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.

Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto built them off the base of characters from Popeye.

Unable to license the characters, Miyamoto made later changes to their appearances and personalities, such as a more lighthearted tone.

In the main series games, she typically plays the role of a damsel in distress who needs to be rescued by Mario.

[22] Super Mario Run (2016) marks Daisy's playable debut in a main series game, where she is able to perform a double jump.

[23] She acts more tomboyish than Princess Peach, exemplified by her appearances in the Mario sports games.

[25] He debuted in Super Mario Bros. (1985),[26] though his first starring role was in Wario's Woods (1994), in which the player is able to control Toad to solve puzzles.

[28] Yoshi[f] (voiced by Kazumi Totaka) is a green anthropomorphic dinosaur character, first appeared in the 1990 game Super Mario World.

She was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, is the earliest example of a female with a speaking role in a video game, and is cited as a famous example of a damsel in distress in fiction.

[37] Birdo, also known as Birdette, and known in Japan as Catherine,[i] (voiced by Kazumi Totaka) is depicted as a pink, anthropomorphic dinosaur who wears a red bow on her head, and has a round mouth that can fire eggs as projectiles.

[46] He makes ambiguous gibberish sounds when speaking, inspired by the language of "Animalese" used in the Animal Crossing series when Totaka invented his voice.

[47] Toadsworth[l] (voiced by Scott Burns)[48][49] is an elderly Toad character who is Princess Peach's steward.

[citation needed] Toadette[m] (voiced by Samantha Kelly) is a pink Toad character who debuted in Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003) as a playable driver.

Toadette is depicted with two long round pigtails with white spots and a dress, to distinguish her from Toad.

[54] Rosalina[n] (voiced by Laura Faye Smith) is a princess character introduced in the 2007 Wii game Super Mario Galaxy.

They first appear in Super Mario Galaxy, where they have the ability to transform into various game objects, explorable planetoids, and entire levels.

[67] He is portrayed as the grandfather of Donkey Kong in the games, and the father of him in the 2023 film, which he was voiced by Fred Armisen.

[citation needed] Kamek's non-playable appearance in Mario Party 8 was controversial and caused the game to be recalled in the United Kingdom, as some of his in-game dialogue contained the word "spastic", which is considered very offensive to disabled people in the UK.

[100][101] While Mini Bowser would initially continue to rise in relevance throughout the series, becoming the plot's main antagonistic force[102] as well as a playable character by Mario Party 5[103] and being the subject of a dedicated mode in Mario Party Advance,[104] he has also become an example of Nintendo phasing out certain characters from the Super Mario franchise, with him having been replaced by the more recently introduced Bowser Jr. in newer games of the series,[105] netting him the reputation of being "another neglected classic Nintendo character".

[107] Waluigi[x] is a tall, thin, and mischievous man who was introduced in Mario Tennis as Wario's partner of unspecified relation.

He is playable in most of the Mario spin-off games, and makes several cameos within the Super Smash Bros.

[citation needed] King Boo's first major debuted role was as the final boss of Luigi's Mansion, where he disguised himself as Bowser.

[citation needed] He dons a crown with a large ruby, and has glowing, sunken eyes in the Luigi's Mansion franchise.

In the games, Bowser Jr. looks up to his dad, and shares his ambition to defeat Mario, and take over the world and the Mushroom Kingdom.

Whereas normal Piranha Plants are usually depicted growing from pipes, Petey's leaves and roots are foot-like and arm-like appendages, allowing the character to use objects such as tennis rackets and golf clubs when playable in the various Mario sports games.

[119] Bill Trinen and Nate Bihldorff, both employees of the Treehouse, wrote the English dialogue for Fawful through the exchange of notes.

to the end of every line,[124] Trinen and Bihldorff intended to make Fawful as "wacky" and "zainy" as possible in the Western release.

[125][126][127] He is also regarded for his quotes and humor, nominated for the "Most Quotable Character" award in 2009, but losing to Ellis from Left 4 Dead 2.

was regarded by MTV Multiplayer writer Steven Totilo as one of the most famous lines in video games of recent years and was quoted with "uncommon frequency.

"[131] GamesRadar ranked Fawful as one of the best video game villains, arguing that he was a dominant aspect of the Mario & Luigi series partly due to his quotes.