FACTS SUPER MARIO GAMERS MIGHT HAVE MISSED

DEVELOPED BY NINTENDO, A JAPANESE MULTINATIONAL

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS COMPANY, THE FIRST

SUPER MARIO VIDEO GAME WAS RELEASED

30 YEARS AGO, IN SEPTEMBER 1985.

HOWEVER, THE CHARACTER OF MARIO IS EVEN OLDER.

CREATED BY JAPANESE DESIGNER SHIGERU MIYAMOTO,

MARIO FIRST APPEARED IN DONKEY KONG, AN ARCADE

GAME RELEASED BY NINTENDO IN 1981.

IN THE SUPER MARIO BROS GAME, MARIO IS AN ITALIAN

PLUMBER WHO RESIDES IN THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM

AND HIS MISSION IS TO SAVE THE PRINCES PEACH.

HE IS OFTEN HELPED BY HIS YOUNGER AND

TALLER BROTHER LUIGI.

IN TOTAL, ABOUT 300 MILLION COPIES OF GAMES IN THE

SUPER MARIO SERIES HAVE BEEN SOLD WORLDWIDE,

MAKING IT THE BEST-SELLING VIDEO GAME SERIES

IN HISTORY.

MARIO WAS NOT ALWAYS MARIO. ORIGINALLY, HE WAS

CALLED “OSSAN” WHICH TRANSLATES TO MIDDLE-AGED GUY.

THEN HIS NAME CHANGED TO MR. VIDEO, JUMPMAN,

AND ULTIMATELY MARIO.

IN SUPER MARIO BROS 3, THERE IS AN ISLAND THE SHAPE

WHICH RESEMBLES THAT OF JAPAN. THE CASTLE IS SITUATED

WHERE KYOTO, THE HOME TOWN OF NINTENDO, WOULD

BE LOCATED ON THE MAP.

ORIGINALLY, MARIO WAS AN ACTION GAME IN WHICH THE

MAIN CHARACTER WAS RIDING ROCKETS AND WIELDED

A BEAM GUN AND A RIFLE.

THE MUSHROOMS FEATURED IN THE GAME ARE

INSPIRED BY ACTUAL MUSHROOMS AMANITA MUSCARIA,

(COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE FLY AGARIC OR FLY AMANITA)

THAT HAVE STRONG PSYCHEDELIC EFFECTS.

SUPER MARIO BROS BORROWED SOME ELEMENTS

FROM THE LEGEND OF ZELDA, ANOTHER POPULAR VIDEO

GAME BY NINTENDO. MIYAMOTO WAS WORKING ON BOTH

OF THESE GAMES AT THE SAME TIME AND HE INCORPORATED

SOME OF THE ZELDA FEATURES (E.G. THE FEARED FIREBARS)

INTO MARIO.