Mario isn't Italian anymore

I always thought he was based on Ron Jeremy. The plumber was a stereotypical role in old school pornos where the plumber came home to women to fix the "plumbing". And Mario is always rescuing Peach, fixing her "plumbing" so to speak, so it kinda went hand in hand.
 
1. I do not think Uemura has authority over Mario's nationality
2. Maybe he is of Italian descent or immigrated to Japan?
 
I mean the clues have always been there. In Mario 64 he was using those stock Japanese phrases 'hwa', 'yahoo' and 'that's a spicy meatball'.
 
Back in 1980 the character was originally called "Jump Man" he was rechristened Mario for 1981's Donkey Kong by staff at Nintendo's New York Office, named after the Italian landlord Mr Mario Segali.

I suspect something has been misinterpreted in this new interview, or perhaps Uemura is just talking about his own head canon. Who knows.
 
Matt_Fox said:
Back in 1980 the character was originally called "Jump Man" he was rechristened Mario for 1981's Donkey Kong by staff at Nintendo's New York Office, named after the Italian landlord Mr Mario Segali.

I suspect something has been misinterpreted in this new interview, or perhaps Uemura is just talking about his own head canon. Who knows.
Click to expand...

Wish I had a head cannon.
 
I thought he was an Italian living in New York.

Maybe he took so many mushrooms he started to think he was Japanese. That's happened to me before so it's definitely a possibility.
 
Ar¢tos said:
It's a very regional Japanese accent and the eyes are a genetic mutation that also allow him to jump higher than normal humans.
Click to expand...
There is a heavily Russian influenced area in Northern Japan....so why not a Little Italy too.

That's a spicy takoyaki!
 
Uhhhh he was determined to be Mexican actually

Mario_en_Acapulco.jpg
 
Mariosuke and Ryuiji are two japanese guys with a schizophernic reality disorder which makes to pretend they are italian plumbers in a magical kingdom where a giant turtle kidnaps a princess every time
 
Last edited:
When it comes to the lore of his own character's Miyamoto has no relevance. He can't keep their stories straight, because he really doesn't care about that stuff.

Mario is an Italian plumber who lived in Brooklyn before going to the Mushroom Kingdom.
 
Nintendo is as confused about Mario as anyone else.

September 2017, Nintendo updates Mario's page to say he's not a plumber:

www.polygon.com

Mario’s not a plumber anymore, Nintendo finally admits

Thank you, Mario, but our plumber is in another castle
www.polygon.com www.polygon.com

6 months later, Nintendo updates his page again and reverts his vocation:

https://www.polygon.com/2018/3/5/17081416/is-mario-still-a-plumber

Nintendo wants Mario to be generic enough to serve as the company mascot he's become, but unique enough to be interesting, all without offending anyone. I don't think anyone was offended by Mario's nationality (yet; all bets are off in 2020), so they'll probably walk this back too.
 
iconmaster said:
I don't think anyone was offended by Mario's nationality (yet; all bets are off in 2020), so they'll probably walk this back too.
Click to expand...

Italians won't be offended, but young white Americans will be offended on their behalf and will go as far as demanding Italians start becoming offended.
 
He never was just Italian, he's Italian/American since his parents are Italian but he was born in Brookline.

... Or it was just the Super Mario movie?
 
Last edited:
This is some JK Rowling style 30+ years later retcon bullshit.

You can't parade around an obviously Italian icon, give him an Italian accent and name, do it for 30+ years, and then try to tell people he's Japanese like we're stupid.
 
Last edited:
From the legend himself:

"As a kid, I was a big comic fan and I liked foreign comics as well. So I drew some characters that had more western type features with a little bigger noses and what not. Now with Mario, I think with Mario Bros. we had a setting of course that was underground, so I just decided Mario is a plumber. Let's put him in New York and he can be Italian. There was really no other deep thought other than that."
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Grinchy said:
Is this some kind of weird move to get ahead of the curve for when Twittiots start going after Mario for being a racist caricature?
Click to expand...
I am genuinely shocked they haven't already....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Italian YouTuber under investigation over reviews of Anbernic Consoles
27
28
Deft Beck replied
There is no room for mediocre slop anymore
28
256
Trogdor1123 replied
PS3 to PSP (not working anymore)
13
1K
MathUser replied
  • Locked
I’m not buying games anymore because of GamePass
0
169
DR3AM replied
Are Games Actually Fun Anymore?
2 3 4
167
9K
Roufianos replied
Top Bottom