Mario has had one hell of a life (or lives).
Since making his 1981 video game debut in the arcade classic Donkey Kong – although at that time he was still known as ‘Jump Man’ – the ‘shroom-guzzling, dimension-hopping plumber has mastered the art of jumping and fighting, and is recognised as a gifted footballer, golfer and tennis player.
Nintendo’s enduring mascot is a demon on the go-kart track, he’s competed in the Olympics, taken several trips to space and somehow still finds the time to save Princess Peach from Bowser at least once a year.
But despite being perhaps gaming’s most accomplished hero, nobody seems to know how old Mario is.
You’d have been forgiven for thinking he’s at least middle-aged. Bob Hoskins was knocking on 50 when he played him in the 1993 Super Mario Bros movie, and surely nobody under the age of 30 could rock a moustache of that standard, right?
WRONG.
Get your head around this one: Mario is in his mid-20s. The age-related bombshell came directly from series creator Shigeru Miyamoto in a Japanese interview he did way back in 2005.
Nintendo recently resurfaced Miyamoto’s quotes, as highlighted by Ars Technica, and the legendary Japanese designer explained that age was the only definite thing Nintendo decided on when creating the character.
He said then: “I think it was fortuitous that we didn’t put any restrictions on Mario as a character. Normally when you create a character and present him to the world, all the details get filed in: what’s his favourite colour? what kind of food does he like to eat?”
“But aside from the fact that he’s about 24-25 years old, we didn’t define anything else.”
People seemed pretty baffled by the news.
https://twitter.com/aedaily/status/782645002228920320
I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THE POTENTIAL CANON OF MARIO'S AGE
— TeffiWynn (@TeffiniWynn) September 30, 2016
https://twitter.com/setsuna_quanta/status/781913438859751424
Knowing Mario's age seems like forbidden knowledge to me. Did I want to know? No. but now that I have this, how can I better society?
— Rey O aka Ippodempseyroll aka Bom Tombadil (@ReyOrtega) September 30, 2016
honestly previous to now I was just really happy never having considered Mario's age even a little bit, and now my life is worse
— Jake Eakle (@jseakle) September 30, 2016
Mama mia.
