List of Mario series characters

This is a list of various fictional and recurring characters who appear in the Mario series of video games created by Nintendo, as well as spin-off media, such as books, comics, and animated series.

Protagonists

Princess Daisy

Princess Daisy (デイジー姫 Deijī-Hime^?) (or simply Daisy) is the princess of Sarasaland. Daisy's debut appearance was in 1989 in Super Mario Land, where she was kidnapped by the tyrannical alien Tatanga who plans to marry Daisy and rule over her home Kingdom, Sarasaland. Daisy appeared later in NES Open Tournament Golf as Luigi's caddy. After a long hiatus of no game appearances, Daisy makes her return in the game Mario Tennis. After Mario Tennis, Daisy began to make recurring appearances in Mario sports and party games. Daisy is known to be best friends with Princess Peach. She is also rumored in the Mario universe to be in a romantic relationship with Luigi.^[1] As of Mario Kart Wii this relationship seems to have been made canon, due to the appearance of statues depicting the two characters dancing with each other as both adults and children in the Daisy Circuit course. The infant version of herself, Baby Daisy, debuted in Mario Kart Wii and is set to reappear in Mario Super Sluggers.

Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong Jr.

Donkey Kong Jr. is the son of the original Donkey Kong was introduced in the video game of the same name, which featured him as its protagonist who saved his caged father from Mario. Donkey Kong Jr. also appeared in Donkey Kong 2, Donkey Kong Jr. Math, and Donkey Kong Classics as the main character. In Donkey Kong '94, Donkey Kong Jr. appears as an obstacle throughout the game, attempting to impede Mario in his progress by pulling levers and throwing poison mushrooms at him. Donkey Kong Jr. also appears in Super Mario Kart and as an unlockable character in Mario Tennis. Shortly after the release of Donkey Kong 64, a representative from rare stated that the current Donkey Kong is a grown version of Junior.^[2]

Donkey Kong Jr. is also featured as a major character in the 1982 cartoon series Saturday Supercade, which has him searching for his runaway father, who was being chased by Mario and Pauline.

Professor E. Gadd

Professor Elvin Gadd (オヤ・マー博士 Oya Mā Hakase^?), more commonly known as E. Gadd, is a scientist that usually helps Mario and his friends with various inventions. In Japan, he is named after Nintendo game designer Yoshiyuki Oyama.^[3] He first appears in Luigi's Mansion, where he starts to investigate the mansion that mysteriously appeared by his house to study ghosts, his favorite subject. To help him study the ghosts, he uses the Poltergust 3000, an invention that can capture ghosts, and the Game Boy Horror, an invention to track and detect objects. He lends it to Luigi, and helps him on his quest. Other major inventions include his FLUDD and Magic Brush used in Super Mario Sunshine. He later appears in Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time where he creates a time-traveling machine. He also makes brief appearances in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga with various inventions as rewards for making bean coffees at the Starbean Cafe.

Luigi

Mario

Pauline

Pauline (ポリーン Porīn^?) is the woman whom Mario must rescue from the eponymous ape in the original Donkey Kong. In the same way Mario was originally called "Jumpman", Pauline was simply referred to as Lady (レディ Redi^?) in Japan. It was during the game's distribution in North America that she was given the name Pauline after Polly James, the wife of Nintendo of America's warehouse manager, Don James. ^[4] Following her first appearance in Donkey Kong, Pauline appeared in Family Basic and in Pinball for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Princess Peach, who was introduced in Super Mario Bros., took Pauline's place as damsel-in-distress in that game, eventually becoming Mario's primary romantic interest in most of the subsequent games in the series.

Pauline did not appear in another game until the 1994 Game Boy version of Donkey Kong, where she was once again taken captive by Donkey Kong and his son. Whereas the original arcade game's cabinet depicts Pauline with blond hair, the Game Boy remake features a redesigned modern Pauline as a brunette, distinguishing her from the blond-haired Peach, wearing a red dress with a torn skirt. This version of Pauline makes an appearance in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for the Nintendo DS, where she appears as the guest of honor in the opening of the Super Mini-Mario World theme park.

