59 Fascinating Mario Facts That You Probably Didn't Know

If you have played Super Mario Galaxy then you know what "Star Bits" are. You may have also noticed similarly shaped items called "Gratitude Crystals" in the Zelda game Skyward Sword. The reason for this is because both items are based on a traditional Japanese candy called Konpieto. Konpieto has been around since the 1500s and is the same word in Portuguese for candy.

Many of you recognize the name Jason as the crazy maniac with a hockey mask. What you may not know is that he appeared in a Halloween themed world in Super Mario Land 3. Pictured above he even has a knife sticking out of his mask.

The word Tanooki comes from a Japanese animal that is part dog and part raccoon. This animal was the inspiration for one of Marios power-ups which allows him to fly and turn into stone. PETA (The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is outraged with the power-up stating that even though no animals were harmed in the making of the game, it still is sending the message that it is ok to wear fur.

Most of the Mario fans know that before he was "Mario" he was known as "Jumpman". What caused his name to change? At the time that Nintendo was working on Donkey Kong they were renting a warehouse owned by a man named Mario Segale. When Nintendo fell back on its payments Mario came knocking on the door. After promising to pay him the money they owed, Nintendo decided to rename "Jumpman" to Mario.

It has already been confirmed that the USA version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was all a dream. There is also rumors that the third intallment of the series was all a play. Don't believe me? Look at the evidence in the image above.

When the games was initially release on the Wii in July of 2007, Nintendo issued a recall of all the copies due to a "production error" that made it so the word spastic was shown. In one part the Koopa Kamek stated "Magikoopa Magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!" The word spastic is considered an insult in the UK as it is a negative word associated with the disabled. When it was released again in August the word was replaced with "erratic".

As you can see, the cover image of Mario shows that Mario is about to fall into the Lava.

The guy on the left who looks like Mario is called Talon and the gut who looks like Luigi is named Ingo. In the game Talon is the owner of a cattle ranch in Hyrule buy the name of Lon Lon Ranch. Ingo is a ranch hand. As you can see these characters resemble those of Mario and Luigi. There are a few indicators that increase this similarity as Talon is alwasy stealing the spotlight from Ingo, just as Mario steals the spotlight from Luigi. Lastly, Talon's daughter and himself wear necklaces resembling Bowser.

Typically the media portrays video games as a factor in violence. Reseach, on the other hand has shown that playing games such as Super Mario Sunshine can actually improve your social skills and make you a more helpful person. The research also discovered that the link between videogames and violence is dependent upon the content of the videogame itself rather than the act of playing videogames.

The Instruction Guide that was included with Super Mario Bros. describes how the Koopas turned the inhabitants of Mushroom Kingdom into blocks. This means that when Mario is smashing these blocks, he is contributing to the deaths of thousands of Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants.

The mushrooms seen in Super Mario Bros. are actually based on real mushrooms. The mushrooms, when consumed, give you the feeling that you are growing in size.

The name Luigi comes from the Japanese word "Ruiji" which translates to mean "similar".

Originally Magikoopa was going to take the place of Donkey Kong in Mario Kart 64.

In the game Super Mario World, Yoshi was originally going to be a Koopa. On top of that his saddle was a shell.

The creator of Sonic the Hedgehog was inspired to create the game after attempting to get through the first level of Super Mario Bros. as fast as possible.

We all know that Mario has a red shirt with blue overalls. What you may not know is that before Super Nintendo, Mario's outfit was reversed with red overalls and a blue shirt.

Everyone knows by now that before he was known as Mario, Mario was called "Jumpman". What most people do not know is that before that he was called "Mr. Video" and his original name was "Ossan" which literally means "Middle-Aged Guy".

There was a prototype for a game starring Yoshi. The games name was Croc: Legend of the Gobbos.

The characters Bullet Bill and Torpedo Ted are thought to be a reference to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Wario is a shortened version of "Warui Mario". The Word Warui is Japanese for "Bad". This is also true for Waluigi which is an American version of "Waruigi".

Nintendo does not want there to be any negative associations of their games. That is why Nintendo acquired the rights to Super Hornio Brothers and Super Hornio Brothers 2, which are porn parodies of the games.

The laugh of Boo in Super Mario 64 is actuallyjust Bowser's laugh sped up.

Before Donkey Kong came out, Nintendo was planning on using Popeye as the main character. Before development finished, Nintendo lost the rights to Popeye. As a result they replaced Popeye with Mario,  Bluto with Donkey Kong, and Olive Oyl with Princess Peach.

In Super Mario Bros. 3 there is an island that resembles Japan. This island has a castle that is located similarly to where Kyoto is in Japan, which also happens to be the home of the Nintendo headquarters.

The idea for the Chain Chomp was the result of a dog that lived in Shigeru Miyamoto's neighborhood when he grew up. He stated that the dog terrorized him when he was young.

