Mario

Mario is the main protagonist of the Super Mario series and Nintendo's primary mascot. Normally a plumber, in the game series, Mario uses his legendary jump and combat abilities to defend the peaceful inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom and the world from power-hungry villains such as Bowser. While not adventuring, Mario participates in a variety of sporting events and other fun activities with his brother Luigi and a whole cast of friends from his many adventures.

Mario has currently appeared in three crossover titles alongside Sonic: Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games. In these games, he is voiced by Charles Martinet, who also voices Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi.

Early Rivalry
Nintendo was once business rivals with Sega; this rivalry peaked during the 16-bit era (the era of the Super Nintendo and SEGA Genesis). As such, Nintendo and Sega often attempted to put each other down through their games. Examples include Sonic's appearance in Donkey Kong Country 2, to the left, and the blue hedgehog enemies of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. In the Sonic children's book, Secret Admirer, there is a sign outside Robotropolis that reads "No Nintendo Game Playing".

In a commercial for the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, a woman criticizes the game by saying "Why can't he be more like that nice boy Mario?" while an animated Sonic is seen on the cover of the box mimicking her (probably hinting that Sonic always had some resentment towards Mario). Sonic then blows her a rasberry and runs out of the box and into the TV screen which makes her angry, calling him a "Little brat!".

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Mario was the top ranking hero who took on Cranky Kong's video game hero challenge in Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. He placed in the top three (along with Yoshi and Link or Diddy Kong depending on how well the player ranked). At the time of this game Nintendo and SEGA were bitter rivals in the console wars, thus Nintendo placed Sonic's shoes next to a trash can labeled "No Hopers". (Earthworm Jim's gun is also there.)

At the Olympics


Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games is the first official cross-over between the worlds two most popular video game characters. In this game, Mario comes as an all around character along with Luigi, Amy and Blaze. His emblem is the red trademark "M" that he has worn on his hat for so many years. He returned in the sequel Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games.

Bio

This persistent little plumber developed his skills chasing down a big ape. Now he's taking his All-Around skills to the Olympic Games, where his running and jumping experience should come in more than handy in events like the high jump and hurdles.

Stats

Continued Rivalry

Mario and Sonic are both the world's top video game heroes. They both seem to have a competitive relationship with each other since Sonic was created. Sonic appears to be Mario's friend instead of a complete rival, but they both have issues with ending conflict with each other (show in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games TV ads). Example: In the first TV spot, Sonic figures out that Mario gets intimidated by him making fun of him on TV. In the second TV spot, Mario tries wetting poor Sonic up with the hose, knowing that Sonic hates water. This still continues on in TV spots 3 through 6. But they still appear to be good friends, and this shown in the a commercial for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games where they give each other a high five.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Making his 3rd playable appearance in the Smash Bros. series, Mario is the lead character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is middle weight and very well balanced having a good compromise between speed, agility and strength.

Special Moves
 * Standard: Fireball
 * Side: Cape
 * Up: Super Jump Punch
 * Down: F.L.U.D.D.
 * Final Smash: Mario Finale

Trophy/ Sticker Info.

"Sonic and Mario" Event

Brawl contains a co-op event match where players must control Sonic and Mario as they team up in Green Hill Zone to defeat two more Marios. This event is appropriately named "Sonic and Mario".

Caption: "No problem! It's nothing at all! Only a race can decide the true victors! (KO two Marios)"

"The FINAL, Final Battle" event

In the 1 player event mode, there is a last event titled "The FINAL, Final Battle". In this event match, the player must defeat an over sized Mario plus Sonic, and Solid Snake. This event takes place in the Final Destination stage.

Caption: "It's the REAL final battle! (KO Snake, Sonic and Giant Mario.)"

Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Winter Games
Mario returns, once again as an all around type character in the anticipated sequel to Mario And Sonic At The Olympic Games. Being the third time they have met, Mario and Sonic seem to of built a friendship out of their rivalry. This is indicated by the game's opening cinematic which depicts Mario and Sonic coordinating with each other to thwart the plans of Dr. Eggman and Wario.

Stats

Sonic the Comic
Sonic the Comic introduced the Marxio Brothers, characters that seem to be a combination of the Mario Bros. and the classic comedians, The Marx Brothers.

Mario-Kart Demo Disk
In 2003, Mario Kart Double Dash was released for the Nintendo Gamecube. In the US, if people were to pre-order this game they would receive a complimentary bonus disk which had demos and videos of up coming Gamecube games. One of the major draws of this disk was a 2 level playable demo of Sonic Heroes where players could control either Team Sonic or Team Dark. Also appearing on this disk was multiple mini games from Mario Party 5.

Dic Entertainment
Both Mario and Sonic have had three cartoon series' produced by Dic. A difference is that Mario's three series' (The Super Mario Super Show, Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World) Were all consistent with its cast and tone of the shows. Sonic's 3 cartoons (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Underground) were all completely different with different casts of characters, different tones and themes.

In more recent years, Dic has been releasing these cartoons on DVD and have been very openly compiling episodes from Mario's shows with those of Sonic's shows. Most notable is an Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 / Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog DVD compilation box set (release the same day as Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games). Other DVD's such as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, King Koopa Katastrophe includes full episodes of Sonic Underground as special features. Another was a Sonic Underground DVD titled Robotnik's Revenge which included a Super Mario Bros. Super Show Episode as a special feature.

Similarities in Gaming
As gaming rivals, Mario and Sonic have both gone into similar territory with one another with the games for their respected series (in most cases it's due to Sega intentionally or unintentionally using the Sonic series to make competition with Nintendo). These are a few examples:

Marge Be Not Proud
In December of 1995, the hit prime time comedy The Simpsons showed Episode 3F07, " Marge Be Not Proud" which featured appearances by Sonic and Mario. There was a scene in this episode where Bart is tempted to steal a video game. in his head bart is visited by Luigi, Mario, Donkey Kong and Sonic who all try to justify Bart stealing the game, also in the scene is Lee Carvallo, a golfer, who is trying to talk Bart out of stealing the game because it won't help his putting.


 * Mario's Quote
 * "The store, she is so rich, she a won't even a know."


 * Sonic's Quote
 * "Just take it! Take it! Take it! take it! take it! Take it!... Take it!"

The Simpsons Game
Both Sonic and Mario have appeared in the Simpsons Game in the level Enter the Cheatrix as some of the background characters. However they are poorly drawn and you can barely recognize them as they look nothing like their official drawing. Towards the end of the game, the Simpsons escape the video game world and Mario, Sonic and others go with them, back to Springfield. When Homer Simpsons asks what is for dinner, Mario jumps on the couch and shouts "Hopefully Spaghetti! Here we go!"

Artwork


File:Mario 56.png|Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games File:Mario 94.png|Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games File:Mario 93.png|Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games File:Mario 148.jpg|Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games File:Mario 169.png|Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games File:Mariodecal.jpg|Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games File:Marioicon.png|Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games File:Mario 50.png|Super Smash Bros. Brawl File:MarioBrawl.png|Super Smash Bros. Brawl 

Trivia

 * In | Super Mario Bros., the film explains that the reason Mario & Luigi are called the Super Mario Bros. is because their actual last name is in fact, Mario, though this could be completly false for the video game continuity.