Mario has been the best selling gaming franchise for a reason. It could be easy to look at Mario as the Krusty The Clown of gaming due to the number of games he has been attached to, though that’s not a fair representation. He changed a lot over the first 15 years of his life though his general appearance hasn’t changed much since Super Mario 64 (except for general improvements in graphics). Mario has come along way from his humble beginnings as a bit part in someone else’s game. Including the red hat, tradesman jumpsuit and famous Italian moustache. Who would have thought that ‘Jumpman’ would go from being a minor character in this game, to being the most successful character in video game history? Even in Mario’s first appearance, most of his trademark looks were there. Today we’d like to show you the changes Mario has went through since his humble beginnings over 30 years ago. Over the last 30 years Mario has appeared in more than 200 video games and has been referenced in hundreds more Nintendo and non-Nintendo titles. Since those small beginnings, Mario has come a long way. ‘Jumpman’ had to jump over barrels that were being thrown by Donkey Kong in order to save a damsel in distress (which would later be called Princess). Mario’s character was called ‘Jumpman’ and he was a carpenter rather than a plumber. He made his first appearance in the 1981 pioneering Nintendo arcade game Donkey Kong. You may be surprised to know that he wasn’t a plumber, and his name wasn’t Mario either. Mario was not the main character in his first video game appearance. It’s rare to meet someone who has not heard of the Italian plumber named Mario, but those who don’t play video games often may be unaware of his humble beginnings.

This is why Birdo's mouth is more like a tube, like it was in SMB2 and not a trumpet, and why Hammer Bro has black armor and green skin, like in SMB3.There aren’t many video game characters that are in the consciousness of the general public, however Mario certainly has made great strides in this area. I tried to keep their designs close to what they looked like back in the SNES era. I was hoping to get, like three times the number of characters on here, starting with all the characters who have been in a Mario Kart game at any one point, but that went off the cliff when I let this project sit in my Sprite Art folder for 3 months before I decided to finish it up today and submit it to here. I don't know like 6 months now or something outrageous like that. A project I've been working on and off for about.

Super mario kart sprites frot