Mario Brothers mastermind passes away: 5 things you didn't know about the game

Hiroshi Yamauchi, who made Nintendo a household name, died on Thursday at the age of 85. Reputed as a visionary and among the richest men in Japan, Yamauchi made key moves such as employing the talents of Shigeru Miyamoto, a global star of game design and the brainchild of Nintendo hits such as Super Mario and Donkey Kong.[caption id="attachment_1123441" align="alignleft" width="380"] A screengrab of the Super Mario Brothers game. Image courtesy Nintendo[/caption]Yamauchi's specific brand of video games was for many gamers a golden era - Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda and Metroid were some of the classic games that were created under Yamauchi's direction. In the early 1990s, Nintendo's mascot was Mario, the Italian plumber, whom a survey revealed to be more recognisable to American children than Mickey Mouse. Here are five facts you didn't know about Mario, the neighbourhood plumber many of us grew up with:1. Mario wasn't Mario at firstMario's original name was Jumpman. But when Nintendo's American office was trying to think of a better name for the domestiv release of the game, they were interrupted by their office landlord, Mario Segale, after whom they decided to name the character.2. Mario's look was a cover-up for bad technologyMario's look was mostly governed by attempts to cover up the graphical limitations of the video game technology of the early 1990s. Mario wore a hat to hide the unrealistic-looking hair designers made, a moustache was added to make his nose more prominent, and the dungarees were added to make his arm movements more obvious.3. Mario was the best-selling game till very recentlyThe first Super Mario Bros game sold 40.24 million copies, although that figure is inflated by the fact that the game used to be bundled with the Nintendo Entertainment System console. It was the best-selling game of all time, until it was recently pushed into second place by Wii Sports on 41.65 million units.4. The soundtrack is a Billboard chart-topperComposer Koji Kondo provided the iconic soundtrack to Super Mario Brothers. The main theme, known as 'Ground Theme', is one of the most recognisable pieces of game music ever recorded. "The tune remained in the Billboard ringtone charts for 125 weeks and has been performed in concert by live orchestras," points out the Guardian.5. The mushrooms aren't about Alice in Wonderland Mushroom World was Miyamoto's long-running and ever-evolving fantasy kingdom, and Mario Brothers was the first game to be set in it. When Mario 'eats' a super mushroom he grows in size and ability. Miyamoto denies that he was influenced by Alice in Wonderland, and instead claims the idea came from enchanted foodstuffs in myths and folklore.