If you’re a 90’s kid, the phrase ‘Mario Bros.’ probably fills you with happy thoughts and good vibes. Whether you were a crime-fighting ‘Mario Bros’ loyalist or were more determined to rescue Princess Peach from the clutches of evil Bowser, you will agree on one thing – your life was better because Mario and Luigi were a part of it.
It’s time, therefore, for a major throwback. Here are 15 facts that you need to know about this well-loved Italian-American plumber/major badass.
1 Mario was actually going to be called ‘Jumpman’.
The story goes that the guys at Nintendo’s US office were trying to think of a better name, in time for for the American release of the game, when fate intervened. They were interrupted by their landlord, Mario Segale and quickly decided that his name would be an absolute winner.(source)
The rest, of course, is history.
2 The original ‘Super Mario Bros.’ development team only had two programmers. It also went on to sell 40 million copies.
Can you say ‘dream team’? According to the research done by German website Nintendo Online, the original ‘Super Mario Bros.’ was developed by five people, two of whom were programmers.(source)
3Mario For Dummies: The first level of ‘Super Mario Bros.’ (NES) was intuitively designed so that a new player would not make rookie mistakes.
Think about it – because the Goombas looked menacing, you’d instinctively think to jump over them. When you’d do that, you hit a block that revealed a mushroom. Mushroom slides right, falls down a pipe and comes at you. Then, because it resembles the Goomba, you’d try jumping over it, again. To no avail, of course, because you’d jump, hit a block and land on the mushroom, anyway.(source)
They practically led you to the mushrooms, bro.
4 In the 1990s, a national survey showed that Mario was more recognizable to American children than Mickey Mouse!
Mario sits comfortably on the throne of the most famous video game character, EVER. His was one of the first few characters to be inducted into the Walk of Game in 2005. Something of a pop culture icon, Mario has starred in television shows, comic books and even a feature film. Heck, they even honored him with a wax statue at the Hollywood Wax Museum.(source)
Mario 1 – 0 Rest of the World
5 The ‘Super Mario Bros.’ theme song DOES have lyrics.
“Goomba! Troopa! Buzzy Beetle! Beat them all! Mario is already full of energy and strong!” Okay, so maybe songwriting wasn’t their strongest suit, but please go check out the live performance of the theme song. It’s worth it.(source)
