The ''Mario'' media franchise extends out of video games into non-game media. Mario and themes related to the franchise have appeared in television shows, anime, films, comics and manga, merchandise, and musical performance.

Television

Saturday Supercade ''Saturday Supercade'' is an American animated television series produced for Saturday mornings by Ruby-Spears Productions. It ran for two seasons on CBS. Premise Each episode is composed of several shorter segments featuring video game characte ...

'' is an

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

produced for Saturday mornings by

Ruby-Spears Productions Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by vete ...

. It ran for two seasons on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, beginning in 1983. Each episode comprised several shorter segments featuring

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

characters from the

Golden Age of Arcade Games The golden age of arcade video games was the period of rapid growth, technological development and cultural influence of arcade video games, from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The period began with the release of ''Space Invaders'' in 1978, ...

Donkey Kong is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong and his clan of other Ape, apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of plat ...

Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

and Pauline (from the ''

'' arcade game) were featured in the show. ''

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'' is an American live-action/animated television series airing from September 4 to November 30, 1989, on syndication. The series is based on the video games ''Super Mario Bros.'' and '' Super Mario Bros. 2'' by ...

'' is the first American TV series based on the ''Mario'' NES games. It was broadcast in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

from September 4 to December 1, 1989. The show was produced by

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production comp ...

and was distributed for syndicated television by

Viacom Enterprises Viacom Productions (formerly Viacom Enterprises) was a television production arm of Viacom International. The division was active from 1974 until 2004, when the company was folded into Paramount Network Television 10 years following Viacom's acq ...

(full rights have since reverted to DiC through

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

). ''

King Koopa's Kool Kartoons ''King Koopa's Kool Kartoons'' is a local, American Live action, live-action children's television program, television show broadcast in Southern California during the Autumn of 1989. The show was produced by DIC Entertainment in association with ...

'' is a

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

children's

television show A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed betw ...

broadcast in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

during the holiday season of 1989/1990. The show starred King Koopa (also known as

Bowser , or King Koopa, is a fictional character, the primary antagonist in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise, and the arch-nemesis of Mario. In Japan, the character bears the title of . Bowser is the leader of the turtle-like Koopa ...

), the main antagonist of the ''Mario'' series. The 30-minute program was originally broadcast during the after-school afternoon time-slots on

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

-based KTTV Fox 11. '' The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3'' is the second TV series based on the ''Mario'' NES games. It aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

from September 8 to December 1, 1990. Based on the '' Super Mario Bros. 3'' video game, the cartoon shows Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad fighting against Bowser and his

Koopalings The (also known as in Japan and Europe or in Japan) are a fictional group of seven childlike characters in the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' video game franchise by Nintendo. Their individual names are Larry Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. K ...

, who went by different names on the show. Like the previous Mario cartoon series, the animation was done by Sei Young Animation Co. Ltd, however this show was co-produced by Reteitalia S.P.A., hence the slight differences in character design. It was part of a 1 hour block with

Captain N ''Captain N: The Game Master'' is an animated television series that aired on television from 1989 to 1991 as part of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup on NBC. The show was produced by DIC Animation City and incorporated elements from many of t ...

's second season, structured such that 2 episodes of Mario 3 would bookend the longer Captain N episode that made the "meat" of the sandwich. ''The Super Mario Challenge'' is a game show which aired on

The Children's Channel The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat ...

. It ran from 1990 to 1991 and aired at 4:30 p.m. every weekday. The presenter,

John Lenahan John Lenahan (born 1961 in Philadelphia, US) is an American illusionist and entertainer resident in the UK since 1984. A successful corporate entertainer, he came to greater fame as a result of a 1994 appearance on the BBC One show ''How Do The ...

, was a lookalike of

, and dressed in his clothes. Two guest players had to do tasks, all of which involved playing the ''Mario'' video games ''

Super Mario Bros. is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The successor to the 1983 arcade game '' Mario Bros.'' and the first game in the ''Super Mario'' series, it was first released in 1985 for ...

'', ''

Super Mario Bros. 2 ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' is a platform game, platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was first released in North America in October 1988, and in the PAL region in 1989. After the smash hi ...

