Mario is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. The franchise centers on the adventures of Mario, an Italian plumber, and his brother Luigi, who reside in the Mushroom Kingdom and frequently rescue Princess Peach from the villainous Bowser. Mario first appeared in the arcade game Donkey Kong in 1981, but the franchise truly launched with the release of Mario Bros. in 1983 and the groundbreaking platformer Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985.
The core of the franchise is the Super Mario series of platform games, which established many of the series' iconic elements: power-ups like the Super Mushroom and Fire Flower, warp pipes, and coin collecting. Over the decades, the franchise has expanded into numerous genres, including kart racing with Mario Kart, party games with Mario Party, role-playing games with Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi, and sports titles covering tennis, golf, and more. Characters introduced in the series, such as Yoshi, Wario, and Donkey Kong, have gone on to headline their own successful franchises.
As the best-selling video game franchise of all time, Mario has become a global cultural icon and Nintendo's mascot. The franchise has sold over 900 million copies worldwide, with the Super Mario series alone accounting for more than 430 million. Its influence on game design, particularly in the platforming genre, is immeasurable, and the character of Mario is one of the most recognizable fictional characters in the world.