Mario – Biography of the character and how he has evolved

Mario is a best known as the protagonist of the eponymous video game that has been around for a number of years already. As a video game character, Mario has evolved over the past few years, and has even managed to star in various platforms other than the video games.



Mario was conceptualized by Shigeru Miyamoto when he was making best-selling video games for Nintendo. After the creation of Sheriff, that was not able to be as successful as Pac-Man, Miyamoto was able create a video game that featured Donkey Kong, Pauline, and Jumpman (the original name of Mario). Although he was named Jumpman at first, he was originally named "Mr. Video," and was a character in almost all of the games that Miyamoto created. Like most characters, Mario was based on other characters. In his case, Mario was based on Fujio Akatsuka and Osamu Tezuka.

The details of Mario as a character have also developed through the years, which is a far cry from his starting 8-bit form which consisted of bright red overalls and blue shirt. Although his overalls have become a bit of a trademark, not a lot of people know the story why Mario is in overalls. The reason why the first model of Mario was wearing bright red overalls and blue shirt was due to the fact that Miyamoto needed bright colors that would pop out against dark backgrounds, and overalls made Mario’s arms more visible. He also had a bulbous nose and a mustache so Miyamoto could skip creating a mouth. Then the hat was added so that there would be no hassle of thinking of Mario’s hairstyle whenever he jumped.

However, Miyamoto’s initial designs were not exactly coming up to what he planned as his sprite soon looked more like a plumber. As a result, Mario became a plumber, and by the time Mario Bros. was developed, Mario already wore blue overalls with a red shirt, fighting critters and other misfits in the sewers together with his sidekick and little brother, Luigi.



Mario’s job also developed through the years, although he is still the Italian plumber that he is. For instance, his old antics (video games) featured him jumping over critters, earning gold coins, attaining powers, and growing in size for better jumping and leaping powers. However, his current video games have expanded into other areas that include Mario rescuing Princess Peach, driving “karts,” racing against other game characters, and many more.

Design-wise, it can be said that the 8-bit format and design of Mario and his video games have also developed. These days, Mario has 3D versions of himself, and has even seen himself via other versions such as Baby Mario and Wario. His power-ups no longer show him clothed in white overalls, rather he has several costume changes, especially in more recent versions. This is mainly because developers these days have more freedom taking note of details and graphics.

Since his creation, Mario has retained his portly plumber appearance, and most of his “powers” or “specialties” are still intact despite the numerous changes.