Mario (franchise)

The Mario franchise is a media franchise consisting of video games published and produced by Nintendo starring the fictional Italian character Mario. The franchise's other forms of media include several television series and a feature film. It was originally created by game designer Shigeru Miyamoto with the arcade Donkey Kong, released on July 9, 1981. The games have been developed by a variety of developers including Nintendo, Hudson Soft, and AlphaDream. Most Mario games have either been released for the arcade or Nintendo video game consoles and handhelds dating from the Nintendo Entertainment System to the current generation of video game consoles.