The video game Mario Bros. was a spin-off of the wildly popular Donkey Kong, another Nintendo title that featured a carpenter named Mario.

Mario was named after Nintendo’s landlord

“Donkey Kong” designer Shigeru Miyamoto replaced Popeye, the sailor, with the overall-clad, mustachioed carpenter Jumpman, named after his primary skill—jumping over rolling barrels. When the game was translated into English, Jumpman’s name was changed to Mario, a nod to Mario Segale, the landlord for Nintendo’s American office.

Most of the 'Super Mario Bros.' sequel was borrowed from a preexisting Nintendo game

Nintendo was eager to create a sequel following the success of "Super Mario Bros.," but the original "Super Mario Bros. 2," released in Japan, proved too difficult. Crunched for time, the company used the bones of a preexisting game, "Doki Doki Panic," and inserted elements from Mario's world for the US release of "Super Mario Bros. 2," making for a follow-up that was drastically different from its predecessor.

‘Donkey Kong’ was based on the ‘Popeye’ franchise

Nintendo pursued the “Popeye” franchise in the early 1980s, hoping that developing an arcade game for the popular character would result in a hit. The bid failed, but Nintendo still used “Popeye” as the model for 1981’s “Donkey Kong.”

Mario's archnemesis hosted a children's show in the 1980s

"Super Mario Bros." grew so popular in the '80s, even King Koopa, the video game's villain, had his own television show, though it's been all but erased from TV history. There's good reason for that: It was a bizarre enterprise, featuring '30s cartoons, a grumpy stand-up comedian, and cheap production.

'Super Mario Bros.' was released in 1985

The game was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka and published by Nintendo in Japan and North America in 1985. It’s seen as a landmark in the history of video games and minted the Mario character as a pop culture icon.

How the inventor of Mario designs games

Shigeru Miyamoto has created some of the most iconic video games in history, from Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong to The Legend of Zelda. The game producer boils down his creative philosophy to three basic principles: story, simplicity, and...

'Super Mario Bros.' helped save the video game industry

A 1983 crash left the industry in tatters, desperate for a hit. Nintendo’s focus on a more immersive home experience was realized in “Super Mario Bros.,” bringing the industry from the arcade to the living room. The title eventually sold over 40 million units.

‘Super Mario Bros.’ was influenced by ‘Alice in Wonderland’

In 1985’s “Super Mario Bros.,” Mario and Luigi grow larger—becoming “Super Mario Bros.”—if they ingested mushrooms. “...if you think of stories like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and other types of fairy tales, mushrooms always seem to have a mysterious power, and so we thought the mushroom would be a good symbol for why they get it and get big,” Miyamoto told NPR in 2015.

Nintendo developed the character as its technology improved

Nintendo developed the Mario character as video game technology became more sophisticated. In 1991, Charles Martinet began playing Mario at trade shows and then voiced the character for 1996’s “Super Mario 64,” which included the now-classic catchphrase, “It’s a-me, Mario!”

The game turned Mario into a pop culture icon

The character has appeared in over 200 games and has had his own movies, television shows, and other kinds of entertainment.

1993’s ‘Super Mario Bros.' was the first live-action movie based on a video game

The 1993 live-action adaptation was supposed to be an easy hit, thanks to the brand Nintendo had already established. But the film, starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, and Dennis Hopper was a critical and commercial flop. Hoskins would later called it “the worst thing I ever did.”

The levels for 'Super Mario Bros.' were designed by hand

Miyamoto and codesigner Takashi Tezuka sketched the world of the game—called Mushroom Kingdom—by hand before handing it off to developers. In the interview below, they show off some of those original illustrations.

'Super Mario Bros.' teaches players its rules as they go

Rather than constantly climbing up the screen from platform to platform like “Donkey Kong,” “Super Mario Bros.” moves from left to right. In anticipation of gamers’ confusion with the new style, Miyamoto designed the first level as a walk-through, allowing players to learn the rules without reading a manual.

The game turned Japan into a major cultural exporter

“Super Mario Bros.” kicked off decades of cultural ascendancy not only for Nintendo, but for Japan, which grew into one of the world’s major cultural exporters through anime, fashion, and music.

The design changed video games forever

Miyamoto’s direction and Kondo’s sound showed younger generations the potential of video games, inspiring a more sophisticated form that moved far beyond the one-dimensional entertainment of the arcade era.

The mushrooms in 'Super Mario Bros.' are modeled after a real mushroom

Almost every mushroom in "Super Mario Bros." is based on the Amanita muscaria, sometimes referred to as the fly agaric, because it is known to attract flies. It's also the basis for the original mushroom emoji and the mushrooms from the popular game "Minecraft."

Nintendo began in 1889 as a playing card company

As a leading video game publisher, Nintendo has contributed to expanding the prevalence of handheld and console technologies for over a century. It has also developed franchise mascots that have appeared in other media, including Mario and Sonic.

A sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. sold for $3M, making it the most valuable video game cartridge ever auctioned.

In 2021, someone paid $2M for an unopened 'Super Mario Bros.'

