How Mario Franchise Has Conquered the World: From Game to TV Screen

Nowadays, you’ll hardly find a person who doesn’t know the Italian plumber with his moustache, his red hat and his recognizable red outfit. Super Mario is more than a video game mascot. He’s the most famous character in the gaming industry, featured in everything from TV shows to gambling games. Still, not many know the story about this popular video game hero.

The unforgettable game called Super Mario Bros was released in 1985. Sounds incredible now, doesn’t it? A game that people played so many years ago features a character that we see all around even today. Ever since its release, the little plumber has starred in many games that combine racing, adventure, and even sports.

Originally, this character was a tiny hero in a 1981 arcade game called Donkey Kong. His name was Jumpman. Four years later, he was renamed and its company changed the format. It wasn’t much of a change – just a few more coloured pixels and a small character jumping through hoops to save his girlfriend.

Despite what was a rather plain design of this game, Mario became the face of Nintendo. What’s more important, his fame never ceased. This pop culture icon has starred in TV shows, feature films, comic books, and commercials. He is all around – in candy forms, on T-shirts, and even as a main character at some really popular online casino games. Here is where we can see Super Mario today.

Super Mario on TV

Even today, you can turn on your TV and get a peak at Super Mario. This icon starred in a feature film, several television shows, and an endless list of comic books. One of the most popular TV products that uses this icon is Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. This show featured series of skits that starred Danny Wells and Lou Albano.

After noticing an increasing and unexpected fame of this character, Nintendo produced an anime film in 1986. This 60-minute film was called Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen and was only released in Japan. Based on the video game, this movie’s plot is centred on the two brothers who go on a quest to save a princess.

In 1993, Walt Disney created a science-fiction comedy fantasy adventure film called Super Mario Bros. This was one of few collaborations between Nintendo and Disney. The story revolved around the Mario brothers who travelled through a parallel universe seeking Princes Daisy in order to stop a ruthless dictator named Koopa.

Even today, the buzz around Super Mario is still very present. Sony Pictures made a deal with Nintendo and promised to make an animated Mario film to be released in 2022. This movie is currently being filmed, so we can expect to see our favourite little jumper in a modern movie version very soon.

Super Mario Casino Games

This character is popular on TV, but it is even more popular in the gambling industry. You can find dozens, if not hundreds of Mario titles at casinos today. There are casino slots such as pokies machines that feature this character, picture poker tables, and even roulette games with Super Mario as their icon.

Fans can also try picture poker that is organized by Luigi and is similar to five card stud poker. As you probably assumed, instead of card symbols, players will see icons from the popular video games. These include Mario, Luigi, as well as symbols like ghosts and mushrooms.

In this game, your aim is to build five great cards and beat your opponent. It’s pretty much like regular poker, but with an advantage to play with your favourite video game icon.

For Blackjack fans, there’s New Super Mario Bros Nintendo DS game. This game is identical to regular blackjack but with a catchy theme. You might want to use some of these popular coupons offers to improve your game experience.  You need to get as close to 21 without going bust. You can find it across many Mario Bros titles, including the popular Super Mario RPG for SNES.

Roulette often features this amazing icon. The most popular game with Mario is Mushroom Roulette. The idea in this roulette is to place your bets on black or red, on a Mario-themed symbol, or a combo of symbols. It’s played just like traditional roulette with a sole difference that you’ll be looking at symbols from a video game instead.

And of course, you can find Super Mario in dozens of slot machine titles. None of the other things in this list is more commonplace for this character than slot machines that appear in online casinos.

Super Mario in Comics and Game Books

The jumping plumber can be seen in many comics and game books, even today.

The Japanese komodo manga series called Super Mario-kun were released in 53 volumes and were licensed in Japan and France.

Viz Media has promised to release an English publication called Super Mario Bros. Manga Mania by the end of 2020. And of course, there is the manga series that ran for five volumes with this exact same title. It was serialized in Pikkapika Comics and is very similar to the English publication.

In 1990 and 1991, Valiant Comics published a series of comic books named Nintendo Comics System. Naturally, our favourite red-dressed plumber was in these books.

And of course, there are popular Nintendo Gamebooks that came in two series based on Nintendo’s unforgettable video games. These series were named Nintendo Adventure Books and You Decide on the Adventure.  

Things Named after Super Mario      

After this game was released, people have named many things Mario. People have been nicknamed or named after him. Even streets are now using this icon’s name such as Marios Gata 21 or Mario’s Street in Sweden.

When sports stars named Mario do well in their career, they get the nickname Super Mario. Some examples are Gomez and Gotze, football players at the Bundesliga, as well as Lemieux, a National Hockey League player.

The bottom line

Mario is a forever-favourite character in the video gaming industry. In fact, his popularity goes even further. He appeared at the Supper Olympics closing ceremony in 2016 in Tokyo and is recognized by Guinness World Records. It goes without saying that he’s going to stick around with us for years to come – that’s how unforgettable the simple video game from 1981 has become.