Mario Day 2021: 13 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Famous Nintendo Character

It's Mario Day! First introduced by Nintendo in 1981, the mustached video game character has since become one of the most iconic figures in pop culture.

As of 2018, the Mario franchise has grossed over $30 billion and has sold more than 620 million copies of games worldwide, beating "Pokémon" as the best-selling video game franchise of all time, IGN reported.

In celebration of one of the most recognizable characters of our childhood, here are 13 facts about Mario and his games that you might not have known.

Jumpman, who?

Mario wasn't always called Mario. During the early stages of his development, the Nintendo character was originally called Jumpman. Creator Shigeru Miyamoto also considered giving him the name Mr. Video before eventually naming him "Mario" reportedly after Mario Segale, the landlord of a U.S. warehouse rented by Nintendo, according to BBC.

He was originally a bad guy

Mario's first appearance was in 1981 in the cult classic video game "Donkey Kong," where he is shown to be a bad pet owner who mistreated Donkey Kong, thereby causing the ape to kidnap his girlfriend.

Mario was originally a carpenter

Mario is apparently a man of many professions as the Nintendo character was originally a carpenter and not a plumber. To add to the list of his fields of expertise, Mario also appeared as a doctor in the 1990 puzzle title "Dr. Mario" and its sequels.

Mario and his love for mushrooms

In the video game, Mario appears to grow bigger each time he eats mushrooms. This is "because you see people in folk tales wandering into forests and eating mushrooms all the time," his creator explained.

The "Bounce-Hit" glitch

As long as Mario is descending when he hits an enemy from below, he would bounce off the enemy instead of taking a hit.

The "Game Over" glitch

In the game, if Mario gets more than 128 lives using the infinite-lives trick, the player will get an automatic "Game Over" the next time they die because of a glitch caused by a buffer overflow error.

Princess Peach and Pauline

Originally known as Princess Toadstool, Princess Peach wasn't always Mario's love interest. Before the princess entered the picture, Mario was romantically involved with a lady named Pauline -- a character who made an appearance in a Gameboy remake of "Donkey Kong" but who unfortunately was rejected by Mario and left in the friend zone.

Mario Day

For over a decade or so, Mario Day has been celebrated every March 10. This is because when abbreviated, the date would appear to spell out the character's name: "MAR10."

No time for hesitation

The Hammer Bros. would leave their post and chase Mario down if he hesitates and stays in place long enough, according to Ars Technica.

Mario makes a cameo

The famous character has made an appearance in countless other video games -- even "Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2." For gamers who play "Metal Gear Solid" and "Zelda," they might have run into Mario and Yoshi in those as well.

Koji Kondo's iconic track

Nintendo composer Koji Kondo is responsible for the soundtrack that many across the globe recognize today. The main theme of "Super Mario Bros.," called "Ground Theme," remained in the Billboard ringtone charts for 125 weeks and has even been performed in live orchestras.

Collect all the coins to get a surprise

If Mario can collect all the coins in the third level of a world, a hidden 1-up mushroom will activate in the first level of the next world.

Mario was voiced by Charles Martinet

Also the voice behind Wario and Luigi, actor Charles Martinet is the man behind the characters' iconic voices and personalities.