Personal Thoughts

When i think about games, the first thing that comes to mind is Mario. For me Mario represents gaming and is by far the most popular and recognised gaming character of all time.
My first experience of Mario was on the Nintendo Entertainmen System (NES) many years ago, jumping into pipes and saving the princess.

heres a brief bio of the gaming legend...

Mario (マリオ) is a fictional character in his eponymous video game series, created by video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as Nintendo's mascot and the main protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Though originally only appearing in platform games, starting with Donkey Kong, Mario currently appears in many video game genres, such as racing, puzzle, role-playing, fighting and sports games, and others.

Mario is depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian-American plumber who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom. He repeatedly stops Bowser's numerous plans to kidnap Princess Peach and subjugate the Mushroom Kingdom. He also has other enemies and rivals, including Donkey Kong and Wario. Since 1995, Mario has been voiced by Charles Martinet.^[1]

As Nintendo's mascot, Mario is one of the most famous characters in video game history,^[2] and his image is commonly associated with video games. Mario games, as a whole, have sold more than 201 million units, making the Mario series the best-selling video game series of all time.^[3] Outside platform games, he has appeared in video games of other genres, including the Mario Kart racing series, sports games, such as the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series, and role-playing games. Outside the original games, television shows, film and comics, he spawned a line of licensed merchandise. - TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA