The famous Italian plumber now 25 years old

In the quarter of a century since legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto’s team put the finishing touches to his first major adventure, Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Mario has become one of the most globally recognised characters in the world of entertainment.

He traverses languages, ages and cultural barriers and today, the Super Mario Bros. series is the best-selling video game series of all time, with more than 240 million units sold globally.

‚Stimulated by advancements in technologies, we have always enjoyed creating the Super Mario Bros. games. The series has always taken advantage of the latest technological advancements and is the fruit of creativity of many of my hard-working friends working closely as a team”, Shigeru Miyamoto, General Manager of Nintendo’s Entertainment Analysis and Development division.

The Super Mario series of games are touchpoints of technological gaming innovation. It was the 2D side scrolling adventure Super Mario Bros. on the NES that took platform gaming a leap further than it had gone before. We freely explored a 3D gaming world for the first time in Super Mario 64. And in Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, we’ve seen 3D gaming extend into mind-boggling gravity-defying adventures.

You can rest assured that it will be Mario who takes us on brand new adventures in the future.

A short history of the world’s best-loved Italian plumber‚Ķ

In 1985, Shigeru Miyamoto’s team at Nintendo designed a groundbreaking new game. It was called Super Mario Bros., and it introduced to the world some of the most enduring gaming characters of all time ‚ including, of course, Mario himself.

To date, the Super Mario series of games have sold more than 240 million copies worldwide making it the best-selling video game series of all time.

SUPER MARIO ‚ THE HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS

1980s

v 1985 – Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) made its debut in Japan starring Mario in his first major adventure. The game went on to become one of the highest selling video games of all time, alone it has sold over 40 million copies. Today the Super Mario Bros. series is the best-selling video game series of all time, with more than 240 million units sold globally.

v 1988 ‚ Mario takes to the skies! With a special Super Leaf of Tanooki suit and an exciting array of fun disguises, players get to experience Mario flying in the air in Super Mario 3 for the NES.

v 1989 ‚ Game Boy launches with Super Mario Land, propelling Mario onto the most popular console in the world.

1990s

v 1990 ‚ In Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), fans were introduced to the loveable dinosaur character Yoshi, who quickly became an excellent sidekick to Mario.

v 1993 ‚ All the Mario classics on one superb collection ‚ Super Mario All-Stars launched on the SNES much to the delight of his fans.

v 1996 ‚ Mario goes 3D! Mario becomes the first video game character to have complete movement in a 360-degree, 3-D home video game environment in Super Mario 64 for Nintendo 64.

2001

v Mario scores his own Super Mario Advance series on the Game Boy Advance

2002

v Super Mario Sunshine marks the first true Mario game on Nintendo GameCube. Mario is given unprecedented freedom of movement as he tries to clean up Delfino Island.

2003

v One of the most legendary platform titles of all time comes to the small screen in Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3. It was faithfully recreated for Game Boy Advance.

2006

v New Super Mario Bros. launched on Nintendo DS and has gone on to sell over *22.49 million copies globally (*as of end March 2010).

2007

v Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) Mario ventures into space, taking 3D platforming in a new direction with spherical platforms and novel use of gravity.

2009

v New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The classic 2D adventure comes to Wii and for the first time in the history of the Super Mario series enables players to co-operate or compete in simultaneous multiplayer with up to four players.

2010

v Super Mario Galaxy 2 Mario goes galactic again, in a follow-up to the first Super Mario Galaxy game (2007). With the option to play as Mario’s brother, Luigi, in some levels and a starring role for the lovable Yoshi, this game is set to become a classic in the series

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