Mario Kart Double Dash: Character Origins

Written by DetErest

The characters of the Mario universe have exploded into a huge gang of friends and foes since the famous plumber first appeared more than 20 years ago. Some characters have only made a handful of appearances in Mario games, while others are much more familiar.

*Disclaimer: Due to the fact that I live in North America, the release dates and first appearance of characters are mostly based on the games that were released over here. If it a little detail below really bothers you that much, just use some liquid paper on your computer screen to correct the error...

Mario Characters & When We First Met Them Mario First Appearance: Donkey Kong (1981) (screenshot from Super Mario Bros, 1985) Nintendo's official mascot is a veteran of countless adventures, and he's a well known figure all around the world. In most of Nintendo's Multiplayer games, Mario typically represents the standard, all-round character with balanced abilities. He's renowned as a hero in the adventure world, having defeated the evil Koopa King on countless occasions. In Mario Kart Double Dash, he's back to prove that he's also the king of the road. Luigi First Appearance: Super Mario Bros (1985) Luigi is Mario's brother, and first appeared as nothing more than the character controlled by a second player in a Two Player game. At the time, he was no different than Mario aside from his green clothing. Luigi was able to "break-free" from being a Mario clone in Super Mario Bros 2. In this game, each selectable character had different abilities, with Luigi being able to perform a special hover jump. Peach First Appearance: Super Mario Bros (1985) Although she's well known to Nintendo fans as "Peach", for years she was known only as "Princess Toadstool" in North America. The Princess was a heroine character in Super Mario Bros 2, but she frequently found herself getting kidnapped in following Mario games. Since then, she's taken on a more independent role, opening up her own can of whoop-ass in games like Super Smash Bros Melee. Daisy First Appearance: Super Mario Land (1989) (screenshot from the Daisy Trophy in Super Smash Bros Melee, 2001) The Princess of Sarasaland shares quite a resemblance with the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. Daisy always wears a yellow dress, and has darker hair than Peach. Despite the fact that Peach is the more well-known in the Mario universe, Princess Daisy was the girl in the Super Mario Bros feature film (which certainly never came close to reaching the popularity of the video game series). Yoshi First Appearance: Super Mario World (1990) When players first picked up their SNES video game console, there's a good chance that the system came with Super Mario World. Early on in this game, we were introduced to Yoshi, Mario's dino pal. The Mario & Yoshi team became comparable to that of a cowboy and his trusty steed - Except the horses of the wild west never did have horses that could fly in the sky like Yoshi. This green dino became so popular, that he has been included in many Mario games since, and has even been the star of his own game. Birdo First Appearance: Super Mario Bros 2 (1986) The first time we saw Birdo was in the strange adventure world of Super Mario Bros 2, where he could be found as a mini-boss that could spit eggs from his mouth. Later on in the game, Birdo could be found spitting fire as well. Although the instruction booklet clearly identifies Birdo as being male, it seems that character evolution has led to Birdo becoming a female... Expensive surgery aside, it probably makes more sense that Birdo is a girl anyway, because she's now a bit of a counterpart to Yoshi. Waluigi First Appearance: Mario Tennis (2000) (screenshot from the Waluigi Trophy in Super Smash Bros Melee, 2001) Obviously inspired by the Wario character, Waluigi has become a familiar face in many of the non-Adventure based Mario games. Being tall and lanky, he represents Luigi's evil twin, and it is believed that he is Wario's brother... Of course this can't be completely confirmed, and it likely never will be until a DNA test is conducted. Baby Mario First Appearance: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995) This crying little brat could easily discourage an entire generation of Nintendo players from ever deciding to have kids... The constant crying of Baby Mario was almost enough force me to play entire game on MUTE. As for exactly how Baby Mario fits into the family of characters, it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. In a twist that defies both time and logic, both Baby Mario and adult Mario are capable of appearing in the same games at the same time... This pretty much separates the pair into two completely different characters. Baby Luigi First Appearance: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995) A victim of kidnapping, Baby Luigi was snatched by Kamek, the evil MagiKoopa. Just like Baby Mario, Baby Luigi appears to coexist with adult Luigi in a bizarre universe. Because of this strange occurrence, it's obvious that Nintendo's creation of these two infants has little impact on the storyline, and the Babies were invented just for fun. Koopa Troopa First Appearance: Super Mario Bros (1985) Koopa Troopas have been standard enemy characters in countless Mario games. If memory serves me correctly, the first time a "Koopa Troopa" was used as an individual character