His creator, Shigeru Miyamoto \u2014 whose message of thanks to EL PA\u00cdS readers appears at the end of this article \u2014 said that the character is \u201cbetween 24 and 25 years old.\u201d But the truth is, he first appeared 45 years ago: although, in 1981, he didn\u2019t have the name or the prominence he has today. He was called Mr. Video, or Jumpman. And, in the video game Donkey Kong, he was the guy who dodged the barrels thrown by the evil ape to rescue the princess. At the time, the story cast him as a carpenter. So the myth required some tweaking: a more appropriate profession, since he went down so many pipes; or the chance appearance during a meeting at Nintendo\u2019s U.S. offices of Mario A. Segale, an Italian-American businessman who leased the building to the company. He had come to demand the rent, with some insistence. But he ended up giving his name to the 1985 game Super Mario Bros.<\/p>\n
The rest was down to technical limitations: a cap, to avoid designing the hair; a mustache, to hide the mouth; and overalls, which spared them from drawing extra clothing movements. So, it\u2019s been 45 years since Mario embarked on his journey to his beloved stars. And four decades of his solo epic, whose celebrations continue. These weeks, he\u2019s also dominating the box office again with Super Mario Galaxy. No other video game character has become such a pop culture icon. Restaurants, theme parks, and even Niall Breen\u2019s comic book, The Lonely Plumber, are dedicated to him. He\u2019s featured in museums, on T-shirts, toys, watches, backpacks, Legos, and even rattles, thanks to the recent My Mario baby line. Because the young players who grew up with him are now passing on their passion to their children and grandchildren. Mario\u2019s online profile says he loves \u201cpartying with his friends.\u201d He has plenty of reasons to.<\/p>\n
There are also several reasons for its success. \u201cIt\u2019s like the line from The Leopard: \u2018If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.\u2019 A player of the first Mario game who tries the latest one will understand. You can play with a joystick and a button; it has a simple introduction, although it\u2019s difficult to master afterward. There\u2019s always something different, but the core gameplay remains,\u201d reflects Manuel Curdi, marketing director of Nintendo Spain for the past 20 years. \u201cThe most important thing is that it\u2019s very entertaining, for all ages and audiences,\u201d adds Pablo D\u00edaz, a violinist with a passion for the plumber\u2019s work. \u201cIt was literally the first video game that an entire generation held in their hands. It helped invent and define what we expect from video games,\u201d adds Chip Carter, who followed the character\u2019s growth since 1990 through his pioneering column in The Chicago Tribune.<\/p>\n
In the history of video games, Mario\u2019s importance is, to say the least, difficult to overstate. He\u2019s not just a popular character or a long-running franchise, but a way of understanding design and the relationship between user and world. Journalist Paula S\u00e1ez P\u00e9rez highlights the foundational nature of the first Super Mario Bros.: how it \u201cestablished side-scrolling\u201d and how it introduced learning mechanics without the need for text. \u201cThe first level of the game is still studied in design schools,\u201d she notes, precisely because of its ability to teach without words. Some consider it the best implicit tutorial ever created.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts influence is absolute and still relevant. At first glance, it seems to only affect the mechanics, but it also encompasses the very concept of adventure and how to present it to the player,\u201d notes Adri\u00e1n Su\u00e1rez, co-author of the book On Mario: From Plumber to Legend. That idea, condensed into minimal resources, was revolutionary at the time. \u201cThere were secret places, changes in the sky, very few elements\u2026 and yet it offered a vast journey,\u201d adds Su\u00e1rez. The key wasn\u2019t quantity, but precision. From the structure to the smallest visual details, Mario laid foundations that continue to be replicated. \u201cPrestigious authors like Hideo Kojima and Hidetaka Miyazaki have acknowledged its influence,\u201d says the expert, who holds a doctorate in video game narrative and is a professor at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR). <\/p>\n
