A History of Mario, Nintendo’s Golden Boy

A History of Mario, Nintendo’s Golden Boy

Going into 1981, Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto was facing a problem. Working on one of his first games ever, he hoped to use Popeye, the famed sailor of 1930s cartoons, to serve as the hero. Yet despite the fact that Nintendo held the rights to make Popeye-themed playing cards and handheld games, a full-fledged title wasn’t approved for unknown reasons. The solution was to create original characters: Popeye became a plumber, simply dub…