Mario Land series shifted the attention to him. Neither the Game Boy Color nor the Game Boy Advance received any original mainstream Mario games, only port remakes of console games from the 8- and 16-bit generations.

In 1996, the Nintendo 64 console debuted with its launch title, Super Mario 64, which was one of the first fully 3D console games, and was the first game to feature the Mario characters in their 3D rendered versions. Peach sends Mario a letter inviting him to her castle; however, when he arrives, Mario discovers that Bowser has invaded the castle and imprisoned the princess and her servants within it using the castle's Power Stars. Many of the castle's paintings are portals to other worlds, which Mario explores to recover the stars from Bowser's minions. Eventually, Mario traverses one last obstacle course and confronts Bowser in a final battle to release Peach, who rewards Mario with a cake. The game was followed up in 2002 with Super Mario Sunshine, for the Nintendo GameCube. There, Mario and Peach take a vacation to the tropical resort called Isle Delfino, which has been vandalized and polluted by a mysterious figure called "Shadow Mario". The real Mario is arrested and ordered to clean up the island; in the process, he seeks the help of FLUDD, a robotic hosing device, and must also collect the Shine Sprites, which the pollution has caused to flee the island's main plaza. Eventually, Peach is kidnapped by Shadow Mario, who reveals himself to be Bowser Jr., and Mario must confront him, along with Bowser senior, to rescue the princess; once this is accomplished, the vacation on the now cleaned-up island begins.

In 2007, the mainstream Mario series continued for the Wii with Super Mario Galaxy, today recognized as the franchise's most critically acclaimed game of all time. While Mario prepares to attend the Mushroom Kingdom's centennial "Star Festival," Bowser invades the realm, uproots the castle lifting it into outer space, and kidnaps Peach. Mario journeys to space where he meets star-like creatures called Lumas and their guardian Rosalina, who tells Mario that he must recover the Power Stars―the power source for her mobile observatory―from Bowser's minions in order to reclaim Peach from Bowser's "galaxy reactor" in the center of the universe. The game was followed up in 2010 with a sequel that features a loosely similar plot; only this time, Bowser uses the Power Stars to become a giant, and Mario navigates through the galaxies and eventually to Bowser's lair using a mobile planet (labeled a "Starship") in the shape of his head. The franchise continued later in the 2010s with Super Mario 3D Land for the Nintendo 3DS and its follow-up Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U, both of which combine elements of Mario's 3D platformers with those of its 2D sidescrollers. According to Miyamoto, a "new kind of Mario" title is in development as of 2016.

New Super Mario Bros. series
In 2006, a 2.5D retro throwback sub-series called New Super Mario Bros. was inaugurated for the Nintendo DS. Beyond its first game, the sub-series has continued with sequels on the Wii, the 3DS, and the Wii U. The games in the series have generally minimalist stories, where Bowser simply kidnaps Peach and provokes Mario to give chase, venturing through eight worlds as in the original Super Mario Bros., and eventually do battle with him to rescue the princess. In the Wii and Wii U versions, four players can simultaneously control their characters; the Mario brothers are accompanied as playable heroes in these games by two generic Toads, one blue and the other yellow.

Dr. Mario
Dr. Mario (ドクターマリオ Dokutā Mario) is an arcade-style action puzzle game series originally developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, and later developed by Arika and produced by Nintendo Software Planning & Development. It casts Mario as a medical doctor who must eradicate deadly viruses; the player's objective is to destroy the viruses populating the on-screen playing field by using falling colored capsules that are dropped into the field, similarly to Tetris. The player manipulates the capsules as they fall so that they are aligned with viruses of matching colors, which removes them from the playing field. The player progresses through the game by eliminating all the viruses on the screen in each level.