'' and, after its release in 1991, '' Super Mario Bros. 3''. Rounds included challenges to see which player could complete a level in the fastest time and who could collect the most gold coins on a certain level. ''

Super Mario World ''Super Mario World,'' known in Japan as is a platform game, platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, North America in 1991 and Europe and A ...

'' is an

based on the SNES video game of the same name. It is the third and currently last

Saturday morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...

based on the ''Mario'' series. The show was originally aired on Saturday mornings on

in the 1991–92 season. It was featured in a half-hour time slot with a shortened version of '' Captain N: The Game Master''. Episodes of ''Super Mario World'' were later shown as part of the

package ''Captain N and the Video Game Masters''. Afterwards, the series was split from ''Captain N'' altogether and shown in time-compressed reruns on ''Mario All-Stars''. ''Mario Ice Capades'' is a television special featuring a Mario-themed

Ice Capades The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Winter Olympic Games, Olympic and United States Figure Skating Championships, US National Champion figure skating, figur ...

skating show, broadcast on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on December 28, 1989. It starred

Christopher Hewett Christopher George Hewett (5 April 1921 – 3 August 2001) was an English actor and theatre director best known for his role as Lynn Aloysius Belvedere on the ABC sitcom ''Mr. Belvedere''. Career Hewett was born in Worthing, Sussex to Chris ...

as Bowser.

Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor, director and producer known for his roles of Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development (TV series), Arrested Development'' and of Mart ...

and

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'', Jennifer Mancini in ''Melrose Place'', Phoebe Halliwell in ''Charmed'', Billie Cunningham in ''My Name Is Earl'', Savan ...

also appeared in the special.

Films

and the

Super Mushroom (also known as and ) is a platform game series created by Nintendo starring their mascot, Mario. It is the central series of the greater ''Mario'' franchise. At least one ''Super Mario'' game has been released for every major Nintendo vid ...

appeared in the 2012 Disney computer-animated film ''

Wreck-It Ralph ''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 52nd Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Rich Moore (in his feature director ...

'';

is mentioned by Felix but not seen in the film. Mario's original arcade game appearance in ''Donkey Kong'' makes a cameo in the 2015 science fiction action comedy film ''

Pixels In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...

''.

''Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!'' (1986)

''Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach!'' is a 1986

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

film based on the ''

'' video game. Directed by Masami Hata and produced by Masakatsu Suzuki and Tsunemasa Hatano, the plot centers on

and

Luigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

, who go on a quest to save

Princess Peach is a fictional character in Nintendo's ''Mario'' franchise, created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the 1985 original ''Super Mario Bros.'' installment. She is the princess regnant and ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, where she resides in ...

from

. It is notable for being the first film based on a video game, predating the live-action ''Super Mario Bros.'' film by seven years.

''Super Mario Bros.'' (1993)

''Super Mario Bros.'' is a 1993 American

science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

based on the Japanese video game series of the same name by

and distributed by The Walt Disney Studios through

Hollywood Pictures Hollywood Pictures was an American film production label of Walt Disney Studios, founded and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Established on February 1, 1989, by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner and then-studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, Hollywood ...

, thus becoming one of several rare occasions where Disney and Nintendo have collaborated. The film was directed by

Rocky Morton Rocky Morton (born 1955) is an English director. He is the co-creator of the TV series '' Max Headroom'' and co-director of the 1993 Hollywood Pictures film '' Super Mario Bros''. Various music videos by Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads, Gravity Kill ...

and Annabel Jankel, written by Parker Bennett, Terry Runté and

Ed Solomon Edward James Solomon (born September 15, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for writing the screenplays to ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989), ''Men in Black'' (1997), and '' Now You See Me'' (2013). Life and career Solo ...

, and stars

Bob Hoskins Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in films and television series such as '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), ''Who ...

John Leguizamo John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez (; ; born July 22, 196013:04) is an American actor, comedian, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced ...

Dennis Hopper Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He attended the Actors Studio, made his first television appearance in 1954, and soon after appeared in ''Giant'' (1956). In the next ten years ...

Samantha Mathis Samantha Mathis (born May 12, 1970) is an American actress and trade union leader who served as the Vice President, Actors/Performers of SAG-AFTRA from 2015 to 2019. The daughter of actress Bibi Besch, Mathis made her film debut in '' Pump Up t ...

