2. Yoshi
Theres a lot of characters that have appeared in Mario games and have then gone on to star in their own spinoffs. Luigi is Marios brother and has only managed to get from out the shadow three times, and even then only when Mario goes AWOL. Wario has had a lot of games with his name in the title, but from his first appearance Wario was a titular character (Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3) so it was like he was designed to be a star. Yoshi is different. Yoshi is Marios green (most famously anyway) dino pal who first appeared in Super Mario World as a means of transport for our lazy chubby plumber friend. His rise to fame would like Rambi the Rhino from Donkey Kong country getting his own game. Or a Chocobo from Final Fantasy...ok well they did (Chocobo Racing and Chocobo Mystery Dungeon) but they were flops by Yoshis standards. Yoshi stands out from the Mushroom Kingdom pack because hes had more games based around him then the rest of them. Not just low profile or handheld games either, hes been able to push Mario into second place by being the lead in Super Mario World 2, or as most people know it; Yoshis Island. Its follow up Yoshis Story ditched Mario entirely.