Peach

Poochy

Poochy is a dog-like creature that first appears in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, where he could be found in few levels and could be ridden by Yoshi over spikes and into enemies, who are instantly destroyed upon touching Poochy. In Tetris Attack, Poochy is among the denizens of Yoshi's Island who are brainwashed by Bowser and Kamek; Poochy must be battled and defeated by Yoshi in order to free him from this brainwashing. In Yoshi's Story, Poochy appears in some levels, but is smaller in size and can not be ridden, and can only be used to sniff for buried treasures.

Rosalina

Rosalina (ロゼッタ Rozetta^?) is the enigmatic princess who first appeared in Super Mario Galaxy. She runs the spaceship called the Comet Observatory, where she lives with the species of Lumas. She agrees to help Mario find Princess Peach who was kidnapped by Bowser. She later makes her first appearance outside of Super Mario Galaxy in Mario Kart Wii as a secret racer in the Heavy Class. In both titles, she is voiced by Mercedes Rose. According to Nintendo, Rosalina and Princess Peach were supposed to be sisters, but the idea had been cut out, even though Rosalina retained features similar to Princess Peach.^{citation needed}

Toad

Toad (キノピオ Kinopio^?), is a humanoid mushroom that is both a single character and the collective name of the "Mushroom People" found in the Mushroom Kingdom. The Toad species first appeared in Super Mario Bros. as seven guards that serve Princess Peach, called Mushroom Retainers. Toad's voice is first heard in Mario Kart 64, which features actor Isaac Marshall. Toad is also featured in Paper Mario and Paper Mario and the Thousand-year Door. Jen Taylor provided the voice of Toad until 2005, when Kelsey Hutchison took over for games such as Super Mario Strikers. Recently, Nicole Mills voiced him in Mario Party 8.

Toad first appeared as a single character in Super Mario Bros. 2 as one of the four playable characters. He is stated to be the chief guard of the Mushroom Retainers. The character then went on to star in Wario's Woods, and he appears in the Mario Kart series and various sports games. In other games, he acts as an instructor, such as in the earlier Mario Party games, and he helps guide characters in other games. As with the games, Toad plays a major supporting character in other forms of media starring Mario. He usually tags along with Mario in the various cartoons and comics as a sidekick.

Toadette

Toadette (キノピコ Kinopiko^?) is a female Toad (anthropomorphic mushrooms) who appears as a playable character in various Mario spin-off games. She first appeared as Toad's partner in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! as a hidden character, and later appeared in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door as an instructor when Mario received upgraded boots and hammers. She now appears regularly in the Mario Party series as a playable character starting with Mario Party 6, with the exception of the handheld games, where she acts as a NPC. The official Mario Kart Wii guide suggests that she is Toad's sister, while her Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy states that she is "adored as a star among the Toads."

Toadsworth

Yoshi

Antagonists

Birdo

Birdo, known in Japan as Catherine (キャサリン Kyasarin^?), is an enemy to Mario and playable character in various games. Birdo first appeared in the Japanese game Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and the remade Super Mario Bros. 2 as a recurring boss. Birdo later appeared in Wario's Woods as an ally of Toad, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars as a boss character, and in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, as a boss paired with the thief Popple. Birdo made its first playable appearance in the Nintendo 64 installment of Mario Tennis, as Yoshi's partner. Since then, Birdo appears as a playable character in several Mario sports titles and in the Mario Party series.

Birdo's gender has changed throughout various American game versions, but has always been male in Japan. In the original manual for Super Mario Bros. 2, Birdo is referred to as male that believes he is female, and would liked to be called Birdetta.^[5] Most later American-localized games, such as the Mario sports titles, which have featured Birdo with a diamond ring, have usually listed Birdo as a female.^{citation needed} However, recent localizations have avoided the use of any gender pronouns when describing Birdo. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it is said that Birdo is of "indeterminate gender" in its trophy.

In addition, the trailer for the Wii game Captain Rainbow is narrated by Birdo using a distinctly male voice.

