If you go out and ask children who their favorite plumber is, chances are you’d hear an Italian name. That Italian name is Mario. Mario is not a real-life plumber who goes to people’s houses and mends the tap/shower. He’s a hero. He is a plumber by profession, but an entertainer to children. Mario is the hero of the famous game Super Mario Bros. Living in the Mushroom Kingdom and fighting against the Koopa villain Bowser, Mario sets on an adventure to save Princess Peach from the villain.

History of the Character

Mario originally debuted in a game called ‘Donkey Kong’. But in Donkey Kong, Mario wasn’t called Mario. He was named ‘Jumpman.’ Donkey Kong is a story about a carpenter named Jumpman and his pet ape named Donkey Kong. Jumpman mistreats his pet ape who gets frustrated and decides to kidnap the Jumpman’s girlfriend. Similar to the gameplay of Mario, Jumpman must go and rescue his girlfriend from Donkey Kong.

When the Donkey Kong Junior was released in 1982, Jumpman was renamed as Mario. This is the only game where Mario is portrayed as an antagonist. A year later, Mario Bros was released in which Mario and Luigi bank on an adventure to save the princess while fighting villains emerging from the sewers below the New York City.

Mario in Super Mario Bros

In Super Mario Bros (console games) that was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the objective of Mario is to save Princess Toadstool from the King Koopa. In later versions of the game, the Princess was renamed as Princess Peach. Mario sets on an adventure and has to cross eight different worlds to finish his task. In each world, he has to fight the henchmen of King Koopa before going to the castle. At the end of each world, he goes to the castle and raises the flag. In doing this, he has defeated one minion king of King Koopa. As the game progresses with each world, he performs the same task until he meets with King Koopa itself in the eighth world. King Koopa and Mario have a duel, and the work of Mario is to defeat King Koopa to accomplish his mission. On defeating Koopa, Mario rescues the Princess, and the game ends.

Power-Ups for Mario

Mario gets powerups in the form of a Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and a Star Man. Super Mushroom helps him to grow taller, Fire Flower helps him to shoot fire, and a Star Man makes him invisible for a while.