The first Dr. Mario game was launched in 1990 on the NES and the Game Boy to critical and commercial success. It has spawned five original follow-ups, three for home consoles and one a handheld game. To keep the brand fresh, each follow-up has introduced new gameplay elements and modes. After an eleven-year hiatus, the sub-series returned in 2001 with Dr. Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, which introduced three new game modes ("Story," "Score Attack," and "Marathon"), added Wario as a playable character alongside Mario, and updated the multiplayer functions to allow up to four people to play. Two additional Dr. Mario games were launched in 2008: Dr. Mario Express for the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare service, and Dr. Mario Online Rx for the Wii's WiiWare service; the latter introduced online multiplayer to the series. In 2013, a Wii U game called Dr. Luigi, available on Nintendo eShop, gave Luigi his own "doctor" persona and featured an "Operation L" game mode in which all capsules assume the shape of the letter L.

Mario's Picross
Mario's Picross is a Game Boy game released in 1995 which features a nonogram logic puzzle system, where there is a 100-square screen for the player to maneuver around. Each row and column comes with a number that refers to the amount of squares that need to be marked within the grid. Mario is portrayed as an archaeologist who chisels away to form the images on the grid. The game was poorly received in the West, but in Japan, it was successful enough to spawn two sequels: one on the SNES, and another on the Game Boy.

Mario Kart series
Mario Kart (マリオカート Mario Kāto) is a series of go-kart racing games developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development. It is possibly the franchise's most popular spin-off series; since its inception, it has become the most successful and longest-running kart racing series in gaming history, and has sold over 100 million copies worldwide. Players compete in go-kart races, controlling one of a selection of pre-established Mario characters, and use various power-up items obtained by driving into item boxes laid out on the course. Different items assist the player-characters in different ways; for example, the Super Mushroom gives players a speed boost, the shells of Koopa Troopas are thrown at opponents to stun them, and banana peels can be laid on the track as hazards.

There have been a total of eleven games in the Mario Kart series: five for home consoles, three portable games, and three arcade spin-offs co-developed by Namco. The series' first entry, Super Mario Kart, was released in 1992 for the SNES and was critically and commercially successful. As the series has progressed, new course types, items, playable characters, and other elements have been introduced to keep the experience fresh. In 1996, Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64 introduced 4-player racing and 3D graphics. This was followed up in 2001 with Super Circuit for the Game Boy Advance, which featured unlockable retro tracks from the first installment. In 2003, Double Dash!! for the GameCube introduced a co-operative LAN multiplayer mode and was the only entry to feature two-person karts. Mario Kart DS, released in 2005, introduced dual-screen play and online multiplayer via Wi-Fi. In 2008, Mario Kart Wii introduced motion controls, 12-player racing, motorbikes and playable Mii characters; additionally, the use of unlockable retro tracks from previous installments was reintroduced and made a permanent feature of the series. In 2011, Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS featured optional stereoscopic graphics, and introduced hang gliding, submersible karts, an alternate first-person perspective, and kart customization. Mario Kart 8, released for the Wii U in 2014, introduced anti-gravity racing, ATVs, and downloadable content; allows highlights to be uploaded to YouTube via "Mario Kart TV"; allows up to four people to play in Grand Prix races; and is the first game in the series to boast HD graphics.

Role-playing games
The first role-playing game in the Mario franchise, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, was released in 1996 for the SNES to critical acclaim. Developed by Squaresoft before it merged with Enix, it contains gameplay elements similar to or inspired by Square's Final Fantasy series. The story focuses on Mario as he, with the help of four other characters, seeks to eliminate the game's main antagonist, Smithy, who has stolen the seven pieces of the Star Road where all the wishes of the world's inhabitants are turned into stars; Mario must return the pieces so these wishes may again be granted. The two Mario RPG series that followed this game, the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series, have been considered informal sequels and spiritual successors to this game.

Paper Mario series
Paper Mario (ペーパーマリオ Pēpā Mario) was developed by Intelligent Systems and launched its first installment on the Nintendo 64 in 2000, to critical and commercial success. In the Paper Mario series, the player controls an alternate-style depiction of Mario in a mixture of 3-dimensional environments and 2-dimensional characters who look as if they are made of paper. This version of Mario can jump and use his hammer to overcome physical obstacles placed in the game's overworld, and combat enemies in turn-based battles. Attacks in the game are similar to those in traditional RPGs, although the player can influence the power of a move when attacking or defending by timing a button-press accurately or performing some other action command as required. Progression through these games depends upon interaction with the game's non-player characters (NPCs), who will often offer clues or detail the next event in the storyline. In the first three games, he accumulates partners with specialized skills, who also assist him in battle. The series' original formula was similar to those of traditional RPGs, involving special moves that consumed a particular number of points when performed, badges that yielded bonuses like added moves or gradual health restoration, and an experience-point system that allowed Mario to level up either his health, his special-moves points, or his badge points.

