Mario The Most Well Known Character In Gaming History

Mario is the fictional character who stars in his very own eponymous video game series. He made his first appearance in the platform game together with Donkey Kong, although he has surpassed DK (short for Donkey Kong) in terms of popularity, and has risen fast up the charts and is known as the most famous video game character in history.



Perhaps it can be said that a huge part of his fame and exposure stems from the fact that Mario is Nintendo’s mascot as well as for being the star of his video games which have been around for a number of years. In fact, it has been almost 30 years since Mario’s first appearance in Donkey Kong, yet even today, he has managed to change continuously together with the changes in technology.

Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, was a video game developer of Nintendo, and prior to the creation of Mario, he was struggling to create a best-selling game that would surpass older games such as Sheriff and Pac-Man. Although Mario is known as “Mario,” he was originally drafted as Jumpman, who would be among the many characters during his time like Pauline and DK.

Aside from being the mascot of Nintendo, Mario has also appeared in a television series together with his brother Luigi. It can also be said that the accompanying story that goes with Mario and Luigi’s existence allows for better relevance between games and the introduction of other characters often boost Mario’s visibility and popularity among gamers.



There is also a certain appeal to Mario because of his occupation. Mario is a “portly plumber” who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom together with his brother Luigi. Being a plumber and at the same time the hero of the game, Mario becomes more of an underdog when he goes out to save the Princess, despite not being a “Knight in Shining Armor” as what most games or stories would have. With the “regular person” being the hero of the story, it does tickle the fancy of those who may have gotten bored with the usual storylines and together with Mario’s sidekick of a brother, the two make an unlikely underdog pair that makes it easy to remember.

For being one of the longest running video games, as well as for creating many follow ups aside from his initial release, Mario has won the hearts and minds of children and those who are kids at heart. Due to his popularity, Mario is also known as the ultimate icon that represents the gaming industry. In fact, the Mario video games have more than 200 million copies all over the world, and is known for being the best selling video game franchise of all time.

In addition to the icon status, Mario is known to be the first video game character to have a wax figure modeled and displayed at the Hollywood Wax Museum. Plus, according to past surveys, Mario is easily more recognizable to kids than Mickey Mouse.

With all the merchandise, comic books, feature film, lunch boxes, shirts, and more. Who would not be as well known as Mario?