Super Mario Kart

Luigi is a fictional character, featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by prominent game designer Shigeru Miyamoto,... Luigi is portrayed as the slightly younger fraternal twin brother of Nintendo's mascot Mario, and appears in many games throughout the Mario series, frequently as a sidekick to his brother and the deuteragonist of the series. Luigi first appeared in the 1983 arcade game Mario Bros. as the character controlled by the second player, and retained this role in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, and other titles. The first game where he was available as a primary character was Super Mario Bros. 2. In more recent appearances, Luigi's role became increasingly restricted to spinoffs such as the Mario Party and Mario Kart series, though he has been featured in a starring role on two occasions: first in the 1991 educational game Mario is Missing, later in Luigi's Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube in 2001 and in Luigi's Mansion 2 for the 3DS. In both of these games, he is called upon to act as the hero because Mario, the usual hero within the franchise, is in need of rescue.
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Toad, known in Japan as Kinopio , is a fictional character belonging to an anthropomorphic mushroom-like species of the same name in the Mario... series, created by Shigeru Miyamoto. A citizen of the Mushroom Kingdom, Toad is one of Princess Peach's most loyal attendants and is constantly working on her behalf. He is usually seen as a non-player character who provides assistance to Mario and his friends in most games, but there are times when Toad takes center stage and appears as the protagonist, as seen in Super Mario Bros. 2 and Wario's Woods. Starting with Super Mario Sunshine, a newly introduced character known as Toadsworth was introduced as Peach's steward, thus replacing Toad's original role as a helper for various Nintendo Gamecube Mario titles released . However, Toad later received various other roles that allowed him to take a more active role within the later Mario games.
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Bowser Koopa, also known as King Koopa, is a video game character and the main antagonist of Nintendo's Mario series. In Japan, the character is... known as Koopa and bears the title of Daimaō . Bowser is the leader and most powerful of the Turtle-like Koopa race and is Mario's greedy archnemesis beginning with his first appearance, in the game Super Mario Bros. His ultimate goals are to marry Princess Peach, defeat Mario, and conquer the Mushroom Kingdom. Since his debut, he has appeared in almost every Mario series game. Currently, Bowser is voiced by both Scott Burns and Kenny James. Bowser was the creation of Nintendo designer and producer Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto had first envisioned Bowser as an ox, basing him on the Ox King from the Toei Animation film Alakazam the Great. However, Nintendo designer Takashi Tezuka pointed out to Miyamoto that the character looked a lot more like a turtle than an ox. Despite popular misconception, Bowser is, in fact, supposed to be a turtle, not a dragon.
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Donkey Kong is a fictional gorilla appearing in the Donkey Kong and Mario video game franchises. A popular character, he has appeared in many video... games. Donkey Kong was Mario's first enemy in Nintendo's popular 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. Since then he has starred in his own series of games, starting with 1994's Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and remains an important character in the spin-off games of the Mario series, having since been replaced by Bowser as Mario's arch nemesis. DK debuted at the same time as Mario, and he still spars with Mario on occasion, appearing as a playable character in the Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. series, and is the primary antagonist in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong games. In 1981, Nintendo was pursuing a license to make a game based on the Popeye comic strip. When this fell through, Nintendo decided that it would take the opportunity to create new characters that could then be marketed and used in later games.
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