Franchise: Mario

According to a Nintendo Documentary, Mario's favorite music is not only Opera, but Euro-Pop as well.

According to Eiji Anouma, Miyamoto got the idea of naming Mario from Marionette. Marionette is a puppet controlled from above with strings or wires. Miyamoto also made puppets during his days at school where he would display his puppets in front of the class.

In the Mario Kart games, Rosalina is a heavy/large class character. However, in the Super Smash Bros. series she is a light class character. The reason she is a heavy class character in Mario Kart is most likely due to her height.

Paratroopa's Japanese name, 'Pata-pata' (パタパタ), comes from the Japanese onomatopoeia for flapping wings.

Mario has starred in over 200 different games.

According to a 1993 Nintendo Character Guide, Yoshi's full name is T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas.

Princess Daisy's country of origin, Sarasaland, takes its name from the calico textiles imported by Portuguese traders from India to Japan during the Edo Period. Calico became widely popular in Japan to the point the Portuguese word for it, sarasa, was adapted into the Japanese language.

Calico (or sarasa) textiles are most commonly flower patterns made up of multiple, contrasting colors. This is why it is ruled by Daisy, a flower-inspired princess. And just as animal color patterns are named after the fabric (i.e., calico cats, calico goldfish, etc.) it's name alludes to the fact it is comprised of multiple, diverse kingdoms. The reason it is written as "Sarasaland," is because of the poor localization for the English release of Super Mario Land. In Japanese, it is: サラサ・ランド. Properly translated to English, it would be: Calico Land. A space or hyphen can be used in place of the interpoint.

Subsequent descriptions have rendered the name differently, as well:
•The ''Official Game Boy Players Guide'' omits the word land completely: "Sarasa"
•The Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins manual spaces the name out, but still leaves calico untranslated: "Sarasa Land"
•The Daisy trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee hyphenates the name and leaves the 'L' in "Land" lowercase: "Sarasa-land"
•Daisy's Mario Superstar Baseball profile misspells sarasa with "ra" added on the end: "Sarasara Land"

Nintendo has depicted Mario (previously Jumpman) with hair and no hat since the NES and Famicom. But in the early artwork for Donkey Kong, Mario was bald.

Ever since Mario's debut in 1981, there hasn't been a single year that a Mario game hasn't been released.

Before he became the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet was a Shakespearean actor. He even based his Mario voice on the character of Gremio from The Taming of the Shrew.

Koji Kondo, the composer of various Mario games, tries to make music that people can repeatedly listen to without getting sick of. He would listen to his own music for hours to see if he would get sick of it or not.