The first Many Marios ever had only the Marios as a playable race, and had no story whatsoever. It had more of a party game feeling than a strategy game, but was still a very good game. Luigi and Yoshi were special events, and Bowser attacked every now and then. I began that game as a player, but became an assistant as more people joined and S1x was having more trouble to update. In fact, the first Many Marios had more players than any one after it.
I took it in my hands to create the second Many Marios. As I wanted a more strategic game, I created the four tribes you know now (and erased the Marios, as Mario was supposed to be one-of-a-kind), though their stats have been changed. After S1x saw my version, we decided I couldn't keep up with daily updates and he created a third version with multiple tribes.
Oh, and if I'm not mistaken, the old Many Marios are
lost to memory. EDIT:
Many Marios Fused, the third version I mentioned above. This is the second thread, which means you may find yourself a lottle lost.
Anyway, I hadn't planned to create Chain Chomp tribes, but it's a nice idea. One of the key points of this game was the ability to request your own game elements, maybe even counters to known strategies. We'll definitely see more of that as days pass.