There have been three (with one upcoming) Paper Mario games released for home consoles and one portable game. As time has passed, each game has introduced new elements in order to keep the gameplay fresh; since 2012, however, the stories and character rosters have been significantly toned down from what they were in the first two games. The original Paper Mario for Nintendo 64 is set in a paper-based version of the Mushroom Kingdom, where Mario tries to rescue Peach from Bowser, who has imprisoned the seven Star Spirits, lifted her castle into the sky, and has successfully defeated his foe after stealing the Star Rod from Star Haven and making himself invulnerable to any attacks. To save Mushroom Kingdom, rescue Peach, get the castle back, and defeat Bowser, Mario must locate the Star Spirits, who can negate the effects of the stolen Star Rod, by defeating Bowser's minions guarding the Star Spirits. In the sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, released in 2004 for the GameCube, Mario quests to retrieve seven Crystal Stars and rescue Peach from cybernetic soldiers called the X-Nauts. That game allowed Mario to turning into and folding up into things like a paper airplane and a boat to interact with the overworld. In 2007, Super Paper Mario appeared on Wii, deviated into the 2D action RPG genre and introduced the ability to "flip" into a 3D perspective in which the level rotates to reveal a hidden z-axis, placing Mario in a 3D environment; the plot follows Mario's quest to collect eight "Pure Hearts" in order to prevent Count Bleck, the main antagonist, from destroying the universe. In the first two installments, Peach is a secondary playable character, with Bowser joining her in The Thousand-Year Door; in Super Paper Mario, not only these two but also Luigi function as secondary playable characters with their own sets of abilities independent of Mario's. In 2012, Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the Nintendo 3DS introduced the use of stickers in the environment and turn-based battles, which can be found and peeled off from various areas in the overworld or purchased/received from NPCs; the game also requires Mario to retrieve six Royal Stickers which are scattered by Bowser. A follow-up for the Wii U announced in 2016, Paper Mario: Color Splash, functions similarly to Sticker Star but with colors instead of stickers.

Mario & Luigi series
The Mario & Luigi sub-series, developed by AlphaDream, is formed of several role-playing games for Nintendo's handheld systems. The series features games with long, detailed stories full of battles that the Mario brothers must endure in order to progress through the game with ease; as in the Paper Mario series, the battle system emphasizes timing and more elaborate attacks. The games are whimsical in tone, with various in-game jokes and comical references to the heritage of the Mario series. With the exception of Paper Jam, Bowser is a side antagonist but lends his form for the games' final bosses.

The first game in the sub-series, 2003's Superstar Saga for the Game Boy Advance, has Mario and Luigi travel to a foreign land called the Beanbean Kingdom, where they combat a witch named Cackletta and her assistant Fawful, who are plotting to take over the realm; at the beginning of the game, Cackletta also steals Peach's voice, adopting the guise of a Beanbean ambassador. In 2005, Partners in Time for the Nintendo DS featured a new plot with a considerably darker tone, where the emphasis is on time travel as the protagonists journey between the past and present of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario and Luigi encounter their younger selves and work with them to search for Peach, who has been abducted by an alien species called the Shroobs. In 2009, Bowser's Inside Story, also for the DS, made Bowser the main protagonist, who tries to foil Fawful's takeover of the kingdom; Mario and Luigi, who have been inhaled into the body of their long-time nemesis, learn to assist him despite him being unaware of their presence. In In 2013, Dream Team for the Nintendo 3DS introduced "Dreamy Luigi," where Luigi sleeps in the Dream World, as part of the "Year of Luigi" celebration. In 2015, Paper Jam also for the 3DS was introduced, a crossover game where Luigi knocks over a book and unleashes the paper characters of the Paper Mario world.

