Mushroom Kingdom in the context of "Luigi (character)"

Mario (/ˈmɑːrioʊ, ˈmærioʊ/ ; Japanese: マリオ) is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the Mario franchise, a recurring character in the Donkey Kong franchise, and the mascot of their owner, the Japanese company Nintendo. Mario is an Italian-American plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom with his younger twin brother, Luigi. Their adventures generally involve rescuing Princess Peach from the villain Bowser while using power-ups that give them different abilities. Mario is distinguished by his large nose and mustache, overalls, red cap, and high-pitched, exaggerated Italian accent.

Mario debuted as the player character of Donkey Kong, a 1981 platform game. Miyamoto created Mario because Nintendo was unable to license Popeye as the protagonist. The graphical limitations of arcade hardware influenced Mario's design, such as his nose, mustache, and overalls, and he was named after Nintendo of America's landlord, Mario Segale. Mario then starred in Mario Bros. (1983). Its 1985 Nintendo Entertainment System sequel, Super Mario Bros., began the successful Super Mario platformer series. Charles Martinet voiced Mario from 1991 to 2023, when he was succeeded by Kevin Afghani.

Super Mario Bros. is a 1985 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Directed and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, it is the successor to the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. and the first game in the Super Mario series. Players control Mario, or his brother Luigi in the multiplayer mode, to traverse the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue Princess Toadstool from King Koopa (later named Bowser). They traverse side-scrolling stages while avoiding hazards such as enemies and pits and collecting power-ups such as the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower and Starman.

Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka designed Super Mario Bros. as a culmination of the team's experience working on Devil World and the side-scrollers Excitebike and Kung Fu. Miyamoto wanted to create a more colorful platform game with a scrolling screen and larger characters. The team designed the first level, World 1-1, as a tutorial for platform gameplay. Koji Kondo's soundtrack is one of the earliest in video games, making music a centerpiece of the design.

Bowser (Japanese: クッパ, Hepburn: Kuppa; "Koopa"), also known as King Bowser or King Koopa, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Nintendo's Mario franchise. In Japan, he is titled Daimaō (大魔王; Great Demon King"). He is the arch-nemesis of the plumber Mario and the leader of the turtle-like Koopa race. Depicted as a fire-breathing monster with a tyrannical personality, Bowser's ultimate goals are to kidnap Princess Peach and conquer the Mushroom Kingdom.

Bowser debuted as Mario's opponent in the 1985 video game Super Mario Bros. Designer Shigeru Miyamoto initially conceived him as an ox based on the Ox-King from the Toei Animation film Alakazam the Great. However, Takashi Tezuka remarked that the character resembled a turtle more than an ox, leading them to redesign Bowser as the leader of the turtle-like Koopas. Since 2007, Bowser has been voiced by Kenneth W. James.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2023 American animated adventure comedy film based on Nintendo's Mario video game franchise. Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel, the film stars an ensemble voice cast led by Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen. It was produced by Illumination and Nintendo, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film features an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, two Italian-American plumbers who are separated after being transported to another world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser.

As a result of the critical and commercial failure of the live-action film Super Mario Bros. (1993), Nintendo became reluctant to license its intellectual properties for film adaptations. Despite this, Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto became interested in developing another film during the development of the Virtual Console service. Through Nintendo's work with Universal Parks & Resorts to create Super Nintendo World, he met with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri. By 2016, they were discussing a Mario film and, in January 2018, Nintendo announced that they would produce it with Illumination and Universal. Production was underway by 2020, and the cast was announced in September 2021.