The games themselves are so creative, for example the Super Leaf turns him into Racoon Mario which gives him the ability to fly and whip enemies with his tail. The boss fights are epic, such as the one where Mario has to fight Bowser in his clown car in Super Mario World. But all in all, Mario has always had a good team around him plus he is the sort of hero we can all relate to because he seems simple but effective (in other words he isn't a muscle bound soldier with a super powered gun).

I think that it's obvious that the success of Mario is due to marvelous controls, fantastic level design, and the fact that personality just oozes from the games. I also think that it's obvious that Rol and Khuutra's banter is hilarious to read!

Nostalgia.