Fisher Stevens Fisher Stevens (born Steven Fisher; November 27, 1963) is an American actor, director, producer and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Ben in ''Short Circuit'' and ''Short Circuit 2'', Chuck Fishman on the 1990s televis ...

Fiona Shaw Fiona Shaw (born Fiona Mary Wilson; 10 July 1958) is an Irish film and theatre actress. She is known for her roles as Petunia Dursley in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2001–2010), Marnie Stonebrook in the fourth season of the HBO serie ...

and

Richard Edson Richard Edson (born January 1, 1954) is an American actor and musician. Personal life Edson was born in New Rochelle, New York to a Jewish family. He has one brother, Steven, who resides in the Boston area, and two sisters, Andrea, who resides ...

. The story revolves around the titular Mario brothers, as they find a parallel universe, ruled by the ruthless dictator King Koopa, who seeks to merge the two dimensions so that he can rule both worlds, leaving it up to Mario and Luigi to join forces with Princess Daisy, the daughter of the world's displaced King, to stop Koopa. ''Super Mario Bros.'' was shot in both

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

on a budget of $48 million. The film was released on May 28, 1993, in the United States and was unsuccessful both critically and commercially, receiving criticism for its storyline, characters, dialogue and unfaithfulness to the games. Bob Hoskins later stated in an interview in 2007 that the film was "the worst thing I ever did". However, the film was nominated for two

Saturn Award The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

s (one for Best Costume, the other for Best Make-up). Years later, however, commentators called it a

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

, and has spawned a fan-made website, a fan-made sequel comic, and even a

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

release in the United Kingdom.

''The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' (2023)

''The Super Mario Bros. Movie'' is an upcoming computer animated film adaptation of the franchise, produced by Illumination and

. It is co-produced by Nintendo fellow and series' creator

Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in the history of video games, he is ...

and Illumination founder and CEO

Chris Meledandri Christopher Meledandri (; born May 15, 1959) is an American film producer and founder and CEO of Illumination. He previously served as President of 20th Century Fox Animation, and has worked as the producer of the ''Despicable Me'' franchise ...

. The film features the voices of

Chris Pratt Christopher Michael Pratt (born June 21, 1979) is an American actor. He rose to prominence for playing Andy Dwyer in the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015). He also appeared in The WB drama series ''Everwood'' (2002–2006) an ...

as Mario,

Anya Taylor-Joy Anya-Josephine Marie Taylor-Joy ( ; born 16 April 1996) is an actress. She has won several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2021, she was featu ...

as Peach,

Charlie Day Charles Peckham Day (born February 9, 1976) is an American actor, writer, producer and podcaster. He is best known for playing Charlie Kelly on the FX comedy ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' (2005–present), which he co-created with Rob M ...

as Luigi,

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...

as Bowser,

Keegan-Michael Key Keegan-Michael Key (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He co-created and co-starred alongside Jordan Peele in Comedy Central's sketch series ''Key & Peele'' (2012–2015) and co-starred in USA Netw ...

as Toad,

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series ''Freaks and Geeks'', and then got a part on ...

as Donkey Kong,

Kevin Michael Richardson Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...

as Kamek, and

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series ''Portlandia''. He ...

as Cranky Kong; longtime ''Mario'' voice actor

Charles Martinet Charles Martinet (, ; born September 17, 1955) is an American actor and voice actor, known for his portrayal of both Mario and Luigi in the ''Super Mario'' video game series since 1992. He is also the voice of other characters in the series such ...

will feature in a series of cameos. In January 2020, Nintendo's President

Shuntaro Furukawa is a Japanese businessman and executive. He is the sixth and current president of the video game company Nintendo in Japan. He took over as company president in June 2018, succeeding Tatsumi Kimishima. Early life Furukawa was born in Tokyo, J ...

stated that the film is "moving along smoothly" with the film aiming for release in 2023. Furukawa stated that Nintendo would own the rights to the film, and both Nintendo and Universal would fund the production of the film. Meledrani called the film a "priority" for the Illumination animation studio.

Anime

''Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros.'' is a series of three

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

OVAs produced by Studio Junio, licensed by

, and released on VHS tapes on August 3, 1989, exclusively in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The plot of the episodes involve characters from the Mario franchise in the stories of three fairy tales:

Momotarō is a Folk hero, popular hero of Japanese folklore. His name is often translated as ''Peach Boy'', but is directly translated as ''Peach + Tarō (given name), Tarō'', a common Japanese given name. ''Momotarō'' is also the title of various books, ...

