Franchise: Mario

An issue of Nintendo Power revealed that Shigeru Miyamoto got the idea for Boos from the wife of his co-worker and close friend Takashi Tezuka, as she is shy but one day got very angry at him for coming home late from work. Boos were also originally named "Boo Diddleys" after the late blues singer and guitarist "Bo Diddley".

According to series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario's appearance was the result of graphical limitations in the original Donkey Kong: his overalls allowed his arms to be visible against his body (as there was no room for outlines), his hat substituted for hair and eyebrows (and did not need to be animated when he jumped), and the large nose and mustache made up for the lack of space to depict a mouth.

Miyamoto additionally stated that the design was influenced by the decision to make Mario Italian-American, identifying his large nose in particular as a distinctly western feature.

According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the Koopalings aren't actually Bowser's children, despite the Super Mario Bros. 3 manual stating that they were.

Shigeru Miyamoto wanted Mario to have a dinosaur companion ever since Super Mario Bros. but it wasn't thought possible at the time due to the limitations of the NES. He wanted to implement Yoshi in Super Mario Bros. 3 but again could not. Two power-ups were created to fill the gap - raccoon and frog Mario. Co-worker Takashi Tezuka once speculated that Miyamoto's love of horse riding had influenced Yoshi's creation.

According to Mario Bros. developer Takashi Tezuka, there was a stage in Super Mario World's development when Yoshi was a Koopa. A relic of this idea is Yoshi's shell-like saddle.

Shigeru Miyamoto had originally intended for Bowser to be an ox, and based him on the main antagonist from the animation "Alakazam The Great". This is likely why his modern design has horns and a defined muzzle, despite him being a turtle.

There is a pornographic parody film released in two parts based on Mario called "Super Hornio Brothers". Nintendo purchased the rights to the movies following their release to make sure they would never be released again.

Mario was not Mario's original name, and nor was Jumpman. When Miyamoto created the prototype of Mario, he called him "Mr. Video" and planned to put the character into many games (possibly as cameos, as he did with Mario). But even before then Mario was called "Ossan" which means middle-aged guy.

A common belief relating to Rare's work with Nintendo in the 1990s is that the Banjo-Kazooie series and the early family-friendly iteration of the Conker series were originally intended to share a universe with Donkey Kong. By extension, this would also connect them to the Mario series. This belief stemmed from Banjo and Conker's debuts as playable characters in Diddy Kong Racing, other shared characters (e.g. Gnawty, a beaver who appears in both Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie), and other planned appearances like the Ice Key from the Banjo-Kazooie series' unused Stop 'n' Swop feature being found in the data for Donkey Kong 64. This interpretation was so popular at one point that the largest English-language Mario fan wiki, Super Mario Wiki, hosted articles about Banjo-Kazooie and Conker characters.

However, Banjo-Kazooie creator Gregg Mayles has stated that Rare's non-Donkey Kong games were never intended to share a universe with Donkey Kong, while Conker's Bad Fur Day director Chris Seavor has gone on to say that Banjo-Kazooie and Conker also do not share a universe.

While Mario's mustache, red shirt and blue overalls were described by Miyamoto as the result of technical limitations, there's a possibility that they were also inspired by an issue of the Japanese men's fashion magazine Popeye, named after the fictional character that Mario was already partly inspired by. The March 1980 issue of Popeye magazine features cover art of a man with a mustache wearing a red shirt with blue overalls.

In the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film, Sonic’s disdain of mushrooms could be a jab at his rivalry with Mario in the 90s. This is reinforced in the Thai dub of the film, where the joke about Tom saying that Sonic won’t be the only “fungi” on the mushroom planet is replaced with “at least you can have a mushroom forever,” to which Sonic replies with “No. I’m not Mario”.

Nintendo possibly “returned the favor” in 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing advertisement features a map with one of the landmarks listed as “Mushroom Planet”.