Mario Party series
Mario Party (マリオパーティ Mario Pāti), a party game series, has four human- or computer-controlled characters compete in a board game interspersed with minigames. The series is known for its party game elements, including the often-unpredictable multiplayer modes that allow play with up to four (and sometimes eight) human players.

The Mario Party series was originally developed by Hudson Soft until several of its key designers left the company, leading to its eventual disestablishment, at which point development was turned over to Nd Cube. The series consists of the original 1999 Mario Party on Nintendo 64, nine numbered sequels, Advance, DS, Island Tour, and Star Rush. The Mario Party brand has also been licensed into three Japan-only arcade games developed by Capcom: Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party ("Super Mario: Wonderful Rolling Party"), released in 2004; a sequel to the aforementioned game, released the following year; and Mario Party Fushigi no Korokoro Catcher ("Mario Party: Rolling Wonder Catcher"), released in 2009.

Mario Tennis series
Mario appeared in Nintendo's first tennis game, originally released for the NES and later ported to the Game Boy; there, he only appeared in the capacity of a cameo as the referee. The first tennis game to use the Mario branding was Mario's Tennis for the Virtual Boy. The main Mario Tennis series, developed by Camelot Software Planning, was launched in 2000 with its first installment on the Nintendo 64, and spawned a number of subsequent games: Mario Power Tennis for the GameCube, Mario Tennis: Power Tour for the Game Boy Advance, Mario Tennis Open for the Nintendo 3DS, and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash for the Wii U. Though the Virtual Boy Mario's Tennis simply focused on tennis fundamentals, Camelot's Mario Tennis series adds gameplay elements not present in traditional tennis, such as power-up items, power shots, and external obstacles interfering with the game.

Mario Golf series
The golfer in Nintendo's first golf game for NES (later ported to Game Boy) was a mustached man resembling Mario; in the Western version, this golfer is Mario himself, though his identity would later be retconned. A later game, NES Open Tournament Golf, featured Mario and Luigi as the golfers, with Peach and Daisy as their respective caddies. The main Mario Golf series, developed by Camelot, was launched with its first installment on the Nintendo 64 in 1999; follow-up games included Toadstool Tour for the GameCube, Advance Tour for the Game Boy Advance, and World Tour for the Nintendo 3DS. Camelot's Mario Golf games feature a home-console-to-handheld linking capability and add a number of recognizable Mario elements as obstacles to give the gameplay some originality. The first- and second-generation Mario Golf and Mario Tennis titles featured ready-made human characters created by Camelot specifically for these games, never to appear since.

Mario Baseball series
The first use of Mario characters in a baseball title was in the Game Boy port of the Baseball game that served as the launch title for the NES, where Mario and Luigi were featured as team captains. The actual Mario Baseball series, developed by Namco, had two entries: Mario Superstar Baseball for the GameCube, and Mario Super Sluggers for the Wii. This sub-series features more playable characters in a single game than in any other spin-off title, with a total of more than forty in Super Sluggers.

Mario Strikers series
The Mario Strikers series (known as the Mario Football series in Europe) is a soccer-based series developed by Next Level Games. The series has only two installments: Super Mario Strikers on GameCube, and its follow-up game Mario Strikers Charged for Wii. Before the Strikers series, Mario and friends first played soccer in one of the minigames in the earlier GameCube game Mario Party 4.

Mario vs. Donkey Kong games
Mario vs. Donkey Kong was launched in 2004 with a Game Boy Advance title, which marked the reestablishment of the long-abandoned rivalry between Donkey Kong and Mario. The game was later followed up by March of the Minis and later Mini-Land Mayhem! for the DS, Minis March Again! on DSiWare, Minis on the Move! for 3DS, and Tipping Stars for the 3DS and Wii U. The later installments of the series reintroduced Pauline, Mario's first damsel-in-distress, now no longer described as his love interest; and featured the "Mini-Marios," miniature toy versions of Mario, as the player-characters instead of Mario himself. The series traces its origins to a 1994 remake of the original Donkey Kong on Game Boy, which added 96 new levels and gave Mario new abilities.

