Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto built them off the base of characters from Popeye. The franchise began with Donkey Kong in 1981, where Mario, Donkey Kong, and Pauline originated. Many characters have goals or plot arcs that vary between series for example, the Luigi's Mansion games focus on Luigi ridding a haunted building of ghost-like creatures known as Boos, and Wario stars in games that center around his greed and desire for money and treasure. Games in the Mario franchise primarily revolve around the protagonist Mario and often involve the trope of Bowser as the antagonist kidnapping Princess Peach, with Mario then rescuing her.
Nintendo is usually the developer and publisher of the franchise's games, but various games are developed by third-party companies, such as Hudson Soft and Intelligent Systems. The Mario franchise is a video game series created by Nintendo. For the main characters that appear in Mario-adjacent franchise Donkey Kong, see List of Donkey Kong characters.Ī selection of Mario characters (L-R): Goomba, Koopa Paratroopa, Wario, Princess Daisy, Toad, Donkey Kong, Princess Peach, Mario, Bowser, Luigi, Yoshi, Rosalina, Waluigi, Boo, and Koopa Troopa
