Mario was originally called jump man in donkey Kong and was the antagonist in donkey Kong Jr. The American version of super mario bros 2 is actually a reskin of another game called doki doki panic. This was done because a tester determined that the actual sequel to the original mario bros would be far too difficult for American audiances. Super mario 64 was actually supposed to be two player, but the idea was abandoned due to memory limitations of the n64. There was a weird fever dream super mario bros cartoon that was on TV for a while. I actually enjoy it somewhat. In the pamphlet for the first super mario bros game it says all the citizens of the mushroom kingdom were turned into blocks. So basically when you break a block as mario, you've just killed someone.