Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Nintendo Plumber's Namesake Mario Segale Passes Away At 84
It's a rare true tale that's well known to people who like bandying about video game trivia, which can so often be steeped in apocrypha. The story goes that, when Shigieru Miyamoto first made Donkey Kong, he gave the human characters, the protagonist and the damsel in distress, generic names of Jumpman and Lady. When it was time to sell the arcade machine in the west, Nintendo of America reasoned that the game would sell better with named characters, and gave the mustached hero the name Mario, after the company's landlord.
In different tellings, Mario Segale busted into the NOA offices demanding rent, with the staff promising to name a game character after the landlord to mollify him. In other accounts, he was merely the name they most recently heard and seemed like a good fit. That character, the fictional Mario, is now one of the world's most recognized mascots, an enduring legacy for a man who was not always looking for it.
Segale had often ducked the association with the famous plumber, thinking it damaged his reputation as a real estate developer. In 1993, Segale was questioned about the name by the Seattle Times, and succinctly answered "You might say I'm still waiting for my royalty checks."
For Nintendo's part, it was not until 2015 that the company officially acknowledged Segale as Mario's namesake, with Miyamoto nodding to the question in a Nintendo video.
Our thoughts and condolences go with Mario Segale's family and loved ones.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
