How Nintendo's Mario Got His Name

harrymcc writes "In 1981, tiny Nintendo of America was getting ready to release Donkey Kong. When the company's landlord, Mario Segale, demanded back rent, Nintendo staffers named the game's barrel-jumping protagonist after him. Almost thirty years later, neither Nintendo — which continues to crank out Mario games — nor Segale — now a wealthy, secretive Washington State real estate developer — like to talk about how one of video games' iconic characters got his name and Italian heritage. Technologizer's Benj Edwards has researched the story for years and provides the most detailed account to date."

Comments

well that explains

[butterflysrage]

the coin obsession... never met a landlord yet who wasn't in it for the shines

Re:well that explains

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, surprisingly enough numbers of non-paid amateur landlordery enthusiasts are dwindling.

Re:well that explains

[ArsonSmith]

There called Parents. Most have a basement where Slashdot readers live.

Re:How Wario got *his* name

[BadAnalogyGuy]

It's hard to explain, but the long and short of it is that you have to understand Japanese.

Mario

[gyrogeerloose]

Speaking as an American of Italian heritage who also used to be a plumber, not only am I not offended by Mario, I hold him up as a role model. I mean, I lost count of the number of times I had to chase some damned monkey through the pipes. Happened all the time.

Re:How Wario got *his* name

[Anonymous Coward]

It's hard to explain, but the long and short of it is that you have to understand Japanese.

One day I will find a Westerner who learned Japanese for reasons other than casually dropping the fact into web forums.

Article summary

[lyinhart]

For those who don't want to the read full article, here's the summary: "Mario is named after Nintendo of America's former warehouse landlord Mario Segale." It's curious how the article spans three pages, seems to be well researched yet has no new information.

Re:Article summary

[MaWeiTao]

It looks like the author was basically trying to confirm a story that was already reasonably well-known. The end result is that he came back with nothing new because nobody at Nintendo either knew about or was willing to acknowledge the connection to this real estate developer. The man in question, the actual Mario, is claimed to be reclusive. I suspect he's reclusive because he's trying to avoid being pestered by gamers and those in the gaming press.

Really?

[ProdigyPuNk]

This guy did research for YEARS to publish this article ? I like Nintendo/Mario as much as the next person, but somewhere between year 1 and 2 you think he would have thought "Damn, maybe this isn't really all that important..."

Re:How Wario got *his* name

[DIplomatic]

The game designers had a few beers, then turned the M upside down.

"Wario" is actually a combination of the Japanese word for "bad" (Warui) and Mario's name. Because he is the "Bad" Mario.

As for Waluigi, if you change the "R" sound to an "L" sound (as often happens in Japanese-English translations) you get "Walui". Combine that with "Luigi" and you get "Waluigi!"

Monkey Kong

[ZHaDoom]

It doesn't explain how Donkey Kong wasn't named Monkey Kong.

Re:How Wario got *his* name

[daremonai]

One day I will find a Westerner who learned Japanese for reasons other than casually dropping the fact into web forums.

That would be me. Just thought I'd mention it.