Mario

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

Mario is the titular protagonist of a long-running series of videogames, and is generally regarded as the most famous of all videogame protagonists, if not the very first of them(Pac-Man beats him by only a year). The Super Mario franchise is vast, covering decades of games, with brief forays into cartoons, comics, and even choose-your-own-path books, but the fundamental plot has remained consistent and he remains a surprisingly well-liked character.

His most ancient backstory, which has technically never been retconned (and later confirmed in the new movie), is that Mario and his less famous brother Luigi are Italian-American plumbers from Brooklyn who accidentally stumbled into a dimensional portal whilst trying to unclog a drain. This stranded them in the magical Mushroom Kingdom, which was being invaded by the evil Koopa Kingdom, led by a monstrous Dragon Turtle/Tarrasque/Kappa hybrid called King Bowser Koopa. Although Mario and Luigi beat up Bowser and rescued Princess Peach Toadstool, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser vowed revenge, and they found themselves drafted thereafter as the chosen ones of the Mushroom Kingdom. Note that Mario "canon" is a very loose term (his creator Shigeru Miyamoto is a big fan of the Story-as-Excuse style of Video Games It took twenty years before he admitted that Super Mario Bros. 3 was supposed to be a stage play). Yoshi's Island, after all, had a bunch of Yoshis delivering the Bros Stork-style to be born in the Mushroom Kingdom.

Fun fact: Mario technically shares a world with Donkey Kong and his Kong clan of apes as well as the witch-battling bear & bird duo of Banjo & Kazooie. O at least has easy access to their world via magical portals.

The Mario franchise is built on its platformer games, but by being Nintendo's mascot, he stars in a bewildering number of spinoffs that include racing, sports, party games, edutainment, and RPGs; this last one is most relevant to /tg/ as it shows the potential of the Mario universe for adaptation to tabletop. At least two attempts to create a roleplaying game set in the Super Marioverse exist:

• Super Mario RPG
• Super Mario World: Pipes and Plumbers

Characters

Mario, half-jokingly named "Mario Mario" in the infamously awful 90s live-action movie... yes, that was a thing... Mario is the short but adventurous, curious, resourceful and heroic plumber turned defender of the Mushroom Kingdom, he never loses hope, and always strives to achieve his hopes, apart from the fact that he is very protective of Luigi, and always takes care of him on many occasions, sometimes may act impulsively, if they provoke or annoy their friends or brother, but always is a selfless guy, since he always helps everyone without having anything in return.

Luigi, aka "Luigi Mario", is Mario's quirky younger brother, although taller than his sibling. Luigi is optimistic like his brother but Compared to Mario, Luigi is more coward, silly and clumsy as well as being prone to bad luck, But despite being a coward and having misfortunes, he never gives up, and he always remains optimistic and hopeful, even if he is scared or terrified. He's never really managed to get out of Mario's shadow, although at least one of the Paper Mario games implies he goes off on his own adventures, he is an equal adventuring party buddy in the "Mario & Luigi" games series, and he does have his own trilogy of games, "Luigi's Mansion", which revolves around Luigi busting ghosts.

Princess Peach Toadstool is the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. She is a sweet, kind, sympathetic and caring princess, who is always affectionate with all her subjects. Though she has been a playable secondary character in a few games, and did get to be the hero once, she's mostly just your iconic Damsel In Distress. She was originally called just "Princess Toadstool", but nowadays people call her "Princess Peach" instead.

Princess Daisy began as a low effort hair & palette swap of Peach for the Game Boy game Super Mario Land. She then appeared in the occasional game that needed a second female character and eventually became a love interest for Luigi, and has never really evolved beyond that. She's pretty loud, extroverted, energetic, headstrong, spunky and competitive and not afraid to be herself, Daisy is a princess tomboy who becomes very rough and can be a short-temperament. Unfortunately, she doesn't appear in nearly enough games to establish this independently.