King Boo

King Boo (キングテレサ Kingu Teresa^?, King Teresa) first appears as the final boss of Luigi's Mansion and plays minor roles in various other Mario games, including the Mario Kart series and Mario Party series. King Boo is member of the Boo species, though he is larger than the average Boo and dons a crown, with a large ruby in Luigi's Mansion, and a regular crown in subsequent appearances, on his head. It is well distinguished by its green eyes, green tongue and unique evil laugh. As well as appearing as the main antagonist of Luigi's Mansion, King Boo also appears as a boss in Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario 64 DS, Mario Kart DS, and Super Princess Peach. He also appears as an unlockable character in both Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart Wii.

Bowser

Bowser Jr.

Bowser Jr. (クッパJr. Kuppa Junia^?, Koopa Jr.) is the child of Bowser that debuted in Super Mario Sunshine.^[6] He acts as the main antagonist of both Super Mario Sunshine and New Super Mario Bros., with his father only playing a minor role in each. In Sunshine, he uses a magic paintbrush, invented by Professor E. Gadd, and special kerchief to transform into a translucent blue doppelgänger of Mario, Shadow Mario, who vandalizes Isle Delfino with graffiti, tricking the native people into believing that Mario himself is to blame. In New Super Mario Bros, he kidnaps Princess Peach, dragging her off to a new castle each time his old one is defeated. Additionally, he appears in Super Mario Galaxy, acting as his father's right hand and challenging Mario at several points of the game to impede him. He also appears in the various Mario sports games as a playable character.

Bowser Jr. shares many physical similarities with his father, with the main differences being a red ponytail as opposed to Bowser's mane, being about the same size as Mario, small black beady eyes, a more rounded snout, and a single sharp tooth visible in his mouth. He wears a kerchief constantly. It was originally a drawing of Mario's distinctive nose and mustache, but it is later replaced with a set of sharp teeth.

Clawgrip

Clawgrip, known as Chokkī (チョッキー^?) in Japan, is an enemy boss character that appears in Super Mario Bros. 2. He is a giant crab monster that throws large rocks. It lives in a giant tree awaiting the arrival of Mario and his friends. In Super Mario Advance, he is voiced by Charles Martinet. Clawgrip made a few appearances in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, while several Clawgrips also appeared in the comics published by Nintendo Comics System. ^[7] In the NES and SNES versions of Super Mario Bros. 2, his name is misspelled "Clawglip"; however, he is correctly called "Clawgrip" in the Game Boy Advance version.

Dry Bowser

A reincarnation of Bowser first appearing in New Super Mario Bros. where he played as one of the two final bosses in World 8. He is shown with the likeness of a Dry Bones, being a complete skeleton, but also has red hair and a black and red shell with spikes on top. Dry Bowser acts the same as his living counterpart by shooting fireballs, but also throwing parts of his own body as weapons. He later appears in Mario Kart Wii as a playable character after recieving at least one star on each 150cc Grand Prix race. Dry Bowser has a voice in the Mario Kart game, using a more fearsome roar than Bowser along with bone cracking noises.

Foreman Spike

Foreman Spike, known as Blackey (ブラッキー Burakkī^?) in Japan, is the main antagonist of the game Wrecking Crew during both regular gameplay and bonus levels and Wrecking Crew '98 after being hired by Bowser to build him a new castle. Foreman Spike also appears as an unlockable character in Mobile Golf. He depicted as an obese, bearded and corrupt construction worker, whose face is obscured by his sunglasses.

Fryguy

Fryguy, known as Hībōbō (ヒーボーボー^?) in Japan, is an enemy character that appears in Super Mario Bros. 2. Fryguy is essentially a giant living fireball, given life by Wart, that spews smaller fireballs when it is angry.^[8] He, along with Mouser, Tryclyde and Clawgrip, is one of the boss characters that appear at the end of each world in Super Mario Bros. 2.

Fryguy was also a recurring character on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, where he worked for King Koopa. He also appeared occasionally in Nintendo Comics System's Mario comic stories, which revealed that there was more than one of him. According to the comics, Fryguys are made by exposing Toads to fire or lava.

Gooper Blooper

Gooper Blooper is a giant variation of the Blooper. It has appeared as a boss in Super Mario Sunshine and Super Princess Peach. It has also appeared as an obstacle in Mario Power Tennis and Mario Hoops 3-on-3. It can commonly be seen with a cork in its tube-like snout; it has eight tentacles with large bulges, similar to suction cups; and it has a large arrow-shaped head with white skin and blue spots.

