Back when Nintendo was still trying to gain a foothold in the US market the company rented a warehouse owned by a fellow called Mario Segale.
Legend has it that NOA President Minoru Arakawa was taken aback by the similarity between Segale and the lead character of Donkey Kong - an arcade title which Nintendo was preparing to launch at the time.
With the character still unnamed, Arakawa decided to call him Mario in honour of the company's landlord.
Amazingly, Segale's yearbook photo from 1952 - as well as many other interesting pieces of info - have been unearthed by website Technologizer. It's a fascinating insight into the life of the man who unwittingly lent his name to one of video gaming's brightest stars. You should check it out.
[source technologizer.com]
Comments 24
Umm so this is Mario .
Intreasting
Always wondered what the real mario looked like...
i thought he would have a mustache...
Interesting. Will check it out eventually.
I thought Mario in "Donkey Kong" was called Jumpman?
And then after that game came out or when they were working on the next one, they changed his name to Mario.
Cool story though. I could be wrong, I'm just repeating what I remember.
@Aronos Mario WAS called "Jumpman"! Mario was first mentioned on DK Jr.
He was called Jumpman in Japan. They changed his name to Mario when Donkey Kong was released NOT when Donkey Kong Jr. was released. Check the American Donkey Kong flyer and you'll see.
...commence the fan-art!
hmmm.... well that IS interesting. He looks a good bit thin to me in the picture though
That's interesting, but a little invasion-of-privacyey to me.
Looks more like Luigi to me. Anyone else looking forward to the shops that should eventually come out of his picture?
Very interesting. I never would have guessed it! Well that is sort of obvious, though...
This is a yearbook photo peeps. If he was a landlord at the time the Nintendo company knew of him, I'm sure he was a tad bit older and looked a tad bit different
I remember hearing this history of G4's Icons (now Game Makers).
Mario Segale. Cool.
Did he also plumb?
Feed me more news.
http://i42.tinypic.com/mauek1.png
it had to be done.
@sykotek: THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT TOO
His upper lip looks a little chilly.
@tealovertoma: indeed, it had to be done :3
@Flameking1087 and slapshot82
THIS is his yearbook photo, and who knows of what year maybe freshman in high school?
He later matured and packed some weight and grew a mustache.
That´s Luigi´s John Leguizamo´s Mario´s Movie.
I would like to see a picture from when he was their landlord, to see the resemblance.
I have also heard rumors that Luigi was named after an Italian restaurant in Japan that Myamoto frequented. Besides, I like to think of Mario and Luigi as Superheros in a fantasy game world, not real life humans.
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