Rosalina is technically the third Mario princess(though never called Princess, she has the dress and crown), debuting in Super Mario Galaxy, where she helped Mario search the cosmos to rescue Peach and stop Bowser from remaking the universe. She is apparently immortal, and cares for the Lumas (star-like creatures that transform into solar systems and other cosmic phenomena), effectively making her the closest thing the Mario universe has to a God(dess). Despite only really featuring in one game, she has naturally proven very popular, and appears in spin-offs all over the place.

Pauline is the woman that Mario rescued from Donkey Kong back in the day, so she's basically his ex-girlfriend. She re-appeared in the Game Boy Color Donkey Kong games, where it's shown that she and Mario are still good friends. Then she re-re-appeared in Super Mario Odyssey as the Mayor of New Donk City, where she showed that she can sing too.

King Bowser Koopa, more commonly known these days as simply "Bowser", is a hulking turtle-like dragon and the leader of his own kingdom who wants to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom. He is shown to have something of a twisted crush on Princess Peach. Like her, he used to be known as King Koopa, but is nowadays just called Bowser. In the game Super Mario Bros. 3, he gained a cabal of elite underlings in the form of seven juvenile Bowser-esque creatures called the Koopalings; these were originally portrayed as his children, a state they continued into the Super Mario World game, but afterwards they were unceremoniously replaced by a mini-Bowser called "Bowser Jr."; whilst the Koopalings would eventually be brought back into canon, they lost their status as Bowser's sons (and one daughter). Is really dumb moments with his son shown him being a good dad. Despite being Mario's sworn enemy, he will join him go kart races, parties, playing sports, which makes him seem like he's a great guy to be around when he's not being evil.

Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings: The Koopalings -- Larry Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. Koopa, Iggy Koopa, Lemmy Koopa, Roy Koopa, and Ludwig Von Koopa; were introduced in Super Mario Bros 3, where they were portrayed as Bowser's children. They repeated this role in Super Mario World, showed up in a few spinoffs, then seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. Then when Super Mario Sunshine came out, Bowser popped up with only one child, Bowser Jr, who served as the villain for most of that game. Then the Koopalings started appearing again, starting in the Mario & Luigi spinoffs. Current Nintendo canon(such as it is in a loose series like this) is that Junior is Bowser's only child, while the Koopalings are high-ranking minions. Ironically, they are often seen working under Junior, and in the Super Smash Bros. games even serve as Junior's alt colors.

Bowsette

This article or section is about Monstergirls (or a monster that is frequently depicted as a Monstergirl), something that /tg/ widely considers to be the purest form of awesome. Expect PROMOTIONS! and /d/elight in equal measure, often with drawfaggotry or writefaggotry to match.

Long story short, one of the few good things to come out of the years just prior to 2020 was a Mario meme. After the release of Super Mario Odyssey, which ends with both Mario and Bowser proposing to Princess Peach, only for her to reject them both, a later trailer for an upcoming Mario game revealed a new powerup; the Super Crown, which would transform Toadette into a near-clone of Princess Peach.

Cue one madlad drawing a short comic of Bowser and Mario, humiliated by Peach's Odyssey rejection, coming up with a new plan; Bowser pulls out a Super Crown, and Mario starts dating Bowser, now a hot half-Koopa half-Peach monstergirl.

The internet exploded over these, and the meme, whilst it ultimately burned out, eventually got so huge that Nintendo put forth an official declaration that they would not be making Bowsette canon(it would later be leaked that Nintendo actually had toyed with the idea on their own first via having Bowser possess Peach using Odyssey's capture mechanic). Too late to do anything about the huge array of Bowsette or other Super Crown-transformed fanart, or the Bowsette & Mario webcomic, of course.

Races

Toads: Short, cartoony humanoids wearing mushroom cap-inspired... well, caps. The residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, and mostly a bunch of useless cowards. (Unless this is a 4 player Mario game, in which case one or two of them will join Mario.)

