Mario Characters

One of the nice things about Super Mario games is that they're populated by a cast of instantly recognizable characters, made familiar through appearing in the series for several decades. Who are some of the people you're likely to meet?

The Mario brothers themselves, of course, are the most recognizable: Mario and Luigi are all over the place, and Mario is quite possibly the most recognizable video game character ever (although he does have some competition from Sonic). Mario is the star of most of the games as well, although he also appears as a supporting character in a number of others; in fact, to date he has appeared in over 200 video games!

Other popular Mario characters, of course, include the brothers' enemies in the Mushroom Kingdom (and elsewhere). At the top of the list has to be the big B himself, Bowser! He never seems to get tired of kidnapping the princess, and Mario always springs to the rescue, fighting his way through eight worlds of increasing difficulty to earn his reward: a kiss from Peach! Bowser is the king of the koopas, and has a large assortment of minions to throw against anyone who dares try to rescue the princess!

Outside of the Mushroom Kingdom, there's Mario's oldest antagonist: Donkey Kong! The big ape no longer kidnaps the lady; in fact, most people believe that the original Donkey Kong now goes by the name of Cranky Kong and the current DK is actually his son or grandson. Regardless, DK is now a hero who wants nothing more than to be left alone with his beloved bananas, but he'll still take the time to pound Mario into the ground in the Smash Brothers or Mario Kart series.

There are a number of helpers as well, such as the Toads and the multi-colored Yoshis, who help Mario as he sets off to rescue the princess yet again.