Portal: Mario
| |
| Mario Brothers | |
| Developer | Nintendo |
| Games | List of all games |
| Debut | Donkey Kong (1981) |
| Gallery | GH Gallery |
The foremost video game series by Nintendo and one of the most expansive in the industry. Mario takes his roots back in the original Donkey Kong game that first appeared in the arcades. Since then Mario has grown into his own series of self-titled games with several spinoff series ranging from sports, RPGs, party games, and independent games for other characters such as Wario, Peach, Yoshi, and Luigi.
History
The franchise itself is the brainchild of Shigeru Miyamoto and though most of the games in the franchise are made without him, he has remained the guiding hand for all of the games in the series primary series of platforming adventure games. The "Mario Brothers" first came into being in the Mario Bros. arcade game where players pit Donkey Kong] star Jumpman (now known as Mario) against his newly introduced brother, Luigi. This game would introduce many concepts to the Mario Brothers universe, including the turtle enemies (later Koopas), the presence of warp pipes, and Mario's seeming role of a plumber.
The most influential game towards the series was Super Mario Bros. for the NES which laid down the foundation for the rest of the series. The game introduced a diverse cast of new enemies, from the Goomba to the enigmatic Lakitu. It also introduced the new antagonist, Bowser, who would continue to be Mario's arch-villain for the rest of the franchise. Other important elements were introduced such as the powerups Super Mushroom and Fire Flower, as well as the series' constant damsel-in-distress, Princess Peach.
Super Mario Bros. spawned its own sequels. Super Mario Bros. 2 was basically an expanded and more difficult version of the original game. Nintendo of America considered it too hard for American players, so instead the game Doki Doki Panic was reworked to feature Mario characters and was released in America as Super Mario Bros. 2. Its follow-up was the more original Super Mario Bros. 3, which featured various new worlds, enemies and abilities, and it introduced Bowser's seven children as bosses. It became one of the most popular of the series and has been reported as one of the best-selling games of all time. This was followed by Super Mario World, the Super Nintendo's launch game which further expanded on the Mario formula with the Super NES's capabilities. The Koopalings returned, and Mario's loyal steed Yoshi was introduced, leading to the game becoming another popular installment.
At the same time, Super Mario Land was released for the Game Boy. This spawned a smaller platformer series that wound up introducing Mario's rival Wario, at which point the series transitioned into Wario's own series. The Mario series also began branching into more series. Dr. Mario was released for the NES and lead to several other Mario puzzle games, while Super Mario Kart started the trend of kart racers while paving the way for future Mario sports spin-offs. In 1996, Square worked with Nintendo to make Mario's first RPG game, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, which expanded on the Mario world while influencing various Mario RPG games that would follow over the years, such as a strong sense of humor as well as showing surprising emotional depth at times. Yoshi's Safari was a less successful attempt at a Mario shooter, while Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island starred Yoshi. The latter game led to Yoshi's own subseries while also acting as the first prequel game to feature baby versions of the Mario characters.
The platformer games than made a transition from 2D side-scrolling to 3D games with the coming of the Nintendo 64. Super Mario 64, the system's launch game, codified the formula for the 3D Mario games in the same way that Super Mario Bros. had for the 2D ones. The basic premise of rescuing the princess from Bowser remaing, but now Mario operated from a hub overworld from which various different worlds could be reached. Instead of having individual linear levels, the free-roaming worlds had specific goals that had to be accomplished to earn special items, in this case Power Stars. These collectible items could then be used to unlock more worlds and more areas of the hub overworld, as well as boss battles. Additionally, Mario was given a wider variety of acrobatic moves as well as a life meter, as opposed to the 2D Mario who could only jump without power-ups. Like the other Mario launch games, Super Mario 64 proved to be wildly popular and inspired most other 3D platformers of that era.
The Nintendo 64 era was also known for the spinoffs released in that time. It saw the release of Yoshi's Story, which cemented Yoshi's spin-off games, as well as the beginnings of the Mario Party series and the regularly released Mario sports games such as Mario Tennis and Mario Golf. Although no more platformers were made on the Nintendo 64, a new RPG called Paper Mario was released that combined RPG and platformer features in a new way that spawned another subseries. At the same time, most handheld releases for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance consisted of remakes of classic Mario games as well as various sports and spin-off games.
The Gamecube era controversially launched with a non-platformer game starring Mario's brother Luigi, the first to solely feature the neglected brother (not counting the licensed game Mario is Missing!), Luigi's Mansion. This was a game that was more about exploration and armed Luigi with a flashlight and vacuum weapon, which lead to mixed reviews. A 3D platformer was still in development for Mario however, and in 2002 Super Mario Sunshine was released as a follow-up to Super Mario 64. This game used an island setting and equipped Mario with a water-spraying backpack known as FLUDD, which had a variety of functions depending on the equipped nozzle. This game also received mixed reviews compared to its predecessors due to the usage of FLUDD and the emphasis on cleaning up pollution found throughout the game, although it also introducing popular recurring characters such as Bowser Jr. and Petey Piranha. The Gamecube also contained more sports titles, the obligatory Mario Kart follow-up (in the form of the also mixed reviewed Mario Kart: Double Dash!!) and the more popular Paper Mario sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
A new RPG series also started on the GBA with Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, which starred both brothers together on a new adventure, with a gameplay system that featured more platformer elements than ever before. It was followed up by two more sequels on the DS that expanded upon the concept, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. The GBA also revisited another classic premise in the form of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, which acted as a modernized revival of the Donkey Kong concept using various influences from the 1994 Game Boy remake. This game would also see two sequels with the DS's release. When it launched, the Nintendo DS came with a Mario game that was an expanded remake of Super Mario 64 known as Super Mario 64 DS to show off the DS's capabilities. The DS has also featured further Yoshi games, as well as one game featuring the princess known as Super Princess Peach, in addition to the usual set of sports games, a party game and a kart racing game.
Nintendo later released its first fully original 2D Mario platformer in over a decade for the DS, known as New Super Mario Bros.. This game used the classic side-scrolling gameplay style mixed with some of the acrobatic moves and enemies from the 3D games, as well as power-ups both old and new, and the game became wildly popular. With the release of the Wii, there was a bit of a gap before it received original Mario titles. Super Paper Mario was reworked from a Gamecube game and reversed the normal Paper Mario formula by being primarily a platformer with RPG characteristics, as well as featuring Peach, Bowser and Luigi as playable characters. The Wii later saw the latest 3D platformer in the form of Super Mario Galaxy, which featured Mario in an intergalactic setting traveling across various planets. It also introduced a new character, Rosalina. The Wii since has seen further sports games, along with another party installment and another kart game. Interestingly, a series of sports game pitting Mario and company against Sega's mascot Sonic the Hedgehog and friends (Nintendo's former rival during the 1990s) has surfaced, starting with 2008's Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.
A follow-up to the popular New Super Mario Bros. idea was released for the Nintendo Wii with the simple title of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. This game naturally expanded upon the DS predecessor in every way it could, including a multiplayer cooperative option for progressing through the plot, although the playable characters were restricted to the Mario brothers and a pair of oddly-colored Toads. This game also saw the return of the Koopalings, whom had been absent for much of a decade since Yoshi's Safari, with the exception of a surprise appearance in the first Mario & Luigi. New Super Mario Bros. Wii has also gone on to become one of the Wii's most popular titles. Currently, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is being developed for the Wii for a 2010 release.