IT’S-A HIT: THE ‘SUPER MARIO’ PHENOMENON IN NUMBERS

Nintendo’s chirpy Italian mascot Mario has run and jumped his way to four decades of global stardom, broadening the appeal of the video game industry as one of its most beloved characters.

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Here's a look at the Mario phenomenon in numbers:

40 million cartridges

The original “Super Mario Bros.” cartridge game was released in 1985 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console in the United States and elsewhere, and on Japan’s Famicom console. It sold 40.2 million copies worldwide, including 6.8 million in Japan -- one for every 18 members of the country’s population at the time.

“Until that point, Famicom users were almost all children. But ‘Super Mario Bros.’ even featured in mainstream weekly magazines alongside celebrity gossip,” Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Toyo Securities, told AFP.

“That shows the title’s impact -- it significantly widened the age range” of video game consumers, he said.

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