The iconic video game character Super Mario has been a household name for decades – but he could have been known as something very different if it wasn’t for a landlord
Over four decades ago, Nintendo’s Super Mario video game took the world by storm, outshining rivals to become the most recognised and widely played game of its era.
The Super Mario Bros. game was launched in September 1985, initially captivating Japan before making waves in North America a month later.
With around 40 million copies sold through the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), it quickly became one of the most beloved video games ever.
The game features Mario, a moustachioed plumber sporting a red cap – an image that has become synonymous with Nintendo, regardless of whether you were a gamer back then or not.
Mario’s character has made appearances in over 200 different video game titles, including Mario Kart and Mario Party. This popularity has propelled Mario-themed games to become the highest-selling video game franchise of all time, reports the Mirror US.
But how did Mario get his name?
The Nintendo video game designer who conceived Mario drew inspiration from an unlikely namesake, leading to the swift abandonment of his initial moniker, Jumpman.
Employees at Nintendo’s Washington warehouse started referring to the Jumpman character as Mario, owing to his uncanny resemblance to their landlord – and the new name stuck.
The landlord, Mario Segale, unwittingly became the muse for Super Mario, according to the book, Game Over, Press Start to Continue.
Had it not been for this unexpected name change and subsequent rebranding, Mario’s character might have taken a very different path after the Jumpman title was discarded.
An earlier incarnation of the Mario character was actually crafted for Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, where he took on the role of a carpenter trying to save a damsel from a colossal ape.
It wasn’t until four years later that Mario swapped his tool belt for a plunger, becoming a plumber to better fit the game’s underworld of pipes and sewers.
Initially dubbed Jumpman, the character made his mark by vaulting over hurdles in the hit game Donkey Kong.
However, Nintendo’s American bosses were keen on a catchier moniker, and when Shigeru Miyamoto, the mastermind behind the original video game, caught wind of the suggestion to rename him Mario, he was all for it.
In a 2015 interview with National Public Radio, Miyamoto reminisced: “They started calling the character Mario, and when I heard that I said, Oh, Mario’s a great name, let’s use that.”
After the success of Donkey Kong, Nintendo commissioned several follow-ups before tasking Miyamoto with fleshing out Mario’s backstory and giving him a starring role in his own title.
Miyamoto didn’t stop there; he went on to introduce Luigi in the 1983 arcade hit Mario Bros as Mario’s sibling, although the game saw limited release outside Japan.
Then, in 1985, Mario truly leapt into the international gaming limelight with the launch of Super Mario Bros, which revolutionised home gaming for an entire generation.
