For nearly three decades, Super Mario has been a beloved character and icon for Nintendo, the video game industry and pop culture in general.

In 1980, Nintendo of America released its first game, Radar Scope, but the game failed to capture the public’s imagination, leaving Nintendo with 2,000 unsold game units. To compensate for the lost profits, NOA President and CEO, Hiroshi Yamuchi commissioned Shigeru Miyamoto to design a new game based on Miyamoto’s own ideas.

The new game was Donkey Kong, starring “Jumpman”, but the main character didn’t keep that name for very long. NOA needed to prepare the game for American release including naming the characters for Western consumption.

According to legend, company staff members were in the middle of a brainstorming session talking about what to call “Jumpman”. Suddenly,
the landlord, Mario Segale, came into the warehouse offices demanding the overdue rent
payment.

After he left the room, the staff had a new name for “Jumpman”. Yes, you guessed it, “Mario”. A new hero was born!

I had the pleasure recently of “interviewing” Mario.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Mario.

Mario: Hey! It’s a me, Mario! No problem!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Mario, you are probably the most beloved of all the Video
Game characters. You’re a man of many talents: carpenter, plumber, medical physician,
archaeologist, race car driver, serial princess rescuer, and defeater of villains. You appeared in a children’s TV show as a live action and anime character, and even in a Hollywood movie! You have become quite the celebrity!

Mario: Ah, stoppa! Ya make a me blush! Heh.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Mario, please tell us briefly how you started out on the road
to success.

Mario: One of the keys to my success was the developmenta of a my a image.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Your image development?

Mario: Yes. Well-a, I look the way I do-a, because of the limited technology of 1981. Ya see, back a then, Miyamoto, my creator, wanted to avoid the difficulty of having my hair move-a realistically, so, he gave me a hat.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: I see! That would explain why you never take your hat off.

Mario: Miyamoto also gave me a moustache and big nose – especially bringing more a attention to my nose-a.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: And it’s a great moustache and nose, if I might add.

Mario: Thank you. And, my overalls were-a designed to make my arms and arm
movements more visible. I started out with a blue shirt and red overalls outfit-a in Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr., but when Mario hit the arcades, the colours-a were reversed!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Oh…!

Mario: Then, when I showed up in my smash-a success, Super Mario Bros., I kept my
red overalls. But my shirt was changed to brown-a.
Then in Super Mario 2, I returned to my second-a colour scheme: red shirt, blue overalls. I still-a have the same style today.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: I can see that. You look very dapper in your world famous
duds!

Mario: Thank you.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Moving from apparel to actual games, Mario, please tell us
briefly about your major game appearances…

Mario: Hmmm… lets a see… It’s been a long adventure.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Take your time.

Mario: Oh yes! It’s all-a coming back to me.

In 1981, I made a my arcade debut in Donkey Kong. That’s when I was
originally called “Jumpman”. Backa then, my trade was a carpenter. I had to run
through wild construction sites to rescue mya ex-girlfriend Pauline from thata meany giant monkey, Donkey Kong.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Ex-girlfriend?

Mario: Ah, yeah. She left me for the big ape. I’d rather not talk about it-a.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Oh, I’m sorry about that.

Mario: It’s ok. I’va moved on longa go.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Mario, please go on with your story.

Mario: Uh, where was I…Ah yes…then in 1982, I made a second game appearance, with Donkey Kong Jr. I got to be an enemy this time!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: What was that like?

Mario: Heh, heh, heh! It was-a nice! I got to send out enemies to D.K. Jr., who tried to free his imprisoned father.

Then in 1983, I appeared in Mario Bros. I got a my plumber’s license and signed a contract with my brother Luigi to play with and/or against him – in-a two-Player mode. As a well, I was told to kill an almost never ending stream of turtles, crabs, and flies that travel through da pipes.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Icky, eh?

Mario: Eh, it was a job.

In 1985, I explored-a The Mushroom Kingdom in NES’ Super Mario Bros. Ya see,
Bowser, a giant fire-breathing turtle/dragon kidnapped Princess Toadstool, and I
had to rescue her! My career (and my social life) blasted off-a after that-a game!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Sweet!

Mario: In 1986, I re-appeared in the NES versions of Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. The NES versions of two arcade games – Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., were released. Many younger players-a who had missed-a my earlier arcade versions were now exposed to the
brilliance of the games!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Neat. So more people could now play your classic games.

Mario: Yes. Also, because of the limited space on the earlier NES Game Paks, the
fourth level (a.k.a. “Pie Factory”) of Donkey Kong was omitted-a.

In 1988, Super Mario Bros 2 (the NES USA version) came out-a.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: That game was awesome Mario! One of my personal favourites!

