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."

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: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!"

Re:Mario

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, in the original Donkey Kong, Mario was a carpenter. It wasn't until it got popular and they made Mario Bros. that he was changed to a plumber.

Re:Most Racist Video Game Character Ever

[LogopolisMike]

Really? Seriously, I'm not much of a gamer and I can think of about 15 far more racist characters of the top of my head. Maybe if you're talking n some sort exposure/racism (offensiveness per capita?) you might have an argument that he breaks the top 10. Maybe.