was in Super Mario Kart for the SNES. Ironically enough, another famous Koopa was "Koopa the Quick", who challenged Mario to races in Super Mario 64. Paratroopa First Appearance: Super Mario Bros (1985) Possibly my favorite driver in MKDD, red-shelled Paratroopas have also been around since the very first Super Mario Bros game. I still remember my excitement as a yung'un, grabbing a Koopa shell and kicking it off a ledge to pulverize a Paratroopa in midair. The winged Koopa has also appeared as a playable character in Mario Tennis. Diddy Kong First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country (1994) Introduced as DK's sidekick by Rareware, Diddy Kong's cartwheel attack was one of my favorite moves in that game. Diddy's role in this game gained him enough popularity to be the star of his own game with the release of DKC2: Diddy's Kong Quest one year later, where he was teamed up with his girlfriend, Dixie Kong. Bowser Jr. First Appearance: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1985) / Super Mario Sunshine (200) This character's appearance is used by both Baby Bowser, and Bowser Jr. We didn't see Baby Bowser in SMW2 until the very end of the game, when Yoshi and Baby Mario barge into his room when he's taking a nap. He wakes up in a rather cranky mood, and throws a tantrum about wanting a rid on Yoshi, and calls him a "gween donkey". The evil MagiKoopa named Kamek casts a spell to help Baby Bowser, turning the little terror into a towering monster in an attempt to crush Yoshi and Baby Mario. Bowser Junior on the other hand, is a Koopa Kid who appeared in Super Mario Sunshine, essentially becoming Bowser's son. Toad First Appearance: Super Mario Bros 2 (1986) Toad was one of my favorite characters from SMB2. His quick ability to pick up items made him the character of choice to score bonus points in that game. He returned in Super Mario Bros 3, and Mario fans will surely remember visiting Toad's house to snag helpful powerups along the way. Since then, we've seen him in many different Mario games. Toadette First Appearance: Paper Mario (2000) Mushroom Retainers have been spotted in previous Mario games, but Toadette is the first one of them has actually been given a name... Although the name "Toadette" isn't highly original, it's descriptive enough to easily identify the character as Toad's counterpart. A female Mushroom Retainer was rescued from each of the seven major castles in the original Super Mario Bros, and these characters were probably the inspiration for finally creating a "Toadette" character. Donkey Kong First Appearance: Donkey Kong Arcade Game (1981) First Appearance: Donkey Kong Country (1994) The official origin of this primate character will no doubt be debated by fans... Which is why I've included both possible answers to avoid angry e-mails... The first time that the barrel-throwing primate was introduced, was in the "Donkey Kong" arcade game during 1981. The first stage of the game has become rather famous, standing in Mario's way as he attempted to rescue the damsel in distress. But the ape was redesigned by Rareware in 1994, with a completely new look. This became the modern-day rendition of Donkey Kong, while the classic ape from the 1980s became the Cranky Kong character. Bowser First Appearance: Super Mario Bros (1985) He looked completely different in the original Super Mario Bros, as an evil turtle with a green complexion. He was also known as "King Koopa" in those days, while he's since started going by the name "Bowser Koopa". In Super Mario Bros 3, he morphed closer to his current form with a different skintone. He also developed a shorter, fatter physique. Throughout Mario history, it seems as is Bowser is obsessed with kidnapping the princess... Although he's a master of evil, his plans are constantly thwarted by Mario, proving that Bowser is far from being an evil genius. Wario First Appearance: Super Mario Land 2 (1992) (screenshot from the Wario Trophy in Super Smash Bros Melee, 2001) Although I don't believe that the two characters are directly related, Wario is apparently Mario's evil twin. The "W" on his hat is the reversed version of Mario's "M", and his name seems to suggest an appetite for war and chaos... "Warui" is also a Japanese word that means bad or evil. Unlike the kindness and generousity displayed by Mario, Wario is greedy and selfish. He's becoming more common in the non-Adventure Mario games, but has also starred in his very own game, Wario World. Petey Piranha First Appearance: Super Mario Sunshine (2002) (screenshot from the Super Mario Bros 3, 1989) The evil piranha plants have been around since the early days of Super Mario Bros. The one by the name of Petey first made an appearance as a boss character in Super Mario Sunshine. Unlike the standard Piranha Plants that we're used to seeing, Petey actually has a bit of a "body", consisting of leafy legs and arms, and he wears something that looks a bit like spotted underwear... King Boo First Appearance: Luigi's Mansion (2001) (screenshot from the Super Mario Bros 3, 1989) Although the actual "King Boo" character didn't arrive until Luigi's Mansion, giant Boo ghosts could be found dating back as early as 1990 with the release of Super Mario World. The very first time that a "Boo" character ever appeared in a Nintendo game, was a spirit who haunted the fortresses and castles of Super Mario Bros 3. A snapshot of that 1989 video game is shown here.