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Mario is a character first appearing as protagonist in the arcade game Donkey Kong released in 1981. Since Mario Bros., Mario has made numerous appearances as a main character in his own series of games, the Mario series, and has become the mascot of Nintendo. Since Super Mario Bros., his trademark abilities have been his jumping powers with which he defeats most of his enemies, and his ability to change size and gain powers with a plethora of items such as the Super Mushroom. Games have always portrayed Mario as a silent character without a distinct personality. According to Nintendo's philosophy, this allows Mario to fit in many different genres and roles.

Beginnings in Donkey Kong
After Shigeru Miyamoto was denied the rights of the Popeye franchise to use in his arcade game Donkey Kong, he created the character of Jumpman. This character wore blue overalls and a red shirt, and was given a hat, a mustache and gloves because hair, a mouth and hands were impossible to animate on the arcade system. The overall was given to the character to make animation easier. For the American release of the game, the Jumpman character was renamed to Mario when an employee at Nintendo of America's office in New York City pointed out the similar physical appearances of Jumpman and Nintendo's Italian landlord, Mario Segale.

In Donkey Kong, released in 1981, Mario is a construction worker with the mission to rescue his girlfriend Pauline from the clutches of the giant ape Donkey Kong, who abducted her to a construction site. With the one button of the game, the player can make Mario jump over obstacles. Mario also uses hammers as an item. Jumping can only be used to jump over obstacles, not to defeat them as is a prominent feature in later games.

In Donkey Kong Jr., Mario appears as the antagonist, having captured Donkey Kong and holding the ape in a cage. Mario opposes the protagonist Donkey Kong Jr. who rescues his father in the end. Another game depicturing Mario as the tamer of Donkey Kong is the Game & Watch title Donkey Kong Circus, in which Mario only appears in the background.

Other Early Appearances
After a failed attempt at a game featuring the Donkey Kong character without Mario in Donkey Kong 3, Mario was giving his own starring series beginning with the release of the arcade game Mario Bros. in 1983. Only Mario's physical appearance was taken from earlier titles, the character was now a plumber working in the sewers of New York and fighting an endless number of creatures such as Shellcreepers and Sidesteppers in the sewers. Unlike later games, the player will have to make Mario jump against the ceiling of a platform from below in order to stun all enemies currently walking directly above it. When the player approches the stunned enemies, Mario will kick the enemies out of the screen, rendering them defeated. In the two-player mode of the game, player 2 plays a palette swap of Mario, named his brother Luigi, donning green where Mario wears red. Luigi would get a personality and set of abilities more distinctive from Mario in later games.

In Wrecking Crew, Mario and Luigi appeared as workers on a demolition site, using hammers similar to those previously seen in Donkey Kong.

Super Mario Bros. series
Since Super Mario Bros., Mario is portrayed as living in the fictional realm known as the Mushroom Kingdom. In the game, Mario's goal is to rescue Princess Toadstool (later known as Peach) from the Bowser, the king of the Koopas. The game is the first in the series in which regular enemies such as Goombas can be killed and Koopas can be stunned by jumping on them from above. Stunned Koopas, hiding in their shells, can be picked up by Mario and thrown. The player can also gain power-ups and coins from having Mario jump against Question Blocks and Brick Blocks. The game starts Mario out as Small Mario, who will die from any enemy attack in one hit. By using Super Mushrooms, the player can make Mario grow into Super Mario, who has an additional hit point (turning back to Small Mario after being hit). Super Mario has access to the Fire Flower, which lets him throw Fireballs that can completely knock out enemies such as Koopas or False Bowsers, and Mario can become invincibile for a short amount of time with the Starman item.

Mario's role and powers remain mostly the same in the sequels Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario Land, New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Each game has the same plot of a princess being kidnapped, and Mario and other protagonists having to safe her from a villain. While new power-ups and moves are introduced, there is no deviation from the basic formula and Mario's character is unchanged and his personality remains unwritten. In The Lost Levels, Mario's traction and jumping height remain the same, while those for Luigi are changed to differenciate him more from Mario. Super Mario World introduced Yoshi as a sidekick character to Mario. Mario can ride Yoshis, and so gaining varying new powers.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is a deviation from the standard formula of the series. The game was entirely based on the Japanese game Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, with Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad being swapped in instead of the original characters, and few other references like the Mushroom thrown in. In contrast to the other characters, Mario is a balanced character with no special abilities. The gameplay is vastly different: Enemies can no longer be defeated by jumping on them, and Mario gains the power to pick up enemies, lift them over his head and throw them, a feature later reused in the Game Boy version of Donkey Kong and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series of games. The story of the game, in which the character(s) of the player's choice frees the dream land Subcon from the tyrant Wart, is rendered as merely having been a dream of Mario.

In Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, a new antagonist to Mario named Wario is introduced, who took over Mario's Castle while Mario rescued Princess Daisy in Sarasaland (the events of Super Mario Land). The player's objective here is to regain control of Mario's castle, now known as Wario's Castle.

Princess Peach
While the original Super Mario Bros. reveals no relation between Mario and Princess Toadstool, the remake Super Mario All-Stars shows the princess kiss Mario after being rescued.