Ask a non-gamer to name a videogame character, and you can bet that Mario will be one of the first they come up with.

Twenty-five years later, the series still regularly tops the charts with every spinoff and sequel, but the best-selling is still Super Mario Bros, with more than 40 million copies sold to date. It kick-started the career of Shigeru Miyamoto and popularized the side-scrolling platformer, as well as introducing innovations like allowing the player to control how high the character jumps, or how fast they run.

Mario’s quite a guy. In between saving the entire world (and more recently, the galaxy) from Bowser every few years and rescuing the princess, he also finds the time to play tennis, golf, baseball, football and basketball, compete as a racing driver, as an Olympic athlete and a pro dancer, run a doctor’s surgery and hold frequent house parties. No one could be as awesome in that in real life. But there are some things Mario can do that you can too. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mario’s console debut, here are five of them.

Throw Fireballs

Mario’s been able to throw fireballs since his fourth videogame outing, Super Mario Bros. After picking up a mushroom, and then a fire flower, his outfit changes to one that’s predominantly white and he can lob flaming orbs at enemies. You can do that too, as shown in the video above, though we seriously don’t suggest trying it at home.

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Authors: Duncan Geere, Wired U.K.

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