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Mamma Mia! 10 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About… Mario!
In honour of the absolutely amazing eighth instalment of the Mario Kart series and our fab new Mario T-Shirts, we have decided to pay tribute to Nintendo’s finest icon. As a long time gamer since the NES days myself, I am very proud to present to you ‘10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Mario!‘
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1 – Mario’s first appearance was in the game Donkey Kong but he was originally named Jumpman. Nintendo must have realised their hero was deserving of something better and his name was changed because of an uncanny resemblance to the landlord of Nintendo’s US office, Mario Segale, who had been busy chasing Nintendo for rent money!
2 – Donkey Kong was originally intended to be a Popeye game but Nintendo couldn’t secure the rights so had to create their own cast of characters. Popeye was replaced with Mario (or Jumpman), Olive Oyl with Pauline (the damsel in distress) and Bluto with Donkey Kong, a legacy was born!
3 – Mario was originally a carpenter when he appeared in Donkey Kong. Since then he became better known as a plumber but has also been a doctor, kart racer, archaeologist, referee, golfer, tennis star, typing tutor and many others. Has he no ends to his talents!
4 – Mario’s appearance was partly influenced by the limitations of the trusty NES and Arcade systems around the time he was created. His sprite wasn’t large enough to fit in a mouth so he got a moustache instead, his distinctive hat was added because it was too difficult to animate hair, and his overalls allowed for his arms to be animated clearer due to them being a different colour to the rest of his body.
5 – Mario was actually the villain of an early arcade title called Donkey Kong Jr. In this game Kong’s son is the plucky hero who is trying to rescue his father who has been imprisoned by an uncharacteristically nasty Mario! He tries to stop Kong Jr on his mission by releasing animals and planting obstacles in his way, what a meanie!
6 – Mario’s main antagonist is the King of Koopas, Bowser, but he wasn’t always the giant fire-breathing turtle that he is today. Miyamoto had originally imagined him as an ox, but other staff members claimed he looked more like a turtle instead, so the design was changed.
7 – The mushrooms from the Mario Bros games are based on a real mushroom called the Fly Agaric with psychedelic effects that make it feel as though you are growing in size when consumed.
8 – Everyone has seen the cover of the original Super Mario Bros many a time, but if you actually look closely you’ll see Mario is actually about to meet an unfortunate end as he is mid fall into a lava pit. That’s pretty sadistic Nintendo!
9 – The Super Mario Bros manual states that the people of the Mushroom Kingdom were all turned into blocks by the Koopa tribe, quite a sombre thought when you think of the number you need to smash and destroy to get to the end of the game! Perhaps you should bare these poor citizens in mind on your next play through!
10 – The original Super Mario Bros game on the NES was Nintendo’s bestselling game of all time until 2006 when Wii Sports was the game to finally outsell it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these facts and have hopefully learned a thing or two (or 10!) about the Worlds most famous Italian Plumber. If this has got you in the Mario mood we’ve got a great selection of gaming goodies that are bound to appeal to fans of everyone’s favourite Nintendo star.
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xoxo
1-2-3-4-5, 6-7-8-9-10, 11, 12… Things I hope you didn’t know about Sesame Street!
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My blog post today is bought to you by the letter L. L is for love and down here at TruffleShuffle we love Sesame Street almost as much as we love t-shirts! Incase rocking your latest Sesame Street related vintage t-shirt wasn’t enough to show your appreciation for the Street, we thought we’d arm you with 12 killer facts you probably didn’t know to impress your mates with down the pub…. |
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1 – The show was almost called 123 Avenue B, but it was changed due to the fact that it was a real New York City address. |
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2 – The Count’s birthday is October 9, 1,830,653 B.C. |
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3 – Ernie wears horizontal stripes on his sweater to make him appear more relaxed; while Bert wears vertical stripes on his sweater to make him appear more uptight. |
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4 – Oscar the Grouch was originally orange. He changed to his trademark green color in the second season. |
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5 – In 1990, after Jim Henson’s untimely death, Kermit the Frog disappeared from the show. He reappeared in new segments in 1998. Jim never considered Kermit a regular, he always referred to him as “Sesame Street’s #1 guest star.” |
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6 – Big Bird is 8’2″ tall. |
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7 – Cookie Monster a.k.a “The Wheel Stealer”, predates the show by 3 years. Jim Henson originally designed an early version of the character [with teeth!] in 1966, to appear in an ad for General Mills Canada’s Wheels, Crowns and Flutes snacks. The pilot ad never aired. |
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8 – “America’s favorite game show host” Guy Smiley’s real name is Bernie Liederkrantz. Guy was Jim Henson’s least favorite character to perform. |
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9 – Ernie’s signature song “Rubber Duckie” was a tribute to his very own beloved Rubber Duckie. The song first aired during episode 78 going on to eventually reach number 16 on Billboard’s “Hot 100 Singles” chart in 1970. |
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10 – The character of Oscar the Grouch was inspired by two people. His attitude comes from a nasty waiter that served Jim Henson and former director Jon Stone at a restaurant called Oscar’s Tavern in Manhattan. The voice was inspired by a cab-driver that used to drive Caroll Spinney to the set every day during the first season. |
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11 – In 1979, C-3PO and R2-D2 visited Sesame Street. |
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12 – It is believed that Snuffuluffagus is Big Bird’s imaginary friend. Big bird is the ONLY character who sees him. Originally the adults on the show refused to believe he existed, but this was changed in 1985 when producers felt that this may would discourage children from sharing important things with their parents. |
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