Issun-bōshi is the subject of a fairy tale from Japan. This story can be found in the old Japanese illustrated book '' Otogizōshi''. Similar central figures and themes are known elsewhere in the world, as in the tradition of Tom Thumb in English folklore. ...

and

Snow White "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as Ta ...

. Its cast includes Miyako Endō (

, Kinopio, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. Koopa),

Tōru Furuya is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator. As a child, he was a member of Gekidan Himawari, a children's acting troupe. He is currently employed by the talent management firm Aoni Production. Furuya is most known for the anime roles of Amur ...

(

Masaharu Satō is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator currently working for Aoni Production. He was born in Ōta, Tokyo. Satō is best known for the roles of Buffaloman, Sunshine (''Kinnikuman''), Miyamoto Musashi ('' Yaiba''), Adah ('' Mushiking: King ...

(

Koopa Koopa Troopas, known in Japan as , are fictional footsoldiers of the turtle-like Koopa race from the Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' media franchise. They are commonly referred to generically as Koopas, a race that includes Bowser, Bowser, King of ...

, Larry Koopa,

Iggy Koopa The (also known as in Japan and Europe or in Japan) are a fictional group of seven childlike characters in the ''Mario'' video game franchise by Nintendo. Their individual names are Larry Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. Koopa, Iggy Koopa ...

Naoki Tatsuta is a Japanese voice actor affiliated with Aoni Production. He is most known for the roles of Buta Gorilla (Kiteretsu Daihyakka), Daima Jin (High School! Kimengumi), Oolong (Dragon Ball), Dr. Escargon ( Kirby: Right Back at Ya!), Ashibe's Fathe ...

(

, Ludwig von Koopa, Roy Koopa,

Lemmy Koopa The ''Mario'' franchise is a video game series by Nintendo. While Nintendo is usually the developer and publisher of games in the franchise, various series are developed by third-party companies, such as Hudson Soft and Intelligent Systems. ...

), and

Toshiko Sawada is a Japanese voice actress from Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Filmography Anime *'' Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros.'' (Narration) *'' Appleseed'' (Athena) *'' Berserk'' (Queen) *''Cinderella Monogatari'' (Cinderella's stepmother) *''Go! Princ ...

(narration). The openings for each video used a soundtrack cue from '' On Golden Pond'', namely "New Hampshire Hornpipe". ''Mario Kirby Masterpiece Video'' is an 20-minute educational video released by

HAL Laboratory formerly shortened as HALKEN (derived from its native name), is a Japanese video game developer founded on 21 February 1980. While independent, it has been closely tied with Nintendo throughout its history, and is often referred to as a secon ...

in 1993 on VHS exclusively in Japan. The purpose of the video is to teach

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

to children by featuring two adventures starring

and

Kirby Kirby may refer to: Buildings * Kirby Building, a skyscraper in Dallas, Texas, United States * Kirby Hall, an Elizabethan country house near Corby, Northamptonshire, England * Kirby House (disambiguation), various houses in England and the Unit ...

separately, with various stills narrated over by

Mayumi Tanaka (born January 15, 1955) is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator. She voiced Monkey D. Luffy in ''One Piece'', Ryunosuke Fujinami in ''Urusei Yatsura'', Koenma in ''Yu Yu Hakusho'', Pazu in '' Laputa: Castle in the Sky'', Krillin, Yajir ...

and kanji transcriptions. ''Super Mario's Fire Brigade'' is a 1989 short

fire safety Fire safety is the set of practices intended to reduce the destruction caused by fire. Fire safety measures include those that are intended to prevent the ignition of an uncontrolled fire and those that are used to limit the development and eff ...

public safety announcement video animated by

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' ''GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' ''Mazinger Z'', ''Galaxy Express 999'', ''Cutie Honey'', ''Dr. Slump'', ' ...

and

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

, directed by

Tatsuyuki Nagai is a Japanese anime storyboard artist and director. He made his full directorial debut in 2006 with '' Honey and Clover II'', after which he had directed 2007's '' Idolmaster: Xenoglossia'', 2008's ''Toradora!'', 2009's ''A Certain Scientific Rai ...