Goombas: Ancient lore is that these were Toads who turned traitor and sided with Bowser when he first attacked the Mushroom Kingdom. For whatever reason, their art style remained with the original "walking mushroom with eyes and a mouth" design whilst Toads got to be humans, and they're basically no longer considered to be the same species. Despite looking a lot like cuter versions of squigs, they're both pathetically weak and actually quite intelligent. Non-evil goombas have steadily become a thing in Mario canon.

Koopas: A race of turtles who typically serve Bowser, hence his ancient moniker of "King Koopa". As Bowser's main minions, they come in a fair number of varieties/subspecies':

• Koopa Troopas are the basic model. Originally portrayed as quadrupedal, after Super Mario World they started being depicted as bipeds, which has eventually stuck. They are typically seen in two models, with appropriate behaviors: Green Troopas walk forwards unfailingly, even off ledges and into bottomless pits, while Red Troopas patrol the platform they're on and have the sense to turn around when they reach the ledge. Jumping on them causes them to either withdraw into their shell, or sometimes pops them right out of it.
• Paratroopas Are Koopa Troopas with wings on their shells. They fly around, but if stomped on lose their wings.
• Lakitus are cloud-riding Koopas who fly around above Mario's reach and usually drop an endless supply of spiked turtles called Spinys.
• Hammer Bros are elite Koopas who always stand upright and attack by throwing hammers. Later games also add variations such as the giant Sledge Bro, or varieties that throw boomerangs or fireballs.
• Magikoopas are Koopa Wizards who fly or teleport around casting spells that have random effects on any blocks they hit, and bad effects on any Marios they hit.
• Boom Boom a powerful Koopa(just under the Koopalings) with strong arms who often serves as a Sub-Boss within worlds. Has recently gotten a female counterpart named Pom Pom who hurls boomerangs or is a straight-up Ninja. It's not quite clear if there is a single Boom Boom(and Pom Pom), or if they're a minion class like other Koopas.

Yoshis: Strange creatures that seem to be a mix of a dinosaur or a dragon, a turtle, and a frog. They like to act as mounts for Mario and Luigi. They can use their long tongues to swallow enemies whole. Though always referred to as male, they are hermaphrodites that lay eggs they can use as weapons.

Boos: Spherical ghosts. In most games they cannot move while you are looking at them because they are shy. There is a giant Boss Boo called King Boo, who recently is becoming something of a rival to Luigi due to his ghost-busting ways

Bob-ombs: Walking bombs. In games in which it matters, it's implied that they survive the explosion, although it takes them a while to respawn.

Bullet Bills: Whether they're actually sentient or alive is arguable, and even then probably varies from game to game, but these guys are somewhat-slow-moving bullets with faces.

Chain Chomp: Stop me if you've heard this one -- You're a kid walking through your neighborhood. As you near a certain yard, your heart skips a beat. You try to pass by as quicky or as quietly as you can, but it's no good. A rattling of chains, and suddenly a mass of fur and fury is right in your face, frothing and barking angrily. It might be a Bulldog, a German Shepard, a Rottweiler, a Pit Bull, or any other large and intimidating guard dog. The fence is your only salvation, because you are certain that if that chain were any longer, this monster would devour you on the spot. This classic moment of childhood terror is the basis of the Chain Chomp. Take your classic prisoner iron Ball and Chain and give it a bear trap for teeth and the temperament of a very angry guard dog.

Penguins: Usually non-hostile, but not quite friendly either. Has a pitiful monarch in the 2023 movie, who gets easily mooked on by Bowser.

Piranha Plant: Carnivorous plants of varying types. Typically found lurking in pipes.

Pokey: Wandering Cactuses whose heads are more vulnerable then their bodies.

Shy Guy: These short guys wear hooded robes and wear white masks. There is a surprising amount of Monstergirl fanart of them.

Thwomp: A rocky, often spikey creature that hangs in the air and tries to drop on Mario when he passes underneath. Fun Fact: The Pathfinder 1e splatbook Dungeoneer's Handbook includes a spell called "Conjure Deadfall" that basically creates a Thwomp above the target and drops it on them.

