The Mushroom Kingdom is a fictional setting in Nintendo's Mario series.The Mushroom Kingdom is an iconic location from the Mario franchise which is the setting of most main-series Mario games though it is presented very inconsistently throughout the series. It is uncertain if many areas in the Mario franchise are part of the Mushroom Kingdom or the larger Mario universe. There is no established canon regarding the topography of the Mario world.
Different species live within the Mushroom Kingdom. A minority of humans like Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi live in the kingdom. The land is essentially populated by Toads, but also Yoshis alongside Goombas, Koopas, Boos and other species which reside on Peach's territory.
Currency
The kingdom's most famous currency is the Coin which appears in several games throughout the Mario franchise. The Coins can have different colors, thus they do not have the same value.
Princess Peach's Castle is a large Central European-style red-and-white castle decorated with a stained-glass above the main doors representing the princess. It remains the most iconic landmark of the Mario franchise. Inhabited by the Princess and her Toadretainers, the castle first appeared in-game in Princess Toadstool’s Castle Run but was really depicted in Super Mario RPG and served as the central hub in Super Mario 64. The design of the castle has remained relatively consistent since and it has appeared in games such as Mario Kart 64, Paper Mario, , Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Odyssey. It has also appeared in spin-offs, such as the Mario Kart series.
Mario's House
Mario's house is the home of Mario and his brother Luigi. It is located close from Peach's castle.
Toad Town
Toad Town is the capital of the Mushroom Kingdom as seen in the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi series. It is generally located next to Peach's castle. Several species reside in the city, in particular Toads.
Bowser's Castle
Bowser's Castle is the abode of Bowser, arch-villain of the Super Mario video games. The castle has often been destroyed and rebuilt and appears different in each game that it appears in. It is usually filled with lava pits, booby traps, and Bowser's minions. Variations on Bowser's Castle appear in nearly every Mario game, and every Mario Kart game features at least one track titled "Bowser's Castle". Sometimes Bowser takes over Peach’s castle and makes it look like his own.
Landscapes
The Mushroom Kingdom has been revamped several times over the course of the Mario games, similar to the kingdom of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda series. In Super Mario Bros., for example, the Mushroom Kingdom encompasses 32 different levels of varying terrain. Super Mario Bros. 3 expanded on this concept by adding topography to the kingdom through means of a map screen. The games do not follow these landscape variants exactly, but still are recurring themes in the Mario series. For example, even though Super Mario World was set in Dinosaur Land, its geography was very similar to the Mushroom Kingdom. The paintings that led to the different levels in Super Mario 64 followed this idea as well. Blogger Natalie Grigson noted that the grassy fields, mountains, waterfalls, and red-and-white mushrooms seen in the area around Princess Peach's Castle best compares to Oslo, Norway.
''New Super Mario Bros. U''
New Super Mario Bros. U depicts the Mushroom Kingdom as a land composed by 8 worlds :
Acorn Plains: A grassy and mushroomy world with hills and small mountains.
Layer-Cake Desert: A dry desert world with several stone statues.
Sparkling Waters: An aquatic world with geysers and shipwrecks.
Frosted Glacier: A snowy and icy world in a perpetual night full of stars.
Soda Jungle: A forest world composed by a deadly purple poison liquid.
Rock-Candy Mines: A world composed by high rock mountains.
Meringue Clouds: A sky world full of clouds.
Peach's Castle: A large Central European-style red-and-white castle surrounded by water with a white bridge.
Objects
The Mushroom Kingdom consistently features various objects. Dispersed across the land are brown brick blocks and golden "question-mark blocks", which may contain coins or power-ups. The main mode of transportation in the Mushroom Kingdom has been said to be through warp pipes. The range of these warp pipes vary in length: some pipes merely travel a short distance, while some pipes are linked to entirely different worlds. New warp tools and areas have been introduced in games since including the secret "warp whistle" in Super Mario Bros. 3 and cannons in New Super Mario Bros..
Appearances in other games
The Super Smash Bros. series has thus far included four different arenas based on the Mushroom Kingdom. The original game included the unlockable stage "Mushroom Kingdom" which was graphically based on the original Super Mario Bros.. Super Smash Bros. Melee included a re-vamped "Mushroom Kingdom" which omitted piranha plants and warp pipes from the original stage. A stage titled "Mushroom Kingdom II", based on the setting of Super Mario Bros. 2, was also featured in this game. Super Smash Bros. Brawl includes a level titled "Mushroomy Kingdom", which primarily appears as an abandoned, derelict version of "World 1-1" of Super Mario Bros. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, the "Mushroom Kingdom U" stage is based on New Super Mario Bros. U.
Reception
The Mushroom Kingdom is depicted as an iconic location from the Mario series. The fictional land will be in the Super Nintendo World park. GamesRadar wrote a humorous article listing the "Top 7 most disturbing things about the Mushroom Kingdom", listing facts such as "the kingdom's greatest hero is a dumpy plumber", "the political system is a complete mess", and "everything is alive" as examples. Animation Domination High-Def ran a short titled "Real Plumber in Mario World." Game Informer lauded the fact that Super Mario Maker allowed players to "build the Mushroom Kingdom of dreams", writing "since Mario first won the hearts of gamers across the world in the early ‘80s, fans have been sketching up their own ideas for Mario levels on paper and imagining what sort of worlds they could create for the iconic plumber to explore." Theyab Al-Tamimi created a , "Science of the Mushroom Kingdom", that explored the species of flora in the Mushroom Kingdom; this was later recommended to readers by Kotaku. ScreenRant stated that the Mushroom Kingdom "is a place full of mystery". A fan-created mod of titled Super Skyrim Bros turns the game environment into the Mushroom Kingdom.
