With New Super Mario Bros. Wii around the corner - a game that introduces yet more suits to Mario's burgeoning wardrobe - we figured it was a good time to look back, and forward, at some of his sharper outfits.
We're not going to catalogue every suit he's ever worn; that would be boooooorrrring. Instead, we'll just touch on the highlights before moving onto our own wishlist for the Mario games of the future.
THE PAST
FROG SUIT - Let you swim, and jump a little higher, but was so rarely used it's almost irrelevant. But look at him! He was a frog! With googly eyes! Adorable.
GOOMBA'S SHOE - Stick Mario in a bouncing boot. Right. Another rare one, but memorable for its sheer absurdity.
BEE SUIT - Aaawwww. A suit granting limited powers of flight, it's the highlight of 2007's Super Mario Galaxy, and still perhaps the cutest suit the plumber has ever been spotted in. Aside from...
TANOOKI SUIT - Turned Mario into a furry centrefold. Gut-wrenchingly cute, but for accuracy's sake, it probably needed more Tanooki balls.
THE PRESENT
PENGUIN SUIT - A new addition for the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii. It lets you slide on ice and swim a little better, but more importantly, it lets you shoot ice at the bad guys.
PROPELLER SUIT - Another 2009 addition. Pick up a Propeller Mushroom in NSMB Wii and you get the Propeller Suit, which not only grants you the power of slow, easy flight via a little twirly helmet, but also gives you one hell of a red jumpsuit.
THE FUTURE
PANTHER SUIT - Smooth. Svelte. Silent. Sexy. Nintendo, you need to quit the cute/mythical animals and dress Mario up as a skulking great panther. Not only does he have the power of speed, but also emits a pungent odour that Princess Peach finds irresistible.
BIRTHDAY SUIT - He's fat, hairy, eats mushrooms and lives with his brother. It's not too great a stretch to conceive that Mario also likes to hit the bottle from time to time. So future games need a boozy mushroom, which instead of granting Mario a second outfit, strips him of his first. Doesn't really grant him any powers - indeed, it just makes him more difficult to control - but it does have him asking whether KFC is still open. A lot.
LESS MARIO SUIT - Between games on the Wii, WiiWare, Virtual Console, DS and DSiWare, Mario's a little over-exposed these days. Future Mario games, therefore, would do well to feature this suit, which removes Mario from the game and replaces him with a Nintendo character due a little more face time. Like Captain Falcon.