Mario was a carpenter before he was a plumber
Shigeru Miyamoto needed a stand-in when Nintendo could not license Popeye for Donkey Kong. Arcade pixels forced the big nose, mustache, and overalls. The construction-site hero became an underground plumber only when Mario Bros. shifted the action below street level.
Mario is Miyamoto's creation, Nintendo's mascot, and star of the best-selling video-game franchise ever. An Italian-American who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom with twin brother Luigi, he usually battles Bowser to save Princess Peach, hopping through platform worlds that defined a genre. He debuted as the player avatar in the 1981 arcade hit Donkey Kong, then headlined Mario Bros. (1983) and Super Mario Bros. (1985) on the NES. Hundreds of titles followed—Dr. Mario puzzles, Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi RPGs, Mario Kart and tennis sports—because he has no fixed personality or job, letting him wear any role. Supporting friends and foes fill a vast cast; his look has inspired rivals such as Sega's Sonic.
Early Donkey Kong drafts put him in a 16-by-16 pixel grid in a maze without jumps until Miyamoto asked what anyone would do if a barrel rolled toward them. Team nicknames included Ossan; English materials called him Jumpman and "little Mario" before the Mario label stuck. A popular tale says Nintendo of America's landlord Mario Segale, demanding rent from Minoru Arakawa, inspired the name—though some former staff dispute the story. Miyamoto first made him a carpenter to match the construction site, then a plumber for Mario Bros.' sewers. Western cartoon noses shaped the face; once he became a global icon, merchandise and place-nicknames followed.
Voice actor Charles Martinet long embodied him; the 1993 live-action film and later strategy guides floated "Mario Mario" as a full name despite a 1989 interview denying it. From unpaid-rent folklore to Mushroom Kingdom royalty, the character succeeded because hardware limits became charm—and because Miyamoto built a hero flexible enough for every genre Nintendo needed.
Source: Mario