Research was conducted that showed that playing Super Mario 64 helped with fine motor skills, memory, strategic planning, and spatial orientation.

Mario has been voiced by many actors over the years including, Peter Cullen, who is known for voicing Optimus Prime. This period was when Mario was in the 1983 show Saturday Supercade's Donkey Kong.

Wario is the first example of the shared name as Wario is simply Mario with a W instead of a M. Also Captain Olimar from Pikman is a backwards spelling of Mario.

Wart was the villian in Super Mario Bros. 2, who was also spotted in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening in which he went by his original name "Mamu" and helped Link by teaching him a song.

When fans hear of Shigeru Miyamoto they think of him as one of the fathers of Mario, but in fact one of the earliest Mario games, Shigeru played no part in. Super Mario Land was the first Mario game for the Gameboy. Shigeru played no part in its creation and it was actually created by Gunpei Yokoi, the original developer of the Gameboy.

In more recent Mario games you can find mushrooms and flowers with eyes but this characteristic was first introduced on Starman.

In the original manual for Super Mario Bros. 2 it stated that Birdo is a guy who thinks that he is a girl.

Super Mario Bros. 2 was originally and American adaptaion of the Japanese title: Doki Doki Panic. The "real" Super Mario Bros. 2 as we know it is known as The Lost Levels.

The Super Mario Bros. 2 as we know it is the officially called the Lost Levels. This was the first game where Luigi was taller than Mario. This helped separate Luigi from Mario.

Shigeru Miyamoto created Chain Chomps as a resemblence to a dog that was in his childhood neighborhood. The Chain Chomps pull on their chain because the dog would chase Miyamoto until it reached the end of its chain.

Mario first appeared in Donkey Kong and he was a carpenter for the building that Donkey Kong was on top of. His profession later changed when pipes became the focus of Mario arcade games.

In Super Mario Land 2's Mario Zone you can find a bear rolling on top of a ball. That was the bears only appearance in the Mario franchise but the bear also became the loading symbol for the Gameboy Camera when he would roll around on his ball.

The Mario Zone of Super Mario Land 2 has a toy theme to it. At certain points you can see the letters N & B on the walls. N & B was a toy manufacturer in Japan and before Nintendo ventured into videogames they sold some of N & B's products. 

If you look at the image above you can see that the trail of the fireball is in the wrong direction.

Due to the graphical limitations for the game Nintendo had to use the same sprite for the clouds and the bushes. As you can see in the image above they are the same except for the colors used.

By now everyone knows that both Super Mario Bros 2 and 3 did not actually happen. Several other games such as the Mario Party Series also take place in dreams.

There was a sequel to Super Mario Bros that was not The Lost Levels or Super Mario Bros. 2. The sequel was only released for the NEC-PC8801 abd Sharp X1 and was titled Super Mario Bros Secret. The game brought back elements from Donkey Kong such as the barrels, fire enemies, as well as flies, icicles, and crabs from the Arcade version of Mario Bros. The game also introduced new power-ups like the hammer, the clock, and the P-Wing.

Super Mario Bros was the first videogame based movie and it really sucked.

Shigeru Miyamoto felt that the failure of the Super Mario Bros movie was a result of it being too similar to the videogame.

Mario's features were a way to deal with the graphical limitations of the technology available. His moustashe was created because it was easier than drawing a mouth on Mario. He has a hat because it was easier than coming up with hair. Lastly, Mario was given overalls so that the players can tell that Marios arms are moving back and forth.

By now everyone has joked that Mario is a druggie getting high off of mushrooms. As we have discussed earlier the mushrooms that are in the game are a resemblance of a real mushroom with psychadelic features. Miyamoto has also stated that he used mushrooms as an allegory for the drug use in Alice in Wonderland.

Two Items, Jugem's Shoe and Kuribo's Cloud, did not change names as planned due to technical errors. This is even despite the fact that the names of the characters who used them changed.

The seven Koopa Kids are named after the following musicians:

Lemmy Kilmister, Ludwig von Beethoven, Roy Orbison, Wendy o. Williams, Iggy Pop, Larry Mullen Jr., and Morton Downey Jr.

In order for a White Mushroom House to appear you must beat a certain level in each world by collecting a certain amount of coins (usually all of them).

In order for a money ship to spawn, the second number in your score as well as both digits in your coins must match. This will only work in worlds 1, 2, 5, and 6.

The special stages seen in World 8 of Super Mario Bros. 3 represent the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines in Bowser's Army.

When you pick  a chest in a mushroom house your choice does not make any difference as the item you recieve is chosen as you enter the mushroom house.

If you look at the map of World 7 you can see that it resembles 3 pipes found throughout the game.

If you use the Warp Whistle in the Warp Zone you will be sent to World 8.