Super Mario

Super Mario is a Japanese video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed principally by Nintendo, centered on the Italian plumber Mario, who first appeared as the player character of the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong before headlining his own platform game series beginning with Super Mario Bros. in 1985. The franchise's core series has sold hundreds of millions of copies across generations of Nintendo hardware, and Mario as a character has appeared across an enormous range of spin off genres, including the Mario Kart racing series, the Mario Party series, the Mario sports titles and the Super Smash Bros. crossover fighting series, making the character one of the best selling and most widely recognized video game franchises in the medium's history. The franchise has also expanded beyond games into an animated television series, theme park lands, and theatrical films, including the 2023 animated feature The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Mario's design, voice and recurring elements, including power up mushrooms and Bowser's kidnapping of Princess Peach, remain deeply embedded in global popular culture.