Despite being the most recognisable face in gaming, Mario remains a relatively enigmatic chap. What do we really know about him?
Honestly, lets look at what we know for sure based on the last 35 years: He likes to jump, he has a brother called Luigi, and enjoys plumbing/go-karting, tennis, football, scrapping, refereeing, and a few other things.
We have plenty of information on the portly plumber – but for the most part, when it comes to the intimate stuff, he’s a closed book.
However, one thing I think we all assumed without hesitation, is that Mr Mario Mario (that is seriously his name, look it up) was in his late 30s/early 40s.
Well, according to his creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario is in fact only in his mid 20s – To be fair, the moustache and overalls do scream 25-year-old hipster.
This shocking revelation comes from a 2005 Nintendo interview that recently resurfaced (via Ars Technica), in which Miyamoto said that the Italian plumber is only 24 or 25 years old.
What with being the dude that created him, I would suggest that what Miyamoto says definitely goes.
He explained:
I think it was fortuitous that we didn’t put any restrictions on Mario as a character. Normally when you create a character and present him to the world, all the details get filled in: what’s his favourite colour? what kind of food does he like to eat? But aside from the fact that he’s about 24-25 years old, we didn’t define anything else.
Mario made his first appearance (as Jumpman) in the 1981 arcade classic, Donkey Kong. Mario Bros followed in 1983, with Super Mario Bros in 1985 introducing the classic platforming fun that the plumber is known and loved for to this day.
To be fair, the games in which Mario sprints, jumps, and flips around the place will make a lot more sense now we know he’s 25 – though I still have trouble believing a princess could get kidnapped that many times.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.