Educational games
In the early 1990s, many educational games were released in the Mario series, which sought to teach miscellaneous skills such as typing, mathematics, or history. Despite being licensed by Nintendo, they are not officially recognized by the company, as it had limited involvement in their production.

The first of Mario's edutainment games, Mario Teaches Typing, was produced in 1991 by Interplay Entertainment and was released for MS-DOS, Windows, and Macintosh computers; a sequel was released by Interplay's Brainstorm studio in 1996. Mario is Missing!, a geography-centered platformer produced by The Software Toolworks (a subsidiary of Mindscape) for PC, NES, and SNES, features Luigi as the main protagonist attempting to foil Bowser, who has imprisoned Mario in his Antarctic castle, sent his soldiers to steal important landmarks from many of the world's major cities, and plans to use mail-order hairdryers to melt Antarctica and flood the entire earth. A follow-up to Missing!, called Mario's Time Machine, also released by The Software Toolworks, features Mario as the protagonist who travels through time to return major historical objects and artifacts that Bowser has stolen and assembled into his personal museum, in order to prevent the Koopa King from irreversibly damaging world history. Finally, in 1994, The Software Toolworks released a three-game Mario's Early Years! series which was aimed at small children and was meant to teach them the basics of real-world education, such as numbers, counting, the English alphabet, and spelling among others.

Other Mario games
In 1992, a creativity game called Mario Paint was released for the SNES and took advantage of its mouse. The main game functions similarly to graphics-related computer software, but also allows the user to incorporate predrawn sprites called "stamps," some of which are ripped directly from the graphics data of Super Mario World. There is also a "music mode" that allows users to make their own music samples, and a minigame called "Gnat Attack" where the player can use the SNES mouse to swat different fly-like enemies. Mario Paint later inspired a three-game Mario Artist series for the 64DD, a failed add-on of the Nintendo 64.

In 2001, the Japanese sewing machine company Jaguar released a piece of embroidery software called Mario Family for Game Boy Color, which when the handheld was linked to Jaguar's JN-100 sewing machine, would allow the user to choose from a number of designs, which are copied from official Mario artworks of the classic hand-drawn era.

Later in 2001, when Nintendo released the GameCube, one of its launch titles was Luigi's Mansion, where as in Mario is Missing! before it, Luigi was the main protagonist instead of Mario. The game takes place in a haunted mansion when Luigi wins a contest that he never entered. Mario has investigated this mansion and gone missing, so Luigi must find him with the help of Professor Gadd. The scientist equips Luigi with a vacuum cleaner called the Poltergust 3000, with which he must capture every ghost in the mansion, and eventually corner their leader, King Boo. A sequel to this game, Dark Moon, was released in 2013 as part of the "Year of Luigi" celebration.

In 2005, the franchise saw a role-reversal with Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS. Developed by the behind-the-scenes studio TOSE, it casts Peach as the main protagonist, who uses Perry the talking parasol and her own powers of emotion to save Mario, Luigi, and several Toads from Bowser, who has imprisoned them on Vibe Island.

Partner series
One of the most closely linked partner series to Mario is the Yoshi series, comprised of various platform and puzzle games. In addition to Nintendo, its games have been developed by such other companies as Game Freak, Intelligent Systems, Artoon, Arzest, and Good-Feel. The series was conceived after its eponymous character gained mass popularity from his debut appearance in Super Mario World. The "main" branch of the Yoshi series―that in which he is featured in playable main-character roles―was established in 1995 with Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island for the SNES, which introduced the main staples of Yoshi's independent universe; in this game, Yoshi and his friends tote an infant version of Mario around their island to reunite him with his brother, who along with the stork that was supposed to deliver the two was kidnapped by the Magikoopa Kamek, who is caring for an infant Bowser. Yoshi's Island has since spawned six follow-up adventures, one of which, Yoshi's Island DS, introduced infant versions of several other recurring Mario characters. Other Yoshi games include a 1991 falling-block puzzle game for NES and Game Boy; the tile-matching game Yoshi's Cookie, developed by Blue Planet Software (then called Bullet-Proof Software); and a dedicated light gun shooter called Yoshi's Safari, which made use of the SNES Super Scope.

