Gauging Popular Opinions (Current: DiC's Mario Cartoons)

[Xiahou Ba]

Thing is, Mario does have a personality, but the defining parts are positive traits, while characters like Wario, Waluigi, Bowser, and Luigi have negative ones that simply make them more interesting to me. I guess you could also make the case with Peach, Toad, and Yoshi also having positive traits, and while I do despise the latter a lot more (that I find Yoshi's personality incredibly saccharine rather than endearing, basically a worse Mario by being nothing but cheerful, bland, and he eats a lot), I wouldn't say neither Peach nor Toad's traits are what make them stand out unlike the former ones.

Can it be argued that Mario is a Mary Sue? He might have traits of one, with him not having much character flaws. Though people think Mario is impossibly talented in many areas when...that applies to practically every character in Mario; in games with multiple characters like SMB2, even someone like Toad is just as talented as Mario, and when we say, oh Mario's a doctor and he plays golf and sports and whatever, every other Mario character is able to do the same too, I don't get why we ascribe those talented traits to just to Mario when it is shown that a random Koopa Troopa can perform these tasks just as well.

 

[Marioro]

He was the pioneer everyman character in the games, designed to be one and all that. I also mentioned some examples of jobs none of the other characters have had (even if they could. Whatever). I think the credit given to him is justified enough.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

Mario taught them those skills so that's why can do them

 

[Xiahou Ba]

What negative traits does Mario have? Why wouldn't Mario be described as a Mary Sue?

Peach and Toads tend to be submissive and helpless as well as captors.
Luigi is self-explanatory.

The only other character who doesn't seem to have negative qualities is Yoshi and you know my feelings on him as a character.

 

[Czario]

You need only look at my normal username to guess my preference, though I realize that has been made difficult with Xenoforo. I don't have particularly specific reasons for preferring Luigi tbh, or at least not without performing some light psychological analysis on myself.

I think the reason why people find Luigi more relatable indeed boils down to his lack of confidence and less impressive nature. Mario is a very accomplished guy with many positive attributes, which makes him a good role model to aspire to but not necessarily relatable. Luigi seems less sure of himself and a lot of people can relate to that.

I think having more vulnerabilities would be an interesting angle to explore for Mario, albeit a very un-Nintendo-like one. Maybe he often feels stressed and pressured to maintain the hero image all the time. I can imagine his busy life and the lofty reputation he has to keep can wear him out and make him frustrated at times. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get my hopes up for this or similar character-deepening vulnerabilities to surface since Nintendo is Nintendo. Though who knows, there is that Mario movie coming out in a couple of years...

 

[Xiahou Dun]

What negative traits does Mario have? Why wouldn't Mario be described as a Mary Sue?

Peach and Toads tend to be submissive and helpless as well as captors.
Luigi is self-explanatory.

The only other character who doesn't seem to have negative qualities is Yoshi and you know my feelings on him as a character.

Mario is impulsive and brash, likes food, is gullible, is quite vulnerable in the main games, very pushy and insistent in Super Mario Odyssey (the ending). he shown jealousy and being overbearing in Mario & Luigi and the Mario Power Tennis Luigi trophy cutscene. Physically, he's not attractive by conventional standards. He's fat and has a big nose and sizeable ears, and his voice is silly.

that's how I see it

I think having more vulnerabilities would be an interesting angle to explore for Mario, albeit a very un-Nintendo-like one. Maybe he often feels stressed and pressured to maintain the hero image all the time. I can imagine his busy life and the lofty reputation he has to keep can wear him out and make him frustrated at times. Unfortunately, I wouldn't get my hopes up for this or similar character-deepening vulnerabilities to surface since Nintendo is Nintendo. Though who knows, there is that Mario movie coming out in a couple of years...

that'll be great; maybe games aren't a good medium especially if they keep doing the usual rpg Mario-is-silent-and-listening route but i can see that happening with the show, comic, movie, etc

 

[Xiahou Ba]

The only thing I see that actively negatively impacts him as a character is his impulsive and brash nature and being overbearing to his brother, but unlike Luigi's cowardice in Luigi's Mansion games, I don't think it heavily impacts the plot? None of these traits are consistent (you only get pushy Mario in Odyssey) and some of these (such as liking food) isn't something I'd quite describe as a character negatively in the context of Mario games. And the part about being gullible isn't unique to Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toads are just as gullible as he is.

Physically, he's not the most attractive, sure, but he's still designed to be an appealing character. It's not like, say, Wario. His voice being "silly" isn't a character flaw in my eyes.

Keep in mind that I'm not a fan of Luigi's inconsistent portrayal in the Mario RPGs anyway. I don't like Luigi being a buttmonkey in Mario & Luigi nor do I like Luigi being this confident, egotistical man in Paper Mario.

 

[Mcmadness]

I always lean towards the red man myself but the difference between the 2 on my like scale is microscopic.

 

[Xiahou Dun]

I don't think it heavily impacts the plot

there's little plot to begin with

also being overbearing is what we see in mario & luigi and mario power tennis: they're little character moments and they don't discredit mario's flaws because they don't affect the nonexistent plot; those little stupid luigi story telling dialogue in thousand-year door or his letters on how jealous he is of mario in paper mario adds nothing to the plot either but they're a legitimate character flaw for luigi

as for mario being pushy in only odyssey it's blatant but there's other instances like mallow restraining mario to prevent mario from brawling (according to the wiki anyway)

mario's gullibility got him trapped in a painting and shrunk to the size of a potato chip

and you didn't ask for what traits are unique to him, just what traits doesn't make him mary sue

he's not attractive and his voice is an extension of his attractiveness; a mary sue likely won't be overweight or have a silly voice. they aren't inherent character flaws but they're not mary sue traits either