and starring

Toru Furuya TORU or Toru may refer to: *TORU, spacecraft system *Toru (given name), Japanese male given name *Toru, Pakistan Toru Mardan Toru is a village and union council in Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It has an altitude of 291 m (958 fe ...

as Mario,

Yoku Shioya is a Japanese actor and voice actor debuting in ''Triton of the Sea'' (1972). He has done some voice directing in such anime as '' Basilisk: The Kouga Ninja Scrolls Ryota Miyagi in Slam Dunk and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.'' His real name is Tsuba ...

as Luigi,

Saori Sugimoto Saori Sugimoto (17 November 1964 – 21 October 2021) was a Japanese voice actress who known for voicing Ramurin Makiba and Nikki in the Anime TV show Shimajiro and in the Shimajiro films, She also voiced Kisanta Yamamura in the Nintama Rantaro a ...

as Kaoru,

Yumi Tōma , known professionally as , is a Japanese voice actress, narrator, author and singer from Chiba. She has been part of the singing group Goddess Family Club. Tōma once worked for Aoni Production before she founded her own agency ALLURE&Y. Because ...

as Tatsuya, Chieko Saitō as Kaoru's Mom, and

Daisuke Gori is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Daisuke can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *大輔, "big, assist" *大介, "big, mediate" *大祐, "big, bless" *大助, "big, help" *大典, "big, law/rule ...

as Kaoru's Dad. There was also another video produced about

traffic safety Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, vehicle passengers, horse riders, and passengers of on-road ...

, titled ''Super Mario Traffic Safety''. ''Super Mario World: Mario & Yoshi's Adventure Land'', is a 28-minute

interactive video The term interactive video usually refers to a technique used to blend interaction and linear film or video. History In 1962, Steve Russell, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), created Spacewar!, the world's first inter ...

anime based on ''Super Mario World'' released for Bandai's Terebikko system. The Terebikko allowed viewers to interact with the anime using a telephone-shaped microphone to answer multiple choice questions, such as what will hatch from Yoshi's egg. The cast includes

as Mario, Yū Mizushima as Luigi, Yuriko Yamamoto as Peach, Chika Sakamoto as Yoshi and Takeshi Watabe as Bowser.

Comics

''Super Mario-kun''

'':ja:スーパーマリオくん_(沢田ユキオの漫画), Super Mario-kun'' is a Japanese Children's anime and manga, kodomo manga series written and illustrated by Yukio Sawada (:ja:沢田ユキオ, 沢田ユキオ ''Sawada Yukio'') and serialized in the monthly manga anthology ''CoroCoro Comic''. Individual chapters are collected into ''tankōbon'' volumes by Shogakukan, who released the first volume on July 27, 1991, and have released 56 volumes. The series has only been licensed in Japan and France, published by Soleil Manga. It follows

and his friends through the plot lines of many Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' video games, starting in ''Super Mario World'' and reaching as far as ''Super Mario Odyssey''. Courses created by Sawada for ''Super Mario Maker'' were released on November 6, 2015, with a ''Super Mario-kun'' costume unlocked for players who clear them. Viz Media released the first English-language publication of CoroCoro's manga series in December 2020 under the title ''Super Mario Bros. Manga Mania''. There is another manga series which ran for five volumes with :ja:スーパーマリオくん (嵩瀬ひろしの漫画), exactly the same title, written and drawn by Hiroshi Takase (嵩瀬ひろし), also published by Shogakukan but serialized in Pikkapika Comics. Because of the identical titles, Sawada's and Takase's series are easily confused. There is a :ja:スーパーマリオ_(本山一城の漫画), third manga series with the same title, written and drawn by Kazuki Motoyama from 1988 to 1998.

Nintendo Comics System

The ''Nintendo Comics System'' was a series of comic books published by Valiant Comics in 1990 and 1991. It was part of a licensing deal with

, featuring characters from their

s and the cartoons based on them.

