Super Mario Bros: Why is this Nintendo hero called Mario?

Super Mario Bros: Why is this Nintendo hero called Mario?

The curious story is that the Italian plumber behind Mario’s name was imagined by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo.

To understand why Super Mario bears this name, we have to go back to the early 1980s. Miyamoto, a video game developer at Big N since 1977, is responsible for designing the arcade game centered around the Popeye character.

Unfortunately, Nintendo only had the rights to the games available electronically, forcing Miyamoto to revise his copy. Here he imagined Jumpman for the arcade game around the Donkey Kong figure.

Success is instant and DK becomes a true phenomenon! Nintendo of America is clearly targeting the game and trying to promote it in the United States. The firm’s building is located on the Redmond side of Seattle.

At that time, the owner of the building was Italian-American businessman Mario Segale. The latter is very present and does not hesitate to move in to claim the firm’s late rent. It is during these passages that the employees discover that the latter bears an uncanny resemblance to Jumpman.

They mocked him nicely, then nicknamed him Jumpman. This joke reaches the ears of Miyamoto, who decides to rename his character Mario, at the behest of the businessman.

However, the origin story of Mario’s name is controversial. According to Zelda saga producer and Miyamoto employee Eiji Aonuma, Mario would be an abbreviation for marionette. Indeed, Mario’s father loves slot machines and bunraku, a Japanese puppet theater.

From carpenter to plumber

Note that Mario’s job in the beginning is a carpenter, a reference to the Donkey Kong playground that takes place on a construction site.

Donkey Kong (1981)

In 1983, when Miyamoto created a Mario-centric game, he set it in the sewers of New York, in which the hero had to fight against nasty creatures with his brother Luigi. Since there are pipes in the decor, Mario then becomes a plumber.

And if she’s wearing her famous red and blue outfit, it clearly sets her arms and legs apart from the rest of her body. As for its famous cap emblazoned with the signature M, it was placed there to avoid the hair design, which was too difficult for the arcade game technology of the time.

Super Mario

Also, if a character wears a mustache and has a big nose, it’s to emphasize his facial features and make him easily recognizable without having to design facial expressions.

Over time and technological advances, Mario has had many designs, but has retained his distinctive look that made him famous.

Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Bros, the movie hits theaters on April 5th.

Source: Allocine

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