Mario is a fictional character in the Super Mario video game franchise, which is owned by Nintendo and created by Shigeru Miyamoto. He’s currently the companies mascot and has appeared in over 200 video games since his creation. Take a look below for 30 more fun and interesting facts about Mario.

1. Mario has been a plumber, carpenter, archeologist, physician and president of a toy company.

2. He was played by pro wrestler Captain Lou Albano in “The Super Mario Brothers Super Show.”

3. Luigi, which is the name of Mario’s younger brother, means “similar” in Japanese.

4. 1991’s “Mario is Missing” was Luigi’s first starring role.

5. The first game to refer to Princess Toadstool as Peach in the West was “Yoshi’s Safari” in 1993.

6. Princess Peach has appeared in more games than any female character in video game history.

7. In Super Mario Bros., if you come across a hammer bro and wait for a while, it will eventually start chasing you down.

8. According to the Super Mario Bros. instruction book, when the Koopas first invaded the Mushroom Kingdom, they turned its people into blocks.

9. Mario was first seen on the popular game Donkey Kong. However, in that game, he was called “Jumpman” and was a carpenter and not a plumber.

10. Mario is wearing a cap because the person who draws him had difficulties drawing hair and his mustache was drawn because it was easier to see than his mouth.

11. He was named after the landlord of the Nintendo building, who burst into a meeting demanding rent.

12. Mario and his brother Luigi are known as the “Mario brother”, which means that Mario’s full name is Mario Mario.

13. Mario used to have red overalls with a blue shirt. However, his wardrobe was inverted, giving him a red shirt and blue overalls ever since Super Mario 2.

14. Super Mario Galaxy 2’s disc ID is “Super Mario Galaxy More.” This could suggest that Nintendo originally planned the game as an expansion pack, rather than a true sequel.

15. Wario was designed to be much fatter than Mario because Mario’s hat is set to “M” for “Medium,” while Wario’s is set to “W” for “Wumbo.”

16. Despite being considered as the “father” of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto had nothing to do with Super Mario Land, which was the first Mario game on Gameboy. The game was developed by Gunpei Yokoi.

17. Mario’s entire design was a way to get around the limitations that pixelated images presented at the time. His mustache was given to him because it was too hard to make a good mouth. He wore a hat because realistic hair was too hard to make and he wore overalls so that we could tell that his arms were swinging past the yellow buttons when he was walking or running.

18. The Bowsers in the castles of world 1 through 7 in Super Mario Bros. are just common enemies disguised as him. You can reveal their true form by killing them with fireballs.

19. