The franchise of Mario bros and its multiple incarnations is the goose that lays the golden eggs of Nintendo. However, even though there are more than 200 Mario titles (between karts, golf, tennis and the like), the character’s first appearance was not in the legendary game of Super Mario. We tell you the story, because it has very curious details.
Mario’s background
Before, in Super Mario Bros For the NES, our favorite plumber out from castle to castle trying to rescue his princess, Mario had already appeared a few times.
The first one was in the video game Donkey kong, a 1981 hit on old machines Arcadian of the recreational ones. There, we handled Mario for the first time in history, what happens is that, at that time, he wasn’t even called that, nor was he a plumber.
It was about a nameless carpenter, who was later called Jumpman (jumping) and, finally, Mario.
Why is Mario called Mario
When the title came to the United States, Minoru Arakawa, creator of the game, his wife and his team realized that an anonymous hero would not fit in with the American public.
The idea of the name came when their landlord broke in asking for the rent as in a bad series. A landlord named Mario Segali…
What the first “Mario” in history was like
The game Donkey kong it was innovative in many things and also very inspiring in others. Arakawa himself acknowledged having taken the general idea of the love triangle between Popeye, Olivia and Bruto, so it is not difficult to know who each one is in the game. On top of that, inspiration from other elements of popular culture, such as King kong or Beauty and the Beast, are obvious.
Nor are we going to deny that Donkey kong it is very similar to another Arcadian previous much more unknown, Space panic, where the mechanics are tremendously similar: a platform game where the hero must reach the top of the screen avoiding dangers.
The main innovation regarding Space panic Is that in Donkey kong, Mario can jump. Which now seems silly, but in 1981 it was a breakthrough for the time.
With that first incarnation of Mario, Nintendo got what they wanted, one of their best-selling games and the answer to Arcadian most successful until then, Pac-man.
Mario started out as a carpenter in Donkey kong and that is why he wields a hammer, with which he can destroy the barrels that Kong It is throwing you from the top. In addition, you can also avoid them by jumping or using the stairs in each level.
The rest is history. Mario was so successful and charismatic that, in 1985, he had his own game and became the official Nintendo mascot.
Super Mario Bros It was released on September 13 of that same year in Japan for the original NES. Needless to say, it was a tremendous leap forward in platformer games and changed history forever.
As you can see, the origin of our favorite hero is very curious and full of twists and details, not only in games.