The saga, to date, comprises 24 main games. And around 200, if you include the Kart series and any other appearances on screen<\/a>. Mario\u2019s biggest misstep also came on screen: the 1993 live-action film. Consoles have come and gone, from the Nintendo and the Game Boy to the current Switch 2<\/a>, but Mario has remained its standard-bearer. Unmatched in popularity by any rival, be it Sonic \u2014 for once doomed to run behind him, not ahead \u2014 Lara Croft, or Pikachu. He\u2019s unbeatable in the market too, just as he is when he grabs a star or a mushroom. Miyamoto, for the record, has clarified that the magic of those mushrooms was inspired by folklore, not Alice in Wonderland, and certainly not by hallucinogenic experiences.<\/p>\n All of this remains unchanged even in the most recent Super Mario Bros. movie, Wonder, from 2023. Although in their development diary, the creators explain that they sought to recapture the \u201cwonder\u201d of the first Mario. In keeping with the quote from The Leopard, the plumber still moves forward and jumps from left to right, collecting bonuses and coins along the way, until he faces the most fearsome turtle of all: Bowser. Around him, however, the ideas keep coming even faster than the threats. A proposal for a realistically proportioned Mario who would hum the famous theme as he walked \u2014 and shout \u201cBoing!\u201d when he jumped \u2014 didn\u2019t make the cut. But the game does completely reinvent the gameplay of many levels, with flights, dragons, and bubbles, and transforms the hero into an elephant or even one of those Goombas that try to chase him with their tiny legs.<\/p>\n The paradox is that Mario\u2019s simple coherence has slowly turned him into something of an outlier. In a medium striving for sophistication \u2014 where plot and graphics increasingly dominate, sometimes even overshadowing gameplay \u2014 the plumber flips that logic on its head. \u201cIf we look at how he constructs the world, we see a story that isn\u2019t fully told, that remains implicit,\u201d says Su\u00e1rez. This narrative style, based on suggestion and exploration, has ultimately become one of the pillars of modern design. \u201cMario showed us how to tell adventures within playable environments. Gameplay comes first,\u201d he adds. \u201cOften, in pursuit of a more complex and artistic status, the industry has moved towards niche markets. Mario embodies the opposite, the ambition to include everyone,\u201d says Manuel Curdi. In 1985, when each gamer barely had a couple of cartridges and often one was a Mario game, and today, when he dominates amidst an overwhelming array of options, the effect is the same. The overlap of anniversaries, the debut of the Switch 2, and the long wait since his last 3D game (Odyssey, 2017) have only fueled speculation about new announcements.<\/p>\n Curdi, however, isn\u2019t giving anything away. For now, we\u2019ll have to make do with what we have. \u201cMario is charismatic, powerful, someone you can easily identify with,\u201d says Su\u00e1rez. His simplicity \u2014 a plumber with a cap and a mustache \u2014 is one of his greatest strengths. \u201cHe\u2019s almost a blank slate; he has very specific attributes, and adding more could exclude someone. He tries to be universal in everything, including the plot and the interface,\u201d Curdi notes.<\/p>\n For someone so famous, remarkably little is known about him \u2014 certainly nothing resembling political, social or philosophical positions. He hardly speaks, except for the occasional \u201cmamma mia!\u201d he always smiles, helps, never gives up, and little else. That same tradition, which has cemented his success, has also become the subject of critical re\u2011examination, especially regarding gender roles. Journalist Marta Trivi points out that the classic structure follows a deeply rooted narrative logic: \u201cPeach is kidnapped because in traditional stories, princesses\u2026 the hero has to rescue them. That structure is sexist.\u201d She clarifies that it\u2019s not about demonizing the saga, but about understanding the context in which it emerged and is repeated. \u201cThere has always been a tendency to represent women as passive figures and men as agents of action,\u201d a dynamic that Mario has reproduced without question for decades.<\/p>\n Paula S\u00e1ez agrees, pointing to the \u201cdamsel in distress\u201d trope as one of the saga\u2019s most recognizable elements. However, both experts acknowledge certain advances in recent years. Trivi highlights that current reinterpretations seek to \u201cturn these tropes on their head,\u201d not only due to the influence of feminism, but also because of the need to surprise an audience already familiar with these narratives. S\u00e1ez, for her part, mentions the growing prominence of characters like Peach, albeit still in a limited way. In this sense, they point out that the future lies not only in gameplay innovation, but also in rethinking the dynamics that have defined its universe for years. Even the ending of Odyssey \u2014 where the Peach rejects marriage proposals from both Mario and Bowser and walks away \u2014 ultimately fell back into the stereotype: both characters immediately chase after her to win her over.