Retro Gaming Top 5 - Part 30 - Super Mario Bros. Facts You May Not Know... Probably.

There are quite a few gaming icons, but non are as big as the short, Italian plumber, Mario. Since the early 80's, Mario has appeared in a whole series of games and spin off's, been included in other franchises, cartoons and anime, he even appeared in a film (less that is said about the film the better), but in the gaming world, He is the most recognisable character. But there are still a few mysteries that most people don't know about him.

So here is 5 facts about Mario you may not know about... Maybe.

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5 – Mario the Serial Killer.

Yes we all know that there are many enemies that Mario has killed within the games, but he has also inadvertently killed just as many innocent lives too. Well according to the American instruction manual for the first Mario game it states, ''Peaceful mushroom people was invaded by the Koopa, a tribe to turtles famous for their black magic. The Mushroom people were turned into mere stones, bricks and plants.'' so the next time you want to smash that brick to get somewhere, just remember you're killing a mushroom person.
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4 – Punching Bricks.

For many people around the world, they all believe that Mario jumps and breaks bricks with his head. This is incorrect, and many people won't believe it, but the truth is that Mario uses his fist to punch through the bricks like a Karate master punching and breaking bricks. As you can see from the image, when close up, you can see his fist is higher than his head. Who knew that an Italian plumber knows karate.
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3 – Popeye Mario?

Believe it or not, Mario was actually inspired by the old Popeye cartoons of the 60's. The creator of Mario wanted to make a game using Popeye having to rescue Olive Oyl from Bluto by climbing a series of stairs, sound familiar? Well it should. Miyamoto couldn't get the rights to use Popeye, so he substituted Popeye for jump man, aka Mario, Olive for Pauline and Bluto for Donkey Kong. Bonus fact, Donkey Kong's Name was inspired by the Original King Kong movie.
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2 – Nintendo Porn.

There are countless Mario and Princess Peach Porn parodies floating about the internet, and Nintendo owns the rights to all of them. Before the Interweb, when the Mario Bros. Film was being released, a porn studio tried to capitalize on the hype and made Super Horneo Bros. staring Ron Jeremy as Mario. Nintendo didn't want them to capitalize on it, so they bought the rights and hid it away, but is now available online, so there efforts were in vain.
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1 – Super Successful.

Mario is the most successful game franchise, ever! I know it may seem obvious, but even when compared to other modern games, they don't come close to the amount of money Mario has earned Nintendo, Mario is in a whopping 197 games, selling over 500 million world wide, making him a name everyone knows, his secret lies in the character appearing in different types of games from platforms, puzzle, shooters, party, racing, RPG and plenty more. And the reason people play them is because its fun, the simple premise of the character is what makes him so appealing.
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It is amazing the amount of facts of the most beloved characters we all still don't know, but now you know a little more behind the icon that is an Italian Plumber, Mario.

Thanks for reading.

Stu @TechMojo
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