Mario is no longer a working as a plumber in the Mushroom Kingdom.
Kotaku recently discovered an interesting new fact about Nintendo’s iconic mascot. According to a character profile found on Nintendo’s official Japanese website, Mario is no longer a plumber. Despite the overalls and pipe-fixing done in previous titles, Mario’s profile now reads as this:
All around sporty, whether it’s tennis or baseball, soccer or car racing, he [Mario] does everything cool. As a matter of fact, he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago…
Mario’s worn many different hats over the course of his history in gaming. In Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, Mario appeared as the game’s referee. He’s been a pitcher in 1989’s Baseball for the Game Boy and also as the umpire in Tennis, also released on the Game Boy.
Shigeru Miyamoto has stated in the past that it’s the games themselves that dictate Mario’s profession. In 1981’s Donkey Kong, Mario (known as “Jumpman” at the time) was “basically a carpenter,” according to Miyamoto. The plumbing profession that we’ve come to know Mario for was created to better serve 1983’s Mario Bros, a game which took place underground. Miyamoto explained all this and more in an interview with USA Today.
Similar to how we’ve seen Mario take part in multiple sports and kart races, It’s unlikely that we’ll ever get an in-game explanation as to what happened with Mario’s plumbing career. Super Mario Odyssey will be releasing on the Nintendo Switch later this year, this time turning Mario into a true world explorer. We’ve already seen numerous trailers that show Mario sporting a variety of new looks, serving as a reminder that the clothes do not make the man.
Super Mario Odyssey will be releasing worldwide on October 27, 2017 exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.
