Mario: Difference between revisions

Mario's distinctive look is due to technology restrictions in the mid-1980s, particularly Nintendo's inability to depict Popeye. With a limited number of pixels and colors, the game developers, including Mario's creator, [[Shigeru Miyamoto]], could not animate Mario's movement without making his arms "disappear" if his shirt was a solid color, so they gave Mario overalls. The developers additionally did not have the space to give him a mouth, the result of Mario's mustache. Mario has a big nose to have his face read better in the limited pixel space. Mario was made stocky so he covers best in the space he was allocated in. Finally, they used a cap to bypass the problem of animating and drawing hair. Mario's gloves were a later addition by the artist Zavier Leslie Cabarga for the North American poster for ''Donkey Kong''.

Mario has undergone major changes since his initial appearance in ''Donkey Kong'' up until ''Super Mario Bros.'' In ''Donkey Kong'', Mario initially appears lankier with a more realistic-looking red nose and a cleft chin. In some portrayals in ''Donkey Kong Jr.'', however, he appears stouter with a round nose, which resembles more closely to Mario's current design, although some promotional art retains Mario's original ''Donkey Kong'' design. The stubbier design is retained in ''Mario Bros.'', with a few changes. It is not until ''Super Mario Bros.'' where he resembles as he is today, with the familiar blue eyes, full hair, a red cap with an insignia, a distinct mustache, a large round nose, large hands, and other features. However, due to color limitations at the time, his in-game design did not fully match the artwork, such as having black hair like his mustache instead of brown, white overall buttons instead of yellow ones in ''[[Super Mario World]]'', and his hair in ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' had a more reddish-brown color and was not very defined in shape below his hat. Before ''[[Super Mario Bros. 2]]'', the colors of his shirt and overalls were reversed until ''Super Mario World'' and the remade sprites of ''[[Super Mario All-Stars]]'', and he also did not wear his gloves. His neck is very short and rarely visible due to his round and and slightly disproportionate head compared to the rest of his body and the position of his chin.

Though Mario was originally imagined as middle-aged, his changes in design made him noticeably younger, and his age has been approximated to be about 26 years old,<ref>[http://themushroomkingdom.net/ssbm_j2e.shtml#trophies ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'' (set to Japanese).] The Mushroom Kingdom. (Retrieved May 29, 2010)</ref> while Shigeru Miyamoto later placed it at either 24 or 25.<ref>Griffin, A. (September 30, 2016) [http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/mario-super-age-24-25-nintendo-shigeru-miyamoto-game-character-a7338911.html Mario is only 24 years old, creator Shigeru Miyamoto says in unearthed interview]. ''Independent''. Retrieved October 1, 2016.</ref> The pamphlet for ''Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen!'' estimates his age at around 25. The comic ''[[Mario vs. Wario]]'' also implies Mario (and Wario) is roughly in his late 20s or early 30s, as he recalls his childhood 20 years ago.

While Mario is consistently portrayed as a short character, his precise height and proportions vary across media. An Amazon listing for a figure of Mario that is marketed as "life-size" lists its height as 150 cm (4 ft 11 in.) tall.<ref>[https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B005BLYI2O ''Amazon'' page for the life-size figure of Mario]</ref> The pamphlet for ''Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen!'' gives his height as 150 cm and weight as 70 kg (154 lbs.) Crossover artwork featuring Mario and [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] (who stands at 1 m / 3 ft 3 in.) shows Mario at around the same height as him, if not two or three inches shorter due to Sonic's quills. Mario's height relationship with other humans has been varied. Some media, such as ''Super Mario Odyssey'' and ''Mario's Time Machine'', show Mario as much shorter than a realistic human, while others, including ''Mario Golf'' and the DIC cartoons, show Mario's height closer relative to other humans. The director of ''Super Mario Odyssey'', [[Kenta Motokura]], stated in an interview that New Donk City was realistic to showcase the extent of Mario's abilities in a realistic environment for a scale that is easy to understand,<ref>rawmeatcowboy (October 22, 2017). "[https://gonintendo.com/stories/293589-super-mario-odyssey-director-explains-why-new-donk-city-takes-a-r Super Mario Odyssey director explains why New Donk City takes a realistic approach with its visuals]" ''GoNintendo''. Retrieved November 28, 2020.</ref> while Shigeru Miyamoto referred to the humans of New Donk City as "normal people."<ref>Sinha, Ravi (June 28, 2017). "[https://gamingbolt.com/super-mario-odyssey-miyamoto-was-worried-about-initial-reaction Super Mario Odyssey: Miyamoto Was "Worried" About Initial Reaction]" ''GamingBolt''. Retrieved November 28, 2020.</ref> As far as in-game information or other official materials are concerned, Mario does not have a specified height.  

