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Super Mario died

Goodbye to the Italian-American entrepreneur who inspired the famous mustachioed plumber from Nintendo

 Super Mario died  Goodbye to the Italian-American entrepreneur who inspired the famous mustachioed plumber from Nintendo

Super Mario died, the true one.

It was called Mario Segale and it was the Italian-American entrepreneur who inspired the famous mustachioed plumber from Nintendo. The story? We are in 1981 and the Japanese company certainly has no current turnover, indeed. He is in the bill and has no money to pay the rented shed in Tukwila, in the state of Washington, where he is developing what would become his most iconic game, Donkey Kong. So, at Minoru Arakawa, president of Nintendo of America, there is only one attempt: to invite the owner of the space in the company offices and ask him to extend the payment. Mr. Segale, reluctant, consents, allowing the company to continue working on the project that would make it famous all over the world. As a thank you, its creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, changes the name of one of the protagonists from Jumpman to Mario, uniting forever the destinies of the entrepreneur and that of the mustachioed plumber best known in the world. Joking, in one of the few interviews, at the Seattle Times in 1993, the man told him to "wait until someone paid him royalties" for the character who bore his name. If millions of players have spent hours playing Super Mario Bros, they owe it to him: thanks Mr Segale!