<\/p>\n At least in the recent films, Peach is portrayed as a wise stateswoman and a brave warrior \u2014 someone Mario learns from. However, no major revolutions are expected in the short term. \u201cThe character can only be stretched a little. Every single detail is overseen by Japan, perhaps even by Miyamoto himself. It\u2019s the intellectual property that defines the company. We have the trust of many families; that\u2019s a treasure that must be protected,\u201d says Curdi. Nintendo now entrusts its symbol to other companies, like Lego or Universal, to help explore toys or film, but it always keeps control. After all, that\u2019s how it has secured 45 years of success \u2014 with more to come. It\u2019s enough to make you say, \u201cMamma mia!\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no break ahead for the icon, unless the player grants him one. Then, finally asleep, the plumber will begin to dream of spaghetti, ravioli, lasagna, or carbonara. Even his fantasies are simple \u2014 pure nostalgia for home. No matter how much they call him Super, deep down, he\u2019s always just Mario: an ordinary guy.<\/p>\n \u201cHello to all EL PA\u00cdS readers. I\u2019m Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo. It\u2019s been 40 years since we released Super Mario Bros. for the Family Computer in Japan back in 1985. Thank you for your continued support of Super Mario!\u201d<\/p>\n Mario Arnold Segale<\/p>\n Mario Arnold Segale built many things throughout his life. Born in Seattle on April 30, 1934, the son of Italian farmers who had immigrated to the United States, he started with a single truck but ended up building a real estate empire. However, when he passed away in 2018 at the age of 84, all the obituaries ran the same headline. That\u2019s because Segale leased a space of about 5,000 square meters to the Japanese company Nintendo, which set up its offices there to expand in the U.S. And one day, he burst into a meeting of his tenants, who were looking for a name for the protagonist of their video game Donkey Kong. The book Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World, by David Sheff, recounts that Segale angrily demanded from Minoru Arakawa, president of Nintendo of America, the monthly rent they still owed him. And, in the process, he humiliated him in front of everyone, until the executive promised to pay soon. At least, as soon as he left, the team had what it needed: Super Mario! The New York Times reports that Segale was aware of what had happened, but he always shunned the limelight and preferred to be known for what he had achieved. In what is possibly his only statement on the matter, he told The Seattle Times: \u201cYou might say I’m still waiting for my royalty checks.\u201d<\/p>\n You are Mario!<\/p>\n The first Super Mario Bros., released in October 1985, included this plot in its instruction booklet, now reproduced on the character\u2019s online profile: \u201cOne day the kingdom of the peaceful mushroom people was invaded by the Koopa, a tribe of turtles famous for their black magic. The quiet, peace-loving Mushroom People were turned into mere stones, bricks and even field horse-hair plants, and the Mushroom Kingdom fell into ruin. The only one who can undo the magic spell on the Mushroom People and return them to their normal selves is the Princess Toadstool, the daughter of the Mushroom King. Unfortunately, she is presently in the hands of the great Koopa turtle king. Mario, the hero of the story (maybe) hears about the Mushroom People’s plight and sets out on a quest to free the Mushroom Princess from the evil Koopa and restore the fallen kingdom of the Mushroom People. You are Mario! It’s up to you to save the Mushroom People from the black magic of the Koopa!\u201d<\/p>\n Record speedrun<\/p>\n \n ![\"Shigeru](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/foto-miyamoto.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Cerrar](\"https:\/\/ep01.epimg.net\/estaticos\/arc\/2026\/04\/super_mario_bros\/assets\/images\/other\/close.svg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Mario](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1_mario_segale.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"Mario](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2_caratula_supermario.jpg\")
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