Super Mario (franchise): Difference between revisions

All this led to the game which more or less defined the entire [[Nintendo]] product line: ''Super Mario Bros.'' The story, which would recur countless times through the franchise, was simple enough: Bowser, a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|giant fire-breathing turtle dragon ox dinosaur]] and King of the Koopas, kidnaps Princess Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom (who would later revert to her Japanese name, Peach). Mario and Luigi must fight their way through a number of obstacles to face Bowser and rescue the princess. The formula has become codified to the point that the deliberate and highlighted trope subversions in spinoffs have themselves become tropes.

 

 

Of course, Mario hasn't completely limited himself to the realm of video games. Mario and Luigi appeared in the ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show]]'', with live-action linking segments featuring the brothers as plumbers in Brooklyn and cartoons that showed them in the world of the games. The secondary [[Theme Song]] for the cartoons explains that they "found the secret warp zone while working on the drain" which is how they got to the Mushroom Kingdom from Brooklyn. Interestingly, none of the television show is technically 'canon', inasmuch as the games have that anyway, though it has affected some [[Fanon]]. This might be related to the irony that there's never been a show made of it in the country of origin, aside from the obscure theatrical anime ''[[The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach]]''. There was also a [[Video Game Movies Suck|critically-panned]] [[Super Mario Bros. (film)|motion picture]], where Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as the titular brothers faced off against Dennis Hopper as Koopa, a hyperevolved dinosaur from [[Another Dimension]], intent on rejoining his own, mostly desolate world with ours. We were all confused, and the movie's [[Backstory]] has never been even obliquely referenced in other media. In addition, ''[[Super Mario Bros 3|Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' was notable for being previewed in the Fred Savage film ''[[The Wizard]]'', whose climactic scene involved an autistic child playing the first stage of the game.

* ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'' series

** ''[[Paper Mario 64|Paper Mario]]'' ([[Nintendo 64]])

** ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' ([[Wii]]; though in this one platforming overtakes the [[RPG Elements]])

** ''[[Paper Mario Sticker Star]]'' ([[Nintendo 3DS]])

 

=== Sports ===

** Distinctively enough, most spinoffs don't use the "Super" before Mario's name, with the only possible exception being ''Super Mario Strikers'' (considering that the ''[[Mario Kart]]'' games ditched it since the N64 version, making the Super NES game a case of [[Super Title 64 Advance]] instead), which even then is known in Europe as ''Mario Smash Football'').

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Luigi started off as little more than a [[Palette Swap]] of Mario, and would you just [[Luigi's Mansion|look at him now]]. We're proud of you, buddy.

** Also, the boss of World 4 in ''New Super Mario Bros.'' was a giant Goomba, and Giant World from ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' thrived on this trope, as it's... [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Giant World]].

*** And the "Huge" side of Tiny-Huge Island in ''Super Mario 64''.

** SMB's running on the top of the screen was essentially breaking the 4th wall.

* [[Breath Weapon]]: Bowser's trademark and most often used attack.

* [[Brother Chuck]]: Wart, the Big Bad from ''[[Super Mario Bros 2|Super Mario Bros. 2]]''. Somewhat justified in that Subcon was a dream world. Emphasis on "somewhat" as Subcon natives like [[Canon Immigrant|Shy Guys and Bob-ombs]] continue to exist.

** Tatanga, another platformer [[Big Bad]] unrelated to Bowser, appeared in two games and, like Wart, some obscure comics... then he disappeared (though its possible he may have died in ''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins'').

* [[Bubbly Clouds]]: World 5 in ''[[Super Mario Bros 3|Super Mario Bros. 3]]'' and some of the bonus stages.

** Subverted in ''[[Super Smash Bros]]. Brawl'', {{spoiler|in which Luigi is one of only three characters left to rescue all the others after they've been incapacitated by the final boss... if only because he was one of the first to get transformed into a trophy and recovered later because Dedede put one of his badges on him.}}

*** Not to mention {{spoiler|Luigi's freaky Final Smash}}.

** Waluigi, when not being outright ignored, is always caught in all kinds of slapstick gags, particularly explosions, as seen in most of the sports games intros. While Luigi is usually labelled the king of second bananas, at least that grants him a shitload of screentime. Waluigi either does´t appear or is there just for him to get beaten up.

