Nintendo is about to wrap up the Super Mario 35th Anniversary. It's a celebration of the heroic plumber's contributions to the gaming world. He's been all over the map, having taken part in nearly every genre imaginable. He's been in kart racers, sports games, party games, educational games, and he was even in an XCOM-style tactical game a few years ago. And yes, Mario has been the lead man in over a dozen role-playing games. However, that wasn't always the case.
Back in 1996, everyone knew of Mario as a portly protagonist who fought against the forces of Bowser, the King of the Koopas, to rescue Princess Toadstool (Peach) and save the Mushroom Kingdom. He was part of some of the greatest platformers ever seen in video games, all of which still hold up to this day and have inspired generations of game developers. When that year started, that's all he was. Even after taking a sidestep into a little spinoff called Super Mario Kart, Mario was mainly a platformer character.