- published: 11 Mar 2012
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Mario (Japanese: マリオ, Hepburn: Mario, [ma.ɽi.o]) (English /ˈmɑːrioʊ/; Italian: [ˈmaːrjo]) is a fictional character in the Mario video game franchise, created by Nintendo's Japanese video game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. Serving as the company's mascot and the eponymous protagonist of the series, Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Depicted as a short, pudgy, Italian plumber who resides in the Mushroom Kingdom, his adventures generally center upon rescuing Princess Peach from the Koopa villain Bowser. His younger brother is Luigi.
The Mario franchise is the best-selling video game franchise of all time. Over 210 million units of the overall Mario series of games have been sold. Outside of the Super Mario platform series, other Mario genres include the Mario Kart racing series, sports games such as the Mario Tennis and Mario Golf series, role-playing games such as Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, and educational games such as Mario Is Missing! and Mario's Time Machine. The franchise has branched into several mediums, including television shows, film, comics and licensed merchandise. Since 1995, Mario has been voiced by Charles Martinet.
Mario Romancini (born December 15, 1987 in São Paulo) is a professional racing driver from Brazil.
Romancini started his racing career in 2006 in the Brazilian Formula Renault 2.0 series. Driving for the Full Time Racing Team, he took two podium finishes, including one race win, to finish the season in fifth place. After his impressive debut season, Romancini moved up to the South American Formula Three championship in 2007 with leading team Cesário F3. During the season he took ten podium places in fourteen races, including two wins, to finish runner-up in the championship behind team-mate Clemente de Faria, Jr..
In November 2007, Romancini took part in World Series by Renault testing at both Paul Ricard and Valencia, driving for Epsilon Euskadi, Prema Powerteam and the reigning champions Tech 1 Racing. In January 2008 he was signed by Epsilon Euskadi to partner Frenchman and fellow rookie Alexandre Marsoin. During the season, he scored two points finishes and was lying 28th in the standings when he left the team due to sponsorship problems with two rounds of the championship remaining. He was replaced by former Epsilon driver Filipe Albuquerque. He has signed to race for Andersen Racing to race in the Firestone Indy Lights Series in 2009. He captured his first win in the series in his fifth start from the pole at the Milwaukee Mile. He ended the season with a victory in Homestead in the 6th place.