** When you really think about it, Luigi [http://my.deviantart.com/messages/#/d38r826 doesn't have it that bad] compared to his brother.

* [[The Caligula]]: King Bowser in the RPGs.

** And of course, as mentioned before, the frequent [[Bat Family Crossover|Bat Family Crossovers]] with ''[[Donkey Kong Country (video game)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' and [[Wario Land|Wario's]] [[Wario Ware|games]] (and recently, the Miis that were first created from the [[Wii]]).

* [[Cool Airship]]: The Koopas sometimes attack in what are essentially flying pirate ships.

* [[Cute Monster]]: ''Every'' monster is cute. Yes, even Bowser -- ''especially'' Bowser.

* [[Cute Little Fangs]]: Some of the enemies have these.

* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Obstinately Peach; most spinoffs that don't follow the classic setup tend to subvert this almost immediately and without comment.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Compared to everything else about the ''Mario'' series, the Mario Strikers/Mario Football series is rather edgy, albeit in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way. The [[Paper Mario]] series, particularly Super Paper Mario, is also much more dramatic and dark than the rest of the series, but without ever losing that basically-lighthearted Mario charm.

** The first time they've appeared in years, mind you.

* [[Depending on the Writer]]: The sentience of Bob-ombs, as well as their ability to regenerate from explosives.

* [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]]: A lot of examples, but Baron Brrr and Kingfin in Super Mario Galaxy have no story foreshadowing whatsoever.

* [[A God Am I]]: A rare pleasant example. Rosalina is the de facto god of the Mario setting. She was originally just a perfectly normal little girl.

* [[The Guards Must Be Crazy]]: If anyone or anything in this series is guarded, expect it to be stolen/kidnapped whenever the current villain feels like it.

* [[Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal]]: Many non-human characters fall under this.

** In ''[[Mario Party]] 5'', Mario and Peach are called the "Cutest Couple".

** In ''Mario Superstar Baseball'' and ''Mario Super Sluggers'', they share status enhancements, namely chemistry, as they are buddy players.

{{quote| '''Mario:''' (applauding Peach) I love you so much.}}

** In [[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]], the first one, [[Shipper on Deck|one of the Toads tells Mario to take Peach on a date to Shooting Star Summit]].

* [[Rule of Fun]]: Why does Mario grow when he eats a mushroom? Why are there bricks floating in the air? Why does a fire-breathing, hammer-throwing Ox-Turtle kidnap Peach all of the time? Why must Bowser put something to defeat him in every arena that he's faced? Because it's fun, that's why!

* [[Sand Is Water]]

* [[Score Multiplier]]: In most games, your score is multiplied by a [[Kill Streak]]. You eventually get 1-Ups instead when the streak is high enough.

* [[Sequel Difficulty Drop]]: ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'', compared to ''The Lost Levels'', at least. It's still harder than the original ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' though.

* [[Spike Balls of Doom]]: Present here-there. Most notably, around castles but there are other cases too.

* [[Spikes of Doom]]: These things are present rather commonly in games.

* [[Springs Springs Everywhere]]: And often springboards can even be carried. Also features other pieces of environment that have functions of a springboard.

* [[Squashed Flat]]: Goombas in some games, after being stomped on.

* [[Star-Shaped Coupon]]: ''64'', ''Galaxy'', and the ''Party'' series see you collect Power Stars. The RPGs have various star-shaped objects as well. ''Sunshine'' has Sun Shaped Coupons, which might be considered close enough.

* [[Story Overwrite]]: The endings of ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' and ''Super Mario World'' have you in Super form, no matter which form you cleared either game with.

* [[Super Drowning Skills]]

* [[Super Not-Drowning Skills]]: in the earlier games.