Mario

Mario was probably the first real video game character. Sure PacMan had persona but it was still an abstract concept. Mario introduced a real human male with real human drama. His princess was taken away from a hulking 15 foot monster in the form of Donkey Kong. Have a look at this videos to see the history of Mario, and Nintendo. In the early days it was thanks to a teddy bear that Mario and Nintendo saw the light of day. Now they are on-top of the market with the Wii.

Here's how it all happened...
History of Nintendo.