After Wario gained his share of popularity from his debut in Super Mario Land 2, he was spun off into his own series. The third Super Mario Land game, released in 1993, focused its attention on him, and kicked off a platforming sub-series called Wario Land, spawning three numbered sequels on handhelds, a Virtual Boy adventure, and Shake It! on Wii. In the interim between Wario Land 4 and Shake It!, Wario starred in two additional adventures: the 3D game Wario World and Wario: Master of Disguise on DS. Wario's adventures typically involve him grubbing money and hunting for treasure in attempts to further increase his wealth. Ten years after the original Wario Land was released, a new Wario sub-series was added, called WarioWare, in which Wario, motivated by his wish of making money, founds a video game studio and hires numerous friends of his to make short microgames for him. Since WarioWare launched on Game Boy Advance, every Nintendo system from the sixth generation onwards has contributed an entry of its own to that series, with each new entry featuring microgames that often exploit the new technological enhancements of the console or handheld for which the game is released.

Although Donkey Kong debuted with Mario as his first rival, the Donkey Kong series did not become its own brand independent of Mario until 1994, when Rare revived the character with its SNES side-scrolling platform game Donkey Kong Country. That game and its follow-ups focus on the adventures of Donkey Kong and the various members of his clan as they work to defend their island home from a variety of other anthropomorphic-animal characters who serve as villains. They are most frequently antagonized by the Kremlings, a race of crocodiles, and their leader King K. Rool. This spin-off series has also branched out into other genres including rhythm games (Donkey Konga) and racing games (Diddy Kong Racing); the original era of Donkey Kong also saw an edutainment game called Donkey Kong Jr. Math. A hallmark of this series is the barrels used by the Kongs as weapons, vehicles, furniture, and lodging.

Crossovers
Major characters of the Mario series have been staple fighters in the Super Smash Bros. series since its first installment, on Nintendo 64, was released in 1999. This all-out fighting series is not really an offshoot of the Mario franchise, however; it is more of a crossover series for all of Nintendo's major intellectual properties, and later installments even feature several characters from outside gaming companies who have appeared on Nintendo systems. In the games, players select whichever character they want, and fight against each other on a specific stage. Each character has their own unique and clearly defined moveset, and can also use items to harm others or help themselves in some way.

In 2007, Mario characters crossed over with the characters of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series in a sports game called Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for Wii, later ported to the DS. Boasting a player-character roster evenly divided among the Mario and Sonic casts, the game featured a combination of sporting events taken directly from the Summer Olympics and those exclusive to the game. A follow-up, Olympic Winter Games, was released in 2009 and London 2012 Olympic Games was released for Wii in 2011 and for 3DS in 2012. In 2013, a third sequel, Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, was released exclusively on the Wii U, followed by a fourth sequel, Rio 2016 Olympic Games for the Wii U and 3DS in 2016.

Two sports games developed by Square Enix crossed over several characters from Final Fantasy into the world of Mario. The first, Mario Hoops 3-on-3, released in 2006, is a basketball game where the Mario characters play on sixteen courts distributed among four tournaments, using "special shots" to gain an advantage over unsuspecting opponents, and question-mark panels yielding items to use on foes. In 2010, this was followed up with Mario Sports Mix, where the Mario cast not only competes in basketball again, but also plays three additional sports―hockey, dodgeball, and volleyball.

Mario characters have also crossed over into another Square Enix series, Fortune Street (いただきストリート Itadaki Sutorīto). This series, originally exclusive to Japan for many years, stars the characters of Dragon Quest, one of Square Enix's flagship series, as they play party games fashioned in a format similar to that of the board game Monopoly. The Mario cast specifically appeared in the Fortune Street series' DS installment, released in 2007; and the Wii follow-up, released in 2011, which was the first to appear overseas.

