5. He Once Was A Villain
You may think that Mario - the faithful plumber who has saved Princess Peach from her kidnappers 12 times now - is an all-round great guy. But, like everyone he has a nasty side and everyone saw it in the 1982 arcade game Donkey Kong Junior, which remains the only game where Mario is the bad guy. The story goes that after the events of the original Donkey Kong, Mario caught the ape and threw him in a cage. Meaning Donkey Kong's son had to swing in to get his dad set free! Mario's time as a villain was actually very successful spawning a breakfast cereal (with fruit-flavoured cereal pieces shaped as cherries and bananas), as well as a spot on the cartoon show Saturday Supercade, which would follow the adventures of Donkey Kong Jr. as he tried to save his dad from the evil Mario! Despite the success of the game, I wouldn't expect a comeback any time soon - Mario's reputation now is far too good to send the character back to his villainous ways. However saying that, there is a dark side to Mario that comes out in every one of his big games that you probably didn't know about. Read on...