Mario… mamamia, it’sa Mario. Mario has been Nintendo’s main
face since its first game ever. Now the game was called Donkey Kong, and DK is
in fact just as old as Mario, but being the main protagonist gained him plenty of popularity. Also known as
“jump man” back then, he sure didn’t lose that title after going by Mario. What do
you do in any Mario game? Well there are plenty of characters to play as, help,
or defeat, but a main staple that needs to be in every true Mario game is, in
fact, jumping. No fireballs? Jump on the enemy. Can’t jump on the enemy?
Probably can’t kill it anyways w/o invincibility. But of course the games are
very diverse, one second he could be driving a cart race, (and no, the kart
series are spin-offs not in the true platform adventure style) playing a board
game, (still a spin-off) or blasting through space with a super powered water
hose (please give us super Mario sunshine galaxy Nintendo). And at some point
the series took 2 distinct paths ever since 1995 when a game was made for Mario
featuring more of an RPG style. The game was appropriately named “Super Mario
RPG - Legend of the Seven Stars”. The game was a huge hit, as it tagged along
with fans of final fantasy, pokemon, and other RP games. The most astounding
improvement, something I’m always a sucker for in video games, was an amazing
storyline. It wasn’t just “hey Mario, evil guy kidnapped a princess again, go
get her”, though funny enough many of these Mario RPG’s did indeed make you
think it would be like that again at first. In seven stars however, we see
never before seen villains with much bigger ambitions to gain extreme power and
take over etc. and Mario will make up with an unlikely team of new characters,
in this specific game you even get to fight alongside Bowser and Peach! That’s
right, Mario and Bowser realize something bigger than both of them and Peach
CAN fight! (sorta)

Well of course seeing it was a huge hit we couldn’t stop
Mario RPG’s legacy! But we couldn’t forget what got us here in the first place,
so the games went along to distinct paths, platform and RP. We never got a
sequel to the seven stars, but 2 incredible game series took root, for the NES,
Paper Mario, and for GBA, Super Mario Bros. Superstar Saga. Superstar Saga
would follow the adventures of Mario and Luigi, where they would… umm, save the
princess again? Well it seemed as black and white at first, but the first game
of the series didn’t exactly have Peach get kidnapped, instead a witch,
Cackletta, and her minion Fawful (oh god FAWFUL ) stole the voice of Peach to
use for their nefarious purposes to take over the world. Not mushroom kingdom,
not beanbean kingdom, (the neighboring kingdom finally introduced to the
series) the ENTIRE WORLD. Of course Mario and Luigi would go on to become
stronger and defeat Cackletta, but it wouldn’t end there. Partners in time
would take them to meet their past selves as they try to defeat evil mushrooms,
“shroobs”,  and Bowsers Inside Story
would let them play as Bowser or the Bros., except Bowser swallowed them and
now as Bowser sees a threat incoming that rivals his own plans, the Bros. help
Bowser from inside his gut to defeat an old enemy that has come back to haunt
us… and now with extra mustard of fury.