Super Mario

39 years ago, in 1981, a Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto created the soon-to-be-motherly fictional character - Mario. Mario acted as the Nintendo's mascot and was also the eponymous protagonist of the series. He appeared in more than 200 video games and became one of the most recognized and beloved gaming characters ever created.

Initially, Mario was known as Jumpman in the Donkey Kong game, released in 1981. Later in 1982, he was renamed Mario.

In 1985, Super Mario Bros. video game, the successor to the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. and the first in the Super Mario series of platformers, was developed and published by Nintendo in Japan for the Family Computer (Famicom). It was released later that year in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

In Super Mario Bros. Mario rescues Princess Mushroom (later known as Princess Peach) from the Mushroom Kingdom of King Koopa (later known as Bowser). To save the princess, Mario must conquer the eight worlds of the Mushroom Kingdom by going to the castle in each to defeat a slave of King Koopa.

Mario and games in which he appeared were awarded by Guinness World Records as “Best Selling Video Game Series of All Time,” “First Movie Based on an Existing Video Game” and “Most Prolific Video Game Character.”