Personality
Officially, Nintendo producers have stated that Mario's biography is kept simple in order to make the character versatile and reusable in many different games and situations. Mario is indeed one of the most underdeveloped characters in the Mario series, with characters such as Bowser and Princess Peach having more complex, consistent, and unique back stories. In fact, his brother Luigi has even gained more of a personality in recent games, while Mario has stayed "flat."
Over the course of his many games, Mario has rescued a number of people from captivity (including Pauline, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, and Prince Pine) and has become regarded as a great hero in the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario is actually a famous personality across the world, and is a recognized celebrity inside and outside the Mushroom Kingdom. On the popular level, Mario is seen as the sole savior of the Mushroom Kingdom, while the contributions of others have been set aside. While not necessarily Mario's fault, Mario has remained in the limelight despite Luigi's (though less frequent) contributions. In addition, Mario has been shown on very some occasions, such as certain cutscenes in Mario Power Tennis, but often in Super Mario-Kun, to have an almost overbearing attitude towards his brother. However, this could also just be Mario's outgoing "big brother" personality interacting with Luigi's more introverted nature.
Additionally, Mario is much more impulsive and aggressive than his brother Luigi and is willing to enter dangerous situations all alone. Mario will often attempt to quickly solve a problem with his actions. Mallow even had to physically restrain Mario from brawling several times, such as before the battle with Bowyer, so that the heroes could figure out what exactly was happening to their world. While he will accept help and even partners during his adventures, at times he may also resent the implication that he needs the help in the first place. Despite this, he seems to enjoy their company. In the Super Mario-Kun, Mario is short-tempered, and he resorts to yelling at his friends for failing or making uncalled-for actions. In Super Mario-Kun, Mario is not above in certain vulgar actions, such as farting to taunt his opponents or urinating on Yoshi, and he also cross-dresses several times.
Despite these potential flaws, Mario is a kind-hearted and brave hero who often places the problems and needs of others before his own. This is shown in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door when Doopliss steals his identity, and he is still willing to help Vivian with her problem. He is willing to risk his life to save the lives of millions from Bowser's destructive forces and any other villains he comes across.
Like many other protagonists of Nintendo games, Mario rarely speaks, his dialogue primarily limited to numerous grunts and yells. When he does speak, he speaks English with a heavy Italian accent. In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mario is completely silent, communicating solely through pantomime. In the Paper Mario titles, he mainly communicates through simple nodding and hand gestures, and in the Mario & Luigi titles, he speaks in unintelligible gibberish that the other characters can understand perfectly. In Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is "heard" speaking in the opening scenes, but his dialogue is completely inaudible. In the Mario vs. Donkey Kong titles, Mario speaks fully, shouting sentences such as "Come back here, you big monkey!" He can be clearly heard shouting, "Welcome! Welcome, new galaxy!" in the ending of Super Mario Galaxy, as well as saying "Thank you so much for playing my game!" after the credits. Mario has also been shown full capable speech in Itadaki Street DS and Fortune Street. Despite Nintendo's emphasis on Mario as a silent protagonist, Mario is the most often heard speaking in full sentences, if occurrences outside the games (especially in special events in real life) are counted.
He has full speech capabilities in some sports games and outside games (including in real life) and also speaks regularly in the DiC cartoon trilogy, though he speaks perfect English with a Brooklyn accent in the latter. In a press conference, Mario is shown to be able to speak in full sentences.[12]. Also, people can communicate with Mario by asking various questions; there, too, Mario can fully speak. [13][14][15] In the games, other characters speak for him, mainly Lakitu and Toad.
Mario seems to have a small fixation with food. This is most notably seen in the DiC cartoon trilogy, which may also be the origin of this trait, where Mario is almost constantly hungry and fascinated with Italian food (mostly pizza and pasta), typically wanting to stop Bowser's latest scheme simply so he could eat and going to nearly any length to do so. In fact, in the The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Koopenstein", when Princess Peach asked him if he ever thought about anything besides food, Mario, with pure honesty, replied, "What else is there?" As in Super Mario 64 and its remake, the original reason Mario came to the castle is that Peach was baking him a cake. In the opening of Super Mario Sunshine, Mario is apparently daydreaming about seafood. In Fortune Street, he offers Yoshi to help by finding Yoshi's cookies, but before playfully saying, "just give me a second to brush these cookie crumbs out of my mustache!" Quite a few characters in other games also advised Mario to refrain from eating much.