Kamek

Kamek (カメック Kamekku^?) is a Magikoopa who acts as Bowser's caretaker during Bowser's childhood and one of his high-ranking minions afterwards. Kamek can perform various feats of magic, such as self-duplication, teleportation, shooting magical blasts and increasing the size of other creatures. He first appears as the main antagonist of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, which has him trying to abduct Baby Mario and Baby Luigi, who he foresees as causing trouble for the Koopas in the future. Succeeding in only capturing Baby Luigi, Kamek and his minions, the Toadies, try to steal Baby Mario from the Yoshis throughout the game; before every boss battle, Kamek will appear and change an enemy creature into a giant, or perform some magical feat, and make them fight a Yoshi.

After his appearance in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Kamek appears in several other games, such as Tetris Attack, which features him as the penultimate boss and the one who brainwashed the inhabitants of Yoshi's Island; Super Mario RPG where you fight him in Bowser's Castle while he's under hypnosis by Smithy; Super Princess Peach as a boss character; Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time as Baby Bowser's sidekick; Yoshi Touch and Go, where he kidnaps the babies once again; and as a main antagonist in Yoshi's Island DS. Kamek also appears throughout the Mario Party series, most commonly as an orb summon and or a boss.

Koopa Kids

Koopa Kids (Mini-Bowsers in PAL regions) are minions of Bowser that appear in the Mario Party series. They do his general bidding, interrupting the players as they traverse the game boards. In Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6, the main one became a playable character, although they don't make an appearance in Mario Party 8 or Mario Party DS.

Mario Party 5 introduced three differently-colored Koopa Kids: Red Koopa Kid, Green Koopa Kid, and Blue Koopa Kid. They have been around in the Mario Party series ever since. While these three can compete with the player in mini-games in Mario Party 5 and Mario Party 6, only the original Koopa Kid has ever been playable. The colored Koopa Kids continue to make appearances in Bowser mini-games in Mario Party 7 and Mario Party Advance.

Koopalings

Koopaling (コクッパ Ko Kuppa^?) is a generic title given to seven children of King Bowser who help him in various games. They first appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3. Each Koopaling was a boss at the end of one of the game’s seven kingdoms.^[9] The Koopalings are also world bosses in Super Mario World, Mario is Missing!, Yoshi's Safari, and Hotel Mario. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, however, they are mini-bosses in Bowser's Castle. They are made up of Larry Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. Koopa, Iggy Koopa, Roy Koopa, Lemmy Koopa , and Ludwig von Koopa, from youngest to oldest.^[10]. Most of the Koopalings have wild punk hairstyles. It is said that each Koopaling was personally designed by a different member of the production staff of Super Mario Bros. 3. Explains Shigeru Miyamoto: “This is another way we give recognition to the many people who help make the games successful.”^[11]

In the Mario cartoons by DiC, the original seven Koopalings are given different names based on their given personalities. They are called Cheatsy Koopa, Big Mouth Koopa, Kootie Pie Koopa, Hop Koopa, Bully Koopa, Hip Koopa, and Kooky Von Koopa. Aside from their names and personalities, they look slightly different and serve Bowser differently, compared to their video game counterparts. Instead of acting as minions, they act directly as his children, and do things such as seek his attention, and even plot against him. They also appear in the Mario anime, Nintendo Adventure Books, and comic books.

Mouser

Mouser (ドン・チュルゲ Don Churuge^?) is one of Wart's generals featured as in Super Mario Bros. 2 and Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. His strategy is to throw bombs at his opponents.^[12] Mouser is also a major character in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, which casts him as King Koopa's second-in-command and a member of the Koopa Pack. John Stocker provided the voice for Mouser, who spoke with a German accent in the series. He also appears in the Super Mario Bros. comic books as a king corrupted by Bowser, whose now-leaderless subjects now steal vegetables for food. He is voiced by Charles Martinet in Super Mario Advance.