In the E3 2019 Nintendo Direct presentation, the new CEO of Nintendo of America, Doug Bowser, was introduced with a joke comparing his last name to the antagonist of the Mario series, Bowser. However, in Japanese, the character’s name is “Koopa”, so in the Japanese broadcast of the Nintendo Direct, they clarified the joke with subtitles explaining that his name is Bowser in English-language releases.

Ever since Samantha Kelly became the voice of Peach, Toad and Toadette starting in 2007, she would always record her voice lines for Peach first whenever recording new dialogue. This is because her voice is unable to go high enough after doing the more extreme sort of voice that Toad has.

In a 1996 interview with Shigeru Miyamoto published in Super Mario 64's first Japanese strategy guides, he revealed that Mario's running animation, speed and movements in that game were influenced by Arale, the main protagonist of the 1980 Akira Toriyama manga/anime "Dr. Slump":


However, Dr. Slump's influence throughout the Mario series could trace back even further. Some particular examples from Mario games include:

• His running speed, animation, the Racoon and Tanooki Suits from Super Mario Bros. 3
• The Wing Cap from Super Mario 64
• The Cat Suit from Super Mario 3D World

Even traits of Mario's happy cartoonish personality, his short stature and gloves, and blue-red-overalls color scheme bear enough similarities that they all could have been taken from Arale's appearances and other elements throughout Dr. Slump. Despite this, outside of Miyamoto's comment, these connections are not known to have been elaborated on by any other employee from Nintendo.

Mario Tennis on the Game Boy Color and Mario Kart Tour are the only Mario multiplayer games where Mario is unlockable. In terms of single-player games, Mario is also unlockable in the single-player mode of Mario Golf on Nintendo 64, as well as Super Mario 64 DS.

In a 2023 interview done to promote "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", Shigeru Miyamoto shared his thoughts and opinions on certain aspects of the character Mario that the filmmakers could easily take from the video games that made him endure over time and become so beloved the world over:

"It's the very fact that he is not your typical superhero that makes him such an interesting movie character[...]He's so relatable. He's an Everyman character. He never gives up. He always keeps coming. Those qualities make for a very compelling central character.

I think part of it is the idea that Mario never gives up[...]And he's kind of got this shy side to him. When all the attention is focused on him, he's a little bashful and doesn't maybe want that. That speaks to me. He might seem brave, but that's still a fundamental core essence of his character."

On April 22, 2015, Nintendo of America uploaded a tweet with an image of a Waluigi plush doll riding a Wiggler plush doll, with the caption:


Someone at Nintendo of America forgot to spell-check Wiggler's name, because the term "wigger" describes a white person who emulates the cultural behaviors attributed to African-Americans.

Shortly after finding the mistake, Nintendo of America took it down and apologized for the error.

According to a interview with ABC News, when Shigeru Miyamoto was asked why Daisy and Wario aren't a part of the main Mario titles, Miyamoto replied that "Both Daisy and Wario were originally drawn as part of the "Mario Land" games and had the same illustrator. The art style of those games was different from the "Mario World" series with Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach, and for a long time that was the reason that we didn't have those characters enter into each other's stories." This question and answer were removed in a later update to this article.

Despite this statement, Wario did appear in the DS update of Super Mario 64 and Mario faced off against the enemies of Wario Land 3 in Dr. Mario 64. This not only explains their absence in main Mario games, but also might explain the lack of direct representation of their games in the Mario spin off games in terms locations, enemies, characters, and special moves such as Wario's iconic shoulder bash.

Daisy would eventually be included in the main Mario games as a character added to the mobile game Super Mario Run in the Ver. 3.0.4 update, in addition to having a role in Super Mario Bros. Wonder.

Marc Graue, Ronald B. Ruben, Charles Martinet and Kevin Afghani are the only people to voice Mario in the video games. Marc Graue and Charles Martinet would later go on to voice the characters 'Mr. Zurkon' and 'Orvus' in the Ratchet and Clank Future Trilogy.

According to Shigeru Miyamoto, neither Mario or Luigi have surnames. The Super Mario Bros. film has Mario and Luigi's last name as Mario, but this was because of a scene where the two had to provide their full name.