Powers and abilities
- Mario's main (trademark) ability is his Jump, which allows him to leap two stories high, while doing two flips and a twist. He is the second best jumper in the Mushroom Kingdom, only surpassed by Luigi. He is also capable of several variations, including the Long Jump, Back Flip, Spin Jump, and Wall Jump.
- Mario is always associated with the element of fire.
- Mario has very powerful feet, which have flattened innumerable enemies, toppled fortresses and even crushed spaceships.
- In Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Mario is able to "transform" into other characters, which comes in handy, as he is a silent protagonist. This is not one of his attacks, however; he simply uses it to tell stories or explain situations to other characters.
- Mario can use a variety of martial arts attacks, including punching and kicking.
- Mario can perform many standard moves in the Mario series, such as the Ground Pound.
- Mario has been shown to possess superhuman strength. In Super Mario World, he is seen lifting a fortress out of the ground and then kicking it away. In Super Mario 64, he can carry and throw the very large King Bob-omb, despite the king being far larger than him. An even more impressive feat is during the battles with Bowser; Mario can grab him by the tail, spin him around and throw him. Mario spins Bowser around faster and farther with more spins. His strength is also shown in Super Mario Galaxy, where he can easily stun a Mega Goomba with a Star Spin despite its great size and his ability to knock Bowser around during battles with him. He can also lift Bob-ombs that were his size. In Bowser's Inside Story, he is able to, lift and throw a 3 ton, morbidly obese Luigi when using the Snack Basket move among other fantastic feats. In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Mario is able to lift big barrels and frozen enemies as if it was nothing, even in tiny stature.
- Mario has a significant level of durability. He can withstand great impacts, such as falling from a height of several hundred stories (seen in Super Mario Galaxy) or being struck by opponents with superhuman strength, such as Donkey Kong or Bowser. Also, he can endure many things such as harsh environments. In the third Mario and Luigi game, he could withstand the freezing cold within Bowser's stomach or a dark energy blast from the Dark Star when Luigi had a difficult time shaking it off. Mario is very versatile and adapts amazingly fast to his surroundings, being able to go from scorching deserts to freezing snow peaks to the depths of outer-space. He can endure otherwise lethal hits (i.e. Burning, Electrocution, Freezing) several times before dying. An insane feat of durability is inSuper Mario Galaxy, when in the end, Mario survives the supernova that wiped out the universe.
- Mario's first weapons were the Hammer in Donkey Kong and the Fireball in Super Mario Bros. Mario often uses the Hammer as a weapon in Mario RPGs. Mario can, in some games, such as Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars), possess pyrokenesis, the ability to control fire without a Fire Flower power-up.
- Mario has thirteen power-ups that allow him to fly; the Super Leaf, the Tanooki Suit, the Cape Feather, the Wing Cap, the P-Wing, the P-Balloon, the Power Flower, the Bee Mushroom, the Boo Mushroom, the Red Star, the Propeller Mushroom, the Invincibility Leaf, and the Super Acorn. On The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, Mario was able to fly even after powering up with a Fire Flower.
- In Super Mario Bros. 3, Mario had the ability to transform into a Hammer Bro with the ability to throw hammers at his enemies or a Frog which let him swim faster and jump higher.
- Mario has three other caps he can wear, the Metal Cap, Wing Cap and Vanish Cap, which turn him into Metal Mario, make him fly and make him invisible and intangible, respectively.
- Mario even has his own fighting style. Although he never really uses it in his games, except the Smash Bros. series, he does use the martial arts in a Super Mario Bros. 3 comic. In the comic, while fighting Lemmy Koopa, Mario says, "Good thing I know karate!" In the following panel, Mario jumps many times in a rapid motion, dodging all of Lemmy's attacks with ease. Mario also has a black belt in Plumb Fu.
- In Paper Mario, Mario can travel quickly on land with his Spin Dash, an ability he has from the beginning.
- In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Mario becomes more paper-like and can become Flat Mario, Paper Tube Mario, Paper Airplane Mario, and Paper Boat Mario as a result of the "curses" cast upon him by the Black Chest Demons.
- In Super Paper Mario, Mario was given the ability to flip between dimensions.
- In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario has a special attack called the Mario Finale, in which he unleashes a twin stream of fire from his hands, although he requires a Smash Ball in order to execute it.
- In the 2-D games, Mario is shown to run at a fast pace, even fast enough to run up walls.
- Mario is shown to have a very good grip, being able to hold on to poles and beanstalks without losing his grip. He also can hold objects such as POW Blocks (which are obviously heavy) for an infinite time.