More recently, the Mario world crossed over into the Puzzle & Dragons series by GungHo Online Entertainment, when a Super Mario Bros. Edition of the series was released in 2015 for the 3DS. The game mixes the Puzzle & Dragons gameplay of matching icons to damage enemies with pre-established Mario characters, enemies, locations, and the use of power-ups as the icons.

Games not manufactured by Nintendo
The games in this section were both developed and published by companies other than Nintendo. Nintendo had no involvement in these titles other than licensing the underlying property; as such, they are not officially recognized by the company.

Hudson Soft
In 1984, Hudson Soft released Mario Bros. Special, an original arcade-style platformer based on Mario Bros. with adjusted graphics and sound and new stages. Instead of having to defeat every enemy in the level, the game involved trying to get to the top of a level, where the exit to each level is. This was followed up later in the year by Punch Ball Mario Bros., which was exactly the same as the arcade original but involved "punch balls" that Mario and Luigi could use to hit and stun enemies, as well as a reversed platform pattern. Both of these games were released for the Japanese computers NEC PC-6001, NEC PC-8801, FM-7, and Sharp X1.

In 1986, Hudson released another Special game, this one based on Super Mario Bros. and released for the PC-88 and Sharp X1. The true "lost" game of the series, Special was the first licensed sequel to Super Mario Bros., appearing only a few months before The Lost Levels. Though it is superficially similar to the original game, the levels are completely original. There is no screen-scrolling mechanism, no two-player mode, the jumping and running physics are different from the NES original, and the graphics and audio quality are altered for the PC-88's inferior technology.

Philips
Three games were planned for development by Royal Philips Electronics' interactive media division for use on its CD-i machine: Super Mario's Wacky Worlds, Hotel Mario, and Mario Takes America. Only Hotel Mario was released; the other two were eventually canceled. Philips was given permission to use Nintendo characters in CD-i games due to its taking part in developing an unreleased add-on for the SNES. Hotel Mario gained very little success, if any at all.

Wacky Worlds was developed by NovaLogic and attempted to duplicate the gameplay of Super Mario World. Though the game sprites are based on those in Super Mario World, the level design is based on Earth locations rather than Dinosaur Land. Due to the limitations of the CD-i, several features could not be included in the game, such as large numbers of sprites on the screen, and many visual effects. The nature of the pointing device controller provides difficult controls for Mario, as the game has the default controls of running and jumping.

Mario Takes America was proposed about Mario's trip to Hollywood to make his own movie. The game's concept initially impressed Philips, but was canceled due to the company being unsatisfied with the game's development progress.

Hotel Mario, a puzzle game, was developed by Fantasy Factory and published by Philips in 1994. The primary characters of the game are Mario and Luigi, who must find Princess Peach by going through seven "Koopa Hotels" in the Mushroom Kingdom. Every hotel is divided into multiple stages, and the objective is to close all doors on each stage. The game has been criticized as one of the worst games in the series, mainly because of its cutscenes and the simplicity of its gameplay.

Other companies
EA Canada, a division of Electronic Arts, included Mario, Luigi, and Peach as exclusive playable characters in the GameCube versions of its games NBA Street V3 and SSX on Tour, both of which were released in 2005.

Other media
The Mario franchise includes many TV series, comics, and manga based on the games. Most were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and have since become obscure. The games also spawned two film adaptations: an anime released in 1986, and a largely unsuccessful live action film released in 1993. Six of them were produced by DIC Entertainment.

Critical response
The Mario series is the largest video game franchise in existence, and has had a lifespan of over thirty years. It is often considered to be the greatest video game franchise of all time, receiving many high-scoring reviews on its various games. All of the main series entries have very high approval ratings on GameRankings; for example, Super Mario Bros. holds an 85% score, Super Mario Bros. 3 has 97%, Super Mario World has 94%, Super Mario 64 has 96%, and the first and second Super Mario Galaxy games both hold scores of 97%. Many of the franchise's spin-off games hold high GameRankings scores as well, such as Super Mario Kart, which holds a 93% score. So far, no game in the franchise has ever had a rating below 50%.