The collectibles site Rally announced in 2021 that an unopened "Super Mario Bros." cartridge sold for $2M. That's the highest price ever paid for a video game.

The game’s theme was the first video game composition added to the Library of Congress

Koji Kondo’s “Ground Theme,” the opening music for “Super Mario Bros.” was added to the National Recording Registry in 2023. “Having this music preserved alongside so many other classic songs is such a great honor,” Kondo said. “It's actually a little bit difficult to believe.”

Listen to the evolution of 'Ground Theme'

Koji Kondo's "Ground Theme" is perhaps the most recognizable piece of music in all video games. As the Mario franchise expanded, the song remained, albeit with different arrangements and in different styles. You can browse every version of the song below. It's a fascinating decades-long evolution of a classic composition.

Famicom was the predecessor to the NES

Before the Nintendo Entertainment System was released in the US, Nintendo released a similar console in Japan with some interesting differences, including a Delorean-like exterior and a built-in microphone for karaoke.

Koji Kondo composed the game's iconic soundtrack with a limited palette of sounds

The game's soundtrack and effects were limited by the Nintendo Entertainment System's 8-bit hardware, which had significantly fewer sounds than a typical synthesizer. That didn't stop Kondo from writing some of the most recognizable video game music in history.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dressed as Mario at the Olympics

In a 2016 ceremony at that year’s Summer Games in Rio, Abe dressed as Super Mario to celebrate his country hosting the 2020 Olympics. It was a logical move: The character is one of the most recognizable characters in the world and someone who’s now associated with Japanese culture.

'Pac-Man' was the rare early video game aimed at both men and women

The early arcade games were mainly aimed at boys and young men, with a focus on sports and violence. Toru Iwatani was interested in appealing to a wider audience and created "Pac-Man," released in Japan in 1980.

Disney was originally called the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio

In 1923, brothers Walt and Roy formed what would later become The Walt Disney Co. They began by continuing to produce Walt's "Alice Comedies" and a series based on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a precursor to Mickey Mouse.

The Japanese folklore that inspired Pokémon

Characters from the popular video game series appear to reference the yōkai from Japanese folklore, which first became popular during the country's Edo period, when art and literature became mass-produced.

'Steamboat Willie' was the first film to feature Mickey Mouse

This short film introduced Mickey Mouse, the character who would define the Disney brand, to the world. It might be almost 100 years old, but you'll be surprised at how much humor still holds up.

Microsoft developed the Xbox to compete with Sony's all-in-one entertainment hardware

The video game console originated as a side project between four DirectX developers, from whom the console's original name, "DirectX Box," derives. These developers sought to counter Sony's PlayStation product line, which they saw as capable of capturing all entertainment markets by playing games, CDs, and DVDs.

Magic: the Gathering was inspired by baseball cards

Richard Garfield originally pitched a game publisher on a more complex game about programming robots, but he was told that they were looking for something less expensive and more portable. Inspired by the way baseball cards were collected and traded, he came up with the idea for Magic: the Gathering, which gave players packets of random cards, effectively pieces of the whole game, rather than the entire deck.

Despite meeting as ambulance drivers in WWI, Ray Kroc and Walt Disney weren't the driving forces behind McDonald's and Disney's numerous business partnerships.

The card game Uno was invented by an Ohio barber

Merle Robbins created the game in 1971 after an argument with his son about the rules of the card game Crazy Eights. The discussion led to the creation of his own game, which he then went on to sell from his barbershop.

A virtual art gallery in the mode of 'Doom'

One of the earliest video games to use 3D interfaces, 1993's "Doom" was a first-person shooter set on the moons of Mars which ended in hell. It became one of the most critically and commercially successful games of all time. Now, you can wander virtually in an art gallery in the mode of the game, sipping wine and perusing pixelated versions of classic works of art.

Nvidia pioneered the GPU industry via its origins as a video game company

From the mid-1990s to early 2000s, Nvidia carved out a niche as a maker of semiconductor chips specially designed for the video game industry. Nvidia broke through the competition to seal deals with TSMC and Microsoft, and popularized the term "graphics processing unit," aka GPU.

The original Mickey Mouse's copyright has expired, but Disney still owns the trademark

In 2024, "Steamboat Willie"—the 1928 Walt Disney animation with the first depiction of Mickey Mouse—entered the public domain. While anyone is free to build on the original characters and storyline of "Steamboat Willie," Disney still owns the trademark for Mickey Mouse, so any branding with the character's depiction that appears to be from Disney is off-limits.

Video games are helping to preserve cultural heritage sites, further archaeological study

When Carmen Sandiego swept onto the video game scene in 1985, the deluxe version of the game included historic photographs from National Geographic and music from the Smithsonian. Read this article to learn about the overlap between gaming and ancient architecture.

Monopoly was based on the satirical Landlord's Game, which criticized the abilities Monopoly rewarded.

'Games That Weren't' preserves lost video game history

Since 1999, this large, online, nonprofit archive has saved the stories of cancelled and unreleased video games. See prototypes, developer history, and assets for various computers and consoles of all ages, including gems like Cartoon Network's "Toon Jam!"