Merchandise for the original ''Donkey Kong'' showed Mario as balding, although most media depict Mario with a full set of hair. He has short chocolate brown hair with three front locks, four back locks and a sprout-shaped cowlick on the top of his head. The most notable change Mario has received over the years since ''Super Mario Bros.'' (omitting stylistic variations such as depictions in ''Paper Mario'') is his change in stature; Mario is shown to be much stubbier in his earlier appearances compared to his more recent appearances, starting with ''Super Mario 64''. Mario's legs and arms have grown longer over the years, giving him a slimmer look. This may have been the result of Shigeru Miyamoto's response to Mario's and Luigi's "cute" appearances, and he considered redesigning the Mario Bros. to "become a bit more grown-up" in the [[Nintendo GameCube|GameCube]] era—for instance, by removing their trademark {{wp|V sign}}.<ref>[http://cube.ign.com/articles/069/069250p1.html IGN] (Accessed on 7-6-09)</ref>

In ''[[Super Mario 64]]'', Mario is depicted with darker blue overalls and bigger eyes than in his current appearance based on the one in ''[[Luigi's Mansion]]''. He has a slightly darker skin, his ears are also rounder, his overall straps are longer, and his cap is less round. Mario is overall less defined in the game artwork of the time due to the older software used to design him. The differences in Mario's 3D art over time, as a result, is more pronounced than the differences in Mario's 2D art since ''Super Mario Bros.'' Ever since ''Luigi's Mansion'', however, Mario has received only minor proportion changes to his general appearance, becoming taller and slimmer, though still chubby and with brighter colors on his clothes, skin and hair, pockets on his overalls and added detail in his shoes, eyes, and hat in most game artwork since ''[[Super Mario 3D World]]''. While he always a fair complexion, the tone of his skin has become inconsistent over the course of the more recent games, sometimes taking on a peach tone like in the more recent artwork, including the updated versions of the existing ones, and at times not.

Mario has a few stylistic variations across some games, sometimes within series. One variation is Mario's overall appearance in the ''Paper Mario'' games: it is generally the same, with black dots for eyes and no eyebrows, although he has a shorter stature. Since ''Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door'', however, Mario's body is more simplistic, with legless feet, a rounder face, and a full outline around the arms. In addition, starting with ''Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam'', all of Mario's paper appearances have depicted him with a white outline around his entire body. Another variation is Mario's depiction in the ''Mario & Luigi'' games, although it is more subtle, where Mario is given black eyes rather than blue.  

The ''Super Smash Bros.'' series also has Mario's appearance change between games. In ''Super Smash Bros.'' for Nintendo 64, Mario's appearance is derived from ''Super Mario 64'' but with minor alterations, such as a slimmer appearance. In ''Super Smash Bros. Melee'', Mario's design incorporates elements from ''Mario Kart 64'' and ''Super Mario World'', as well as official artwork from the Nintendo 64 era. Mario's hair and clothing have more detail in them, with his overalls particularly sporting back pockets and having denim textures, similar to his sprite in ''Super Mario World''. In ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'', Mario's back pockets return, but his overall design is updated to resemble his appearances in ''Super Mario Sunshine'' and later games. However, Mario's color scheme is darker than before, while his hair and clothing have more-realistic detailing. In ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'' / ''Wii U'', Mario's design is slimmer and more vibrant, matching his appearances in games like ''Super Mario 3D Land'', ''Mario Kart 7'', ''Super Mario 3D World'', and ''Mario Kart 8''. As an accompaniment, Mario's hair and clothing have much less detailing. In ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'', Mario's design is mostly the same, aside from a more subdued color scheme and simple detailing in his hair and clothing, but not to the same extent as ''Melee'' and ''Brawl''. ''Super Mario Odyssey'' has realistic details on his hair and overalls, and some other games also retain the realistic details to an extent.

Mario's trademark is [[Mario Cap|his red cap]] with his red ''M'' insignia. Mario's cap is sometimes an important and even mandatory accessory in some games, such as ''Super Mario 64'', where he takes more damage without his cap. In ''Super Mario Sunshine'', if Mario loses his cap, he acquires damage over time from the heat of the sun. In most media, however, Mario's cap is treated as a mere accessory, and Mario can go capless in some games without any additional effect, such as in ''New Super Mario Bros. Wii'' after obtaining 99 lives. In some games, such as ''[[Super Mario 3D Land]]'', if Mario is in [[Small Mario|small form]], he is seen without his cap, although it is no different from the other incarnations of the small form. In ''[[Super Mario Odyssey]]'', Mario's default cap is replaced with [[Cappy]], which can be replaced with other hats in the [[Crazy Cap]] stores as well. Additionally, Mario has over 40 outfits available to wear, which can range from recolors to resemble [[Luigi]], [[Wario]], or [[Waluigi]] to unique outfits that see Mario dressed as a pirate, astronaut, knight, musician, in swim attire, or even as Princess Peach in her wedding gown. In ''[[Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020]]'', Mario wears different outfits depending on the sport or activity being played.

Mario has seen some variations to his outfit in the games. In ''Super Mario Sunshine'', for instance, Mario has shorter sleeves. In addition, Mario can wear a tropical shirt over his normal shirt, along with sunglasses that darken the screen, if he talks to the [[Sunglasses vendor]]. Mario also usually gains alternate outfits when using power-ups, from simple recolors to covering his whole body, such as [[Fire Mario]], [[Tanooki Mario]], [[Propeller Mario]], [[Flying Squirrel Mario]], and [[Cat Mario]]. Finally, Mario can resemble different characters, even outside the ''Super Mario'' franchise, by using a [[Mystery Mushroom]] to change into one of the various forms of Costume Mario in ''Super Mario Maker''.

Although mostly seen with his default plumber attire, Mario has also worn several alternate outfits in the spin-off games, including but not limited to ''Dr. Mario'', ''NES Open Tournament Golf'', ''Mario's Picross'', the ''Mario Strikers'' games, and ''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020''.