Mario is the best-selling video game franchise in history, with 31 of its games having sold more than 1 million copies since 1995. The games in the core series, alone, have sold a combined total of over 262 million units worldwide; the Mario Kart series has sold more than 78 million units; the Mario Party games have sold more than 38 million units; the Donkey Kong arcade game sold more than 125,000 machines, while its Coleco version sold six million cartridges; and Mario Bros. sold 1.72 million Famicom cartridges in its Japanese release. Mario's legacy has also been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records, which awarded the Nintendo mascot and the video games featuring him seven records in its 2008 "Gamer's Edition"; these include "Best Selling Video Game Series of All Time", "First Movie Based on an Existing Video Game", and "Most Prolific Video Game Character", with the character of Mario, himself, appearing in 116 distinct titles (not counting remakes or re-releases of existing games).

In the series, many games have been considered to be the best of their time by players. However, the series has been considered to have some games of lower quality. An example is the Mario Party sub-series; after the release of Mario Party 3, the series is considered to have lost its flair, as the games often contain the same mechanics. Super Mario Bros. was declared to be the greatest video game of all time twice: once by GamesRadar in 2000, and another time by IGN in 2003.

The Mario cartoons also were shown to have received favorable reviews. Though each of the series were short-lived, they were considered to be highly popular, attracting an audience of children to each episode.

Even with the success of the games and cartoons in the series, there was still a large production that attracted a lot of negative reviews. The Super Mario Bros. film is often considered to be a great failure. The film took over a $20 million gross loss in profits. Bob Hoskins, who played the role of Mario in the film, was recorded saying that the movie was a "nightmare". In the May 2006 issue of Nintendo Power, an interviewer from the magazine had said, "Yes, it happened. Let us speak no more of it." Hotel Mario has often been cited as one of the worst video games ever.

Cultural impact
The Mario franchise has culturally impacted a multitude of people over the years, with references and parodies in numerous entertainment media, and even in real life outside the media.

The Mario franchise has been referenced more times in video games than in any other medium. Many of Mario's fellow Nintendo properties, including The Legend of Zelda, Star Fox, F-Zero, Pokémon, Kirby, and Animal Crossing, have referenced the company's flagship franchise in very notable ways. Even games not produced by Nintendo―such as Minecraft, Super Meat Boy, Call of Duty, Just Dance 3, some of the Angry Birds games, and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts―have made various references to the Mario games and characters.

Mario characters and elements have been represented or parodied in numerous animated television series, including The Simpsons (in over a dozen episodes), The Ren and Stimpy Show, South Park, Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Mad (in 16 episodes), and Gravity Falls. Mario has also been referenced in such live-action shows as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, My Name is Earl, The Big Bang Theory, and Tosh.0.

In film, the Mario franchise has been referenced in such titles as Billy Madison, Ghostbusters II, and Wreck-It Ralph. One film, The Wizard, is notable for being the North American public's first exposure to Super Mario Bros. 3, as that game features prominently in the "Video Armageddon" tournament in the climax. The Mario franchise has also had minor representations in stage theatrical productions and advertising.

Many books have also referenced the Mario franchise, including the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series. The comics industry has also referenced the games in Western comic books, comic strips, and manga alike. Some publications have even been completely centered around Mario, such as several installments of the comic strip Foxtrot.

A number of musicians have referenced Mario in their music, such as Eminem, Ludacris, and Trace Adkins. Some songs have been dedicated to the popular series, such as the song "Birdo" by Horse the Band, which is loosely based off the same-named Super Mario Bros. 2 boss.

Additionally, the Mario franchise is highly popular on the Internet. Many websites and online games have poked fun at the series, and there are several sites that have dedicated themselves to it completely. Thousands of fan-made games, videos, comics, stories, and other materials dedicated to the Mario franchise and its games and characters exist on sites like Newgrounds, YouTube, FanFiction.net, and DeviantArt, among others; many of these fan-works have been viewed or accessed by tens or even hundreds of thousands of people. A few Internet memes have been based around Mario characters, and a multitude of YouTube videos have poked fun at one of the series' greatest blunders, Hotel Mario.