Mighty Mario is Europe’s favourite

(Nintendo)

Forget the spiky charms of Sonic the Hedgehog, the masculine might of Master Chief and the lithe limbs of Lara Croft. The gamers of Europe have chosen their all-time number one hero and it’s a fellow who’s pretty handy with a plunger, rather than a plasma cannon.

That’s right, Mario has been crowned the king of games stars by a European- wide YouGov poll. But when you look at the evidence, it’s hardly surprising that he’s top of the pile. Mario has been appearing in Nintendo titles for 28 years, has featured in more than 100 games and has helped to shift more than 222 million units.With almost 30 years under his workman’s belt, it’s clear that familiarity breeds respect. Here’s to another three decades of everyone’s favourite plumber.