Mario: You’ll find a this interesting — Nintendo took a game originally developed and released in Japan, uh, Doki Doki Panic – and replaced the four heroes with my brother Luigi, Princess Toadstool, Toad, and Yours Truly! Super Mario 2 was thus considered the most-a unique game of the Mario series.

Mario: In 1989, I made a my portable Game Boy debut with Super Mario Land. In that
game I journyed-a through Sarasaland, where I had to rescue Princess Daisy from the evil spaceman Tatanga.

In 1989, Super Mario 3 for the NES was my best selling game of all time.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: I had hours of fun with that game too Mario!

Mario: I was in the Mushroom World and had to rescue-a Princess Toadstool from Bowser, again!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Ha ha. Deja vu!

Mario: Tell me about it!

Then with the release of the Super NES, came Super Mario World. It was my
first appearance. There, Bowser is up to his old-a tricks again.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Let me guess…he kidnaps Princess Toadstool!

Mario: Heheh! How’d you guess-a? Anyways, I traveled through Dinosaur Land to
rescue her. It was there that I worked with Yoshi, who made his video game-a debut. He also appeared in a series of successful games of his own-a.

In 1993 I appeared in a Super Mario All-Stars for the Super NES. This one
was interesting. Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros 2 and Super Mario Bros 3 were bumped up graphically a to a 16-bit for this compilation cartridge. The other game included, Super Mario Bros, The Lost Levels. This was the first North-a American release of Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese version), originally released for the
Famicom Disk System in 1986. It, too-a, received the 16-bit treatment for All-Stars.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Fascinating!

Mario: In 1995 came Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island for the Super NES. This game takes a place in my past. A gang of Yoshis helps a baby version of-a me a find a my brother Luigi, who was kidnapped by Baby Bowser’s henchmen. It was powered-a by the FX2 chip, critically acclaimed for being that best 2-D platform game ever a made.

Then, in 1996, came Super Mario 64, for the Nintendo 64.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Oh yes! I remember that game! That was your 3D game debut!

Mario: I explore through-a various 3-D worlds to save the kidnapped Princess Peach Toadstool.

In 2002, came Super Mario Sunshine for the Game Cube. In this-a  game I reunite-a with Yoshi to clean up Isle Delfino and rescue-a Peach again-a!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: It’s a good thing Princess Peach has you to rescue her so
often!

Mario: Heh. I’m a her-a hero.

In 2007, I played against my opposing mascot, Sonic-a the-a Hedgehog-a, at the
Beijing Olympics-a!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: What was it like playing against Sonic?

Mario: Very a  prickly!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Hahaha!

Mario: In 2007, came Super Mario Galaxy for The Wii. This time, Bowser-a takes-a my
beloved Peach away into outer space-a, forcing me-a to explore planets-a big-a and small-a.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Whoa! That’s different!

Mario: Super Mario Galaxy had an innovative gravity system that was one of the
factors behind its critical acclaim.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Wonderful! Now, Mario, please tell us the origins of your
fellow character’s names. Starting with Donkey Kong.

Mario: “Donkey Kong” means “stupid monkey”.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: “Stupid Monkey?”

Mario: Yes. Miyamoto got “donkey” from looking up manuke (Japanese for “stupid”) in an English dictionary, while “Kong” comes from King Kong.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: I see! Now how about Luigi?

Mario: The American team provided the name “Luigi” as something to go along with
“Mario”. After that, the Japanese team noticed a happy coincidence: Ruigi means “analogous”.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Amazing! What about Koopas?

Mario: The “Koopa” clan-a comes from “Kuppa”, Bowser’s Japanese name. Ya see,
Miyamoto revealed that they were considering-a naming Bowser either Kuppa, Yukke
(Yukka) or Bibinba (Bi Bim Bap), all Korean-a dishes-a.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Wow! Do you like Korean food?

Mario: I do-a! Very spicy!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Where does the name Wario come from?

Mario: Wario’s name is a combination-a of-a Mario and warui, which means “bad” in
Japanese.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Hmm. That makes sense.

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Where does the name Waluigi come from?

Mario: Nintendo Power magazine Vol. 135 (August 2000 issue) I believe-a, said that
Waluigi’s name “comes from a rearrangement-a of the word [ijiwaru] – Japanese for
‘someone who’s-a bad.””

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Mario, thank you for the pleasure of talking with you
tonight!

Mario: Ah! The pleasure was all mine! Mama-Mia! Wouldja look at da time! If you don’t a mind, I have to be flying off now!

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Mario! Is that a Raccoon tail you have there?

Mario: Oh yes-a!

(Mario transforms into Racoon Mario and flies away)

VGOTheMeekGeekVGV: Goodbye Mario! Keep the great games coming!

Mario: I will! Keep a playing my games! Now I gotta chase mea some villains, and rescue my Princess Peach-a! Bye!