If Nintendo is Japanese, why is Mario Italian?

The new film based on Super Mario Bros explored a little more the background of the protagonists, the brothers Mario and Luigi. In the feature, we know a little more about their family and we find out – if anyone still had any doubts – that they are Italian. However, if the nintendo, the company behind the brand, is Japanese, why is the protagonist Italian?

Mario is not just Italian; he is very Italian. As is often the case in films and series, his and Luigi's family is large, with an extremely heavy accent and they eat pasta.

The character's origin was chosen by its creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. And, it is worth noting, at a time when game creators were not so concerned with creating a backstory for the characters in the games, nor a rich and detailed plot to capture players.

But, after all, why is Mario Italian?

Although he is Japanese, Miyamoto has always been a great admirer of Western culture. As he grew up, he read a lot of foreign comics and this greatly influenced his drawings.

However, Mario's choice of nationality has to do with the pixels of technology at the time. To differentiate the character, they put his nose a little bigger than usual. So they built the whole plumber's background on top of that.

The challenges involving technology were also the explanation for Mario and Luigi's choice of colors and the clothes they wore. Red and green overalls and berets would be easier to render and not give developers as much work. Incidentally, these same imbroglios are also behind other famous games, such as Mortal Kombat, for example.

Only the profession that was decided later. Mario's first appearance was in the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong. At the time, he would have been a carpenter and would only have been called Jumpman. Only in his solo game did he become a plumber living in New York.

Graduated in Social Communication at the Federal University of Goiás. Passionate about digital media, pop culture, technology, politics and psychoanalysis.