Petey Piranha

Petey is a larger, much more powerful version of a Piranha Plant, which is the result of mutation. Whereas normal Piranha Plants usually grow from pipes, Petey's leaves and roots have grown into foot-like and arm-like appendages. He can also use his leaves to fly around in the air. Furthermore, Petey sports a pair of white-spotted red briefs. Although Petey does not speak, he does make some growling, drooling and licking noises, which translate into actual speech. Petey frequently vomits out mud-like Earth Goop, a substance similar to that of Shadow Mario's Paintbrush, which can make the ground slippery and sometimes generate more goop-based monsters.

Raphael the Raven

Raphael the Raven, also known as Raphael Raven, is large version of the Raven species of enemies in the Yoshi series. He first appears in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island as the boss character, who is a regular Raven enlarged by Kamek. He also appears in Tetris Attack as a boss that must be rescued from Kamek's spell, and Paper Mario as a leader of tribe of Ravens on Lavalava island.

Tryclyde

Tryclyde (ガブチョ Gabucho^?) is an enemy character that appears in Super Mario Bros. 2. Tryclyde is a large, red serpent with three heads and the ability to breathe fire. Tryclyde serves as Wart's lackey, and was apparently an outsider before Wart took him in due to his cunning and evil nature.^[14] He was also a semi-regularly recurring villain in the animated series The Super Mario Bros. Super Show and a member of the semi-competent Koopa Pack. He was voiced by Harvey Atkin in the television show and by Charles Martinet in Super Mario Advance.

Tatanga

Tatanga the Mysterious Spaceman (宇宙怪人タタンガ Uchū Kaijin Tatanga^?) appears as the final boss in Super Mario Land, where he kidnaps Princess Daisy of Sarasaland. He fights in a war robot called Pagosu (パゴス^?) while Mario attempts to shoot him down from his Sky Pop airplane. Tatanga also appears in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins as the guardian of the Space Zone coin. Since then, Tatanga has remained largely obscure. Tatanga also appeared in the Game Boy comic books, published by Valiant as part of the Nintendo Comics System in 1990. There, in addition to an obvious change in his appearance, he had taken control of an estranged human from New Jersey by the name of Herman Smirch.

Waluigi

Waluigi was created by Fumihide Aoki and is voiced by Charles Martinet. He has so far only appeared in spin-off titles and party games, as opposed to the main platformer titles, but his costume is wearable in one of the Paper Mario games. He is the same age as Luigi^[15] And is a rival to Luigi. He is the brother of Wario, Mario's nemesis. Waluigi has a hat and gloves with an inverted L ( Γ ), which is similar to Wario's "W", an inverted "M". Waluigi's name is a portmanteau of the Japanese word warui (悪い), meaning "bad," and the name Luigi, so that his name literally means "bad Luigi".

Waluigi's first appearance was in the Mario Tennis games for the Game Boy Color and Nintendo 64, as Wario's doubles partner. Later, along with Princess Daisy, he joined the Mario Party series's roster in Mario Party 3 where he plays an important role, in which he owns an island full of hearts. He has been a playable character in many entries in the series since, as well as various Mario sports and Kart games. He acts as an antagonist in Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix, in which he wreaks havoc in the Mushroom Kingdom by stealing special objects called the Music Keys in order to hypnotize the world with his dancing, thus enabling him to conquer it. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Waluigi is one of the characters who can be summoned using the Assist Trophy item. When summoned, Waluigi attacks opponents by striking them with a tennis racket and by angrily stomping on them until they become temporarily stuck in the ground.

Wario

Wart

Wart (マムー Mamū^?) plays the role of final boss in Super Mario Bros. 2, and Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, the game that it is derived from. Wart is a fat, toad-like creature, with a crown on his head and a robe that can scarcely conceal his big belly. He is voiced by Charles Martinet in Super Mario Advance. Wart appears in the comics "Cloud Nine" and "Tanooki Suits Me" published for the Nintendo Comics System, his character design resembling an alligator rather than a frog in the former story. Wart also appeared in book six of the Nintendo Adventure Books, titled Doors to Doom. There, though, he appeared as a skateboarder who ended up helping the Mario Bros. during their current plight. Under the name "Mamu", Wart also appeared in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening to teach Link the third Ocarina song.

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