Super Mario Adventures

''Super Mario Adventures'' is an anthology of comics that ran in ''Nintendo Power'' throughout 1992, featuring the characters from Nintendo's ''

'' series and based loosely on ''Super Mario World''. The series was also serialized in ''CoroCoro Comic'' in 1993. Charlie Nozawa, the artist who created the comics, is also known by the pen name Tamakichi Sakura.たまに読むならこんなゲーム漫画～桜玉吉のスーマリ編～
" ''Mandarake''. Retrieved on November 19, 2008. - "小学館「SUPER MARIO ADVENTURES マリオの大冒険」漫画・チャーリー野沢（桜玉吉）" Kentaro Takekuma was responsible for the story, which follows

and

as they attempt to rescue

after she is abducted by

with intent to marry her.

Gamebooks

Nintendo Gamebooks were gamebooks released in two series, ''Nintendo Adventure Books'' and ''You Decide on the Adventure'', and based on

s created by

Electromechanical games

Nintendo has licensed several electromechanical games for use in arcades and casinos, including two popular pinball machines by Gottlieb. ''Super Mario Bros.'', released on April 25, 1992, was the first Gottlieb machine that included a dot-matrix display tracking scores and various animations. The game shared a lot of its art assets with ''Super Mario World'' released for SNES two years prior, and featured

in his first voice-over role as Mario, for which he was never paid nor credited. 4,200 units were manufactured. ''Super Mario Bros. Mushroom World'' released a few months later in June 1992, this time based on '' Super Mario Bros. 3'' for NES. Only 519 units were produced, making it significantly rarer and more sought-after by modern collectors. Other electromechanical games licensed by Nintendo include a ''Mario Kart 64'' slot machine made by Maygay, as well as a series of ''Mario Fushigi'' medal games made by Capcom. The ''Mario Fushigi'' series began in 2003 with ''Super Mario Fushigi no Janjan Land'', then ''Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party'' in 2004, ''Super Mario Fushigi no Korokoro Party 2'' in 2005, and ''Mario Party Fushigi no Korokoro Catcher'' (based on ''Mario Party 8'') in 2009.

Merchandise

Mario has appeared on lunch boxes, T-shirts, magazines, commercials (notably, in a Got Milk? commercial), in candy form, on shampoo bottles, and as stuffed toy, plush toys. Multiple Mario-themed versions of popular board and card games have been released by USAopoly, including Monopoly (game), Monopoly
TacDex
and Connect 4. Nintendo has also released in 2017 a puzzle featuring Mario.

Events

National Mario Day is an annual holiday to commemorate the Nintendo video game character

, on March 10. This date is chosen because looks like the name MARIO. Gamers can commemorate the occasion by playing games from Mario (franchise), the series, or with Mario-themed events, and coordinating on social media with the hashtag #NationalMarioDay. In 2014 the ''Christian Science Monitor'' advised parents that Mario Day was an opportunity to bond with their children, and listed Mario Day-themed events parents could take their children to, to encourage that bonding. In 2016, Nintendo created a video about the event, where Mario caused chaos in their American offices; and "brought some joy to the monotonous workday in the ways only Mario could." Chad Concelmo of Destructoid appears in the video. In March 2013, Nintendo began the Year of Luigi. This included a year of Luigi-themed games like ''Dr. Luigi'', ''Mario & Luigi Dream Team'' and ''New Super Luigi U''. A ''Luigi's Mansion'' statue was released on Club Nintendo. On March 19, 2014, the Year of Luigi ended. In September 2020, Nintendo started the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary event, which lasted from September 3, 2020 to March 31, 2021. This event began with a Nintendo Direct which announced many games, as well as covering already released Mario themed merchandise, clothing and in game events.

Theme parks

Super Nintendo World is an upcoming themed area at various parks within Universal Parks & Resorts. It will be dedicated to characters and settings from Mario (franchise), Super ''Mario'', as well as the Yoshi, ''Yoshi's Island'' and ''Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Country'' spin-off series''.''

Music

The ''Super Mario'' series of video games has a large amount of music, much of it composed by Koji Kondo. The "Super Mario Bros. theme" is particularly well-known. The ''Super Mario Bros.'' theme has been featured in many concerts, including "PLAY! Chicago", the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Mario & Zelda Big Band Live, Play! A Video Game Symphony, and others. The Video Games Live concert featured the theme performed by Koji Kondo.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mario Works based on Mario, Non-video game media Mass media by franchise, Mario Nintendo-related lists, Mario, Non-video game media featuring