BY JC FLETCHER

The adventures of Mario Mario and his brother Luigi have been told in many stories, and relived many times by children and adults. For two men who are essentially ordinary plumbers with preternatural jumping abilities, their lives have been extraordinarily unusual.

Following his rescue of Pauline from Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong), Mario captured the freakishly large ape and held him in a cage until Kong's son Donkey Kong Jr. came to his rescue. (Donkey Kong Jr.)
Soured on carpentry and unable to make money exhibiting Donkey Kong, Mario and Luigi went into the plumbing business, as they attempted to rid the Brooklyn sewers of crabs, turtle monsters and other assorted pests. Coins aplenty were gathered during this adventure, so it seems that the Marios stuck to plumbing.
A trip through a wayward pipe brought the brothers to the Mushroom Kingdom, the site of most of their adventures, and specifically their most famous one: the first rescue of Princess Peach from the evil Bowser, king of the Koopa turtles (the monsters described earlier.) (Super Mario Bros., 1985)


Super Mario Bros. 1985
It is here that Mario and Luigi discover the ability of the native mushrooms to grant increased size and strength to whoever consumes them; also, a native plant is found to give Mario and Luigi the ability to throw fireballs. Mario and Luigi rescued the Princess every time they were called; soon after their first mission they were called to save Peach again from Bowser and his children, all of whom had battle-ready warships floating above areas of the Mushroom Kingdom. Here Mario and Luigi found magical items such as the Frog and Tanooki Suits and the giant Kuribo's Shoe (my favorite part of any Mario game to date --JC).
(Super Mario Bros. 3, 1990)

Super Mario Bros. 3, 1990
Mario has teamed up with Yoshi the Dinosaur in Dinosaur Land, (Super Mario World, 1991) Luigi, Princess Peach, and one of her mushroom-capped retainers, Toad, in a dream adventure ( Super Mario Bros. 2, 1988) and even with his archnemesis Bowser to defeat the giant sword Smithy that pierced Bowser's castle. (Super Mario RPG, 1996)

Super Mario World, 1991
He has even revolutionized the science of pathology with his "pill-tossing" virus treatment. (Dr.Mario, 1990) Mario is an expert sportsman as well. When not on Princess-rescuing or evil-defeating duty, Mario and most of the other Mushroom Kingdom luminaries, Bowser included, have been known to race go-karts together (Super Mario Kart, 1992) and play the occasional round of golf or tennis.

Super Mario Sunshine, 2002

COMMENTARY:

I know I already talked about Mario last week, but the fact (well, "fact") is that not only is Mario probably the most popular video game character of all time (Guiness lists Super Mario Bros. 3 as the best-selling video game of all time), but Super Mario Bros. was a truly gigantic leap in the creation of video game worlds.
The Mushroom Kingdom that Mario travels in is so large, and so varied, that the player truly feels like he is taking Mario on a long, mythical journey. Super Mario Bros. is not the first game of its type, but the only one to come before was the inferior and less-noticed Pac-Land, starring (you guessed it) Pac-Man. Mario's games have always featured whimsical, inventive gameplay, varied level design, and just enough plain weirdness to make them appeal to gamers of all ages.
This overview fails to capture the breadth of Mario's adventures. Mario has featured in so many games that 1000 words is painfully insufficient to recount all of his stories. I encourage any interested parties to investigate the full list of Mario appearances at the Mushroom Kingdom site linked so many times within the story.
This marks not only the second Nintendo game to be featured in this project, but also the second game (series) designed by Shigeru Miyamoto.

It won't be the last I write about.

W. Dan "Deezer." The Mushroom Kingdom.
http://www.classicgaming.com/tmk/
Exhaustive Mario resource. Chronicles every Mario game and cameo appearance. This site was used for reference regarding individual game storylines, as well as screenshots and links to game information.

"Coin-Op Museum: Mario Bros." Killer List of Videogames.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=M&game_id=8624
Information about the Mario Bros. arcade game. Used for marquee artwork.

"Coin-Op Museum: Vs. Super Mario Bros." Killer List of Videogames.
http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=V&game_id=10371
Information about the Vs. Super Mario Bros. arcade port of Super Mario Bros.
Used for marquee artwork.