Mario was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and appeared in the game
designer's first ever title, the 1981 arcade platformer, Donkey Kong.
Miyamoto was hired as a graphic artist by Nintendo in 1977, and was
given the task of designing a game after several of the company's early
coin-ops had failed to make an impression on the lucrative arcade
market.
Mario was originally known as Jumpman. However, when Nintendo's US
office were trying to think of a better name in time for the American
release of the game, they were interrupted by their landlord Mario
Segale, after whom they christened the character.
Mario was originally a carpenter, not a plumber. He's also appeared as a
doctor in the 1990 puzzle title Dr Mario and its sequels.
The look of Mario is all about the graphical limitations of the hardware
at the time. He has a hat, because realistic hair was difficult to
portray, a moustache to accentuate his nose, and dungarees to make his
arm movements more noticeable. In
Super Mario Bros, he wears a brown shirt below his overalls a
look that was swiftly abandoned
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