Hm, I only just noticed this post.
Anyway, I've been a huge fan of Mario since I was just a kid. I know all the characters, have played most of the games; the only ones I didnt like were Galaxy 1 & 2, and that was for.... very undefined reasons. Seriously, I was never quite sure why. And Mario is one of my favorite protagonists in any game series.
And then there's Bowser... easily one of my favorite characters in gaming, like Mario, and one of the best villain characters out there... without being TOO nasty. It's interesting, he's alot like King Dedede in that while he can be an absolute jerk, he never REALLY hurts anyone and even saves the others every now and then. He just wants to control everything, because why not. That and he wants to irritate Mario as much as possible. Also he's hilarious.
All in all, the whole series is just wonderful. I was SO completely excited when Mario Maker came out, too. That... was pretty much the perfect game for me and something I'd wanted since I was a kid. I can understand certain complaints some people have had with it (not enough enemies/objects to choose from) but still, I love it. Super Mario 3D World also came out really well. I really need to go back and play through it all the way... it was actually Mario Maker that distracted me from it.
What always got me was some of the non-platformer games in the series... they seem so normal nowadays but they were almost surreal way back when. Like, the *original* Mario Tennis... which was on the Virtual Boy. Talk about a funky experience, I'll never forget what that was like. And now Mario has been in just about everything. Mario Golf was another fun one, for the most part.