AP Explains: 最高の Mario's 全世界の 控訴，上告
NEW YORK (AP) ― Take that, Pokemon. On Sunday, the Japanese 首相 turned up at the Olympics の近くにing 儀式s to 促進する the 2020 Tokyo games dressed up as Mario , the eponymous hero of the popular ビデオ game series created in 1985.
Who is Mario and how did he come by his 全世界の 控訴，上告? Here's a closer look.
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FILE - In this Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016, とじ込み／提出する photo, Japanese 総理大臣 Shinzo Abe appears as the Nintendo game character 最高の Mario during the の近くにing 儀式 at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Abe's 簡潔な／要約する but show-stopping 外見 as 最高の Mario 申し込む／申し出d a glimpse at Tokyo's 計画（する）s for the 2020 games. (Yu Nakajima/Kyodo News 経由で AP, とじ込み／提出する)
WHY SUPER MARIO?
Japanese 活気／アニメーション and game characters from Hello Kitty to Pac Man also made 外見s in the の近くにing 儀式s. But 非，不，無 of them may have the 全世界の reach of 最高の Mario, the game franchise that was a 攻撃する，衝突する when Nintendo's ビデオ game system and Game Boy burst の上に the scene in the 1980s.
総理大臣 Shinzo Abe's 外見 as 最高の Mario was a （人が）群がる-pleasing reminde r of how much the game helped 刺激（する） on the videogame 革命 in the U.S. and globally. Abe 現れるd from a green 麻薬を吸う in a big red 最高の Mario cap and 衣装, 持つ／拘留するing a glowing red ball kicked to him by famed manga サッカー 星／主役にする Captain Tsubasa.
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HOW DID SUPER MARIO'S APPEARANCE COME ABOUT?
Tokyo 2020 組織者s said in a 声明 that the 最高の Mario idea （機の）カム up during a brainstorming 開会／開廷／会期. Staff at Nintendo would say only that the 政府 asked to borrow the character for the show.
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MARIO'S BACKSTORY
The franchise began in 1981, when Donkey Kong debuted as an arcade game. Donkey Kong soon became the hottest selling arcade game in the 商売／仕事. In that game, a character called "Jumpman," 類似の to Mario, tried to save a damsel from a big ape. 最高の Mario （機の）カム a long four years later, 一括d with the Nintendo Entertainment System, popularizing the 味方する-scrolling videogame 判型.
Mario's first 職業 was carpentry, but later he became a plumber, and in many games he travels up and 負かす／撃墜する in a world of 地下組織の 麻薬を吸うs. In his 調書をとる／予約する "Game Over: How Nintendo 征服する／打ち勝つd the World," David Sheff wrote that Mario was 指名するd after Nintendo's U.S. landlord, who was 需要・要求するing 支援する rent from the company's fledgling U.S. arm. Nintendo doesn't 確認する or 否定する the story.
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BY THE NUMBERS
There are more than 100 games, for さまざまな gaming systems, 範囲ing from Donkey Kong to 最高の Mario Kart, in which Mario is the 最初の／主要な character, and many more in which he makes 外見s. Mario Brothers is the best-selling ビデオ franchise of all time, with more than 490 million 部隊s sold since 1995, によれば 研究 会社／堅い NPD.
In this Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016 photo, Japanese 総理大臣 Shinzo Abe 除去するs 衣装 of the Nintendo game character 最高の Mario as he makes an 外見 during the の近くにing 儀式 at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Abe turned up at the Olympics の近くにing 儀式s to 促進する the 2020 Tokyo games dressed up as Mario, the eponymous hero of the popular ビデオ game series created in 1985. (Kyodo News 経由で AP)
FILE - In this Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016, とじ込み／提出する photo, Japanese 総理大臣 Shinzo Abe 除去するs 衣装 of the Nintendo game character 最高の Mario as he makes an 外見 during the の近くにing 儀式 at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Abe turned up at the Olympics の近くにing 儀式s to 促進する the 2020 Tokyo games dressed up as Mario, the eponymous hero of the popular ビデオ game series created in 1985. (Masanori Takei/Kyodo News vi a AP, とじ込み／提出する)
FILE - In this May 7, 2014, とじ込み／提出する photo, shoppers walk under the logo of Nintendo and 最高の Mario character, left, at an electronics 蓄える／店 in Tokyo. Japanese 総理大臣 Shinzo Abe's 外見 as 最高の Mario in the Rio Olympics の近くにing 儀式s on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016, was a （人が）群がる-pleasing 思い出の品 of how much the game helped 刺激（する） on the videogame 革命 in the U.S. and globally. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, とじ込み／提出する)