Various aquatic species: Just about every Mario game has several underwater sections, with their own collection of monsters. Some notables include Cheep-cheeps (enemy fish), Bloopers (enemy octopi), Sea Urchins, and Dorrie, a friendly sauropod.

Various undead species: There are a bunch of monsters who are usually pretty unkillable who are skeletons. Notable cases include Dry Bones (a skeleton koopa), Dry Bowser (skeleton version of Bowser; sometimes a separate character or just a powered-up version of Bowser), and Fish Bone (a skeleton fish)

The TV Show

Back in the late 80's, Mario got a (super) show during the Week that focused on his animated adventures during the weekdays and on Link from Zelda's animated adventures on the weekends. There were also live-action segments prior to the start of both of these and both just before and after commercial break. Of note was the fact this version of Mario was portrayed by WWE pro wrestler Captain Lou Albano, may he rest in peace, while Luigi was played by comedian Danny Wells. Alongside the basic animated show (which on Fridays would be swapped off for an equally memetastic Legend of Zelda cartoon with a Link so annoying that it makes sense why he's mute everywhere else), this show would have live action skits featuring celebrity guests each week within character, as well outside of the show, Albano did a few Drug PSA's in Mario costume which have become legendary memes ("If you do drugs, you go to Hell before you die!"). Some of their guests included G.I. Joe character and wrestler "Sergeant Slaughter", Inspector Gadget and and musician Cyndi Lauper. The animated part of the show is a bit corny, but the live action sequences were awesome.

Later the show would shift gears to focus on Super Mario Bros 3 and then Super Mario World before ending, with the live-action portions being dropped somewhere along the way.

Much rarer are the tales of a supposed third show, hosted by a live-action Koopa of all things while also showing a bunch of public domain cartoons. The fact that we can only say "tales" just shows how little of it is remembered.

The First Movie

Because when you think of "Mario", you think of a dystopic city ruled by Bowser.

Whilst the first movie in 1993 was given rather negative reviews, it wasn't all bad. Taking place in an alternate version of New York City in a timeline where Dinosaurs never went extinct but instead evolved into humanoids, the setting was best described as the elements of Mario turned into a slurry and mixed with a heaping helping of Cyberpunk. King Koopa himself (played by the late Dennis Hopper) was even portrayed as a figure similar to Donald Trump, who at the time wasn't involved in politics and didn't have nearly as many people calling for his head on a pike.

Many of the strange artistic choices in this movie came down to Nintendo taking a hands-off approach as they believed that the Mario brand was strong enough that if the movie turned out weird it wouldn’t hurt them (which is exactly how things turned out); the end result was a lack of cohesive vision for the film. The directors wanted a Burton-esque dinosaur parody of NYC, the screenwriters wanted an adult and female-driven treatment, and then the producers remembered that this was supposed to be a kids film and had to do some last minute touch ups to try and steer the film back to their target audience. Overall it’s a strange, confusing fever dream of a film that has almost nothing to do with the Mario brothers (though Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo deserve praise for holding their own as the stars of this mess despite not looking anything like brothers), but it’s still a funny little cultural artifact in its own right.

Illumination’s Super Mario Bros Movie

Thirty years after the commercial failure of the previous film, Nintendo started shopping around for a studio to give it another go, and settled on Illumination, who had been quite successful with their Minions franchise and other children’s animated films. After the official announcement people became very excited - up until it was announced that Chris Pratt would play Mario, who is not known for his voice work and was believed to have been cast for name recognition only. He also doesn’t do a very strong Brooklyn accent compared to Charlie Day’s Luigi nor a deep NYC accent like Charles Martinet(the voice of Mario in the games) himself can.(Search Youtube for the Grossology edutainment game) That being said, the rest of the casting choices were spot-on, and the trailers looked like this film would be way more faithful to the Mario universe including callbacks to all sorts of Easter eggs, including the theme song from the Super Mario Bros Super Show, Rainbow Road, Donkey Kong, etc. It turned out to be a smash hit!