General info :
Mario is a media franchise, published and produced by video game company Nintendo, created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and starring the fictional Italian plumber Mario. It is primarily a video game franchise, but has extended to other forms of media, including television series, comic books, a 1993 feature film and theme park attractions. The series' first installment was 1983's Mario Bros., although Mario had made his first appearance in 1981's Donkey Kong, and had already been featured in several games of the Donkey Kong and Game & Watch series. The Mario games have been developed by a variety of developers including Nintendo, Hudson Soft, and AlphaDream. Most Mario games have been released exclusively for Nintendo's various video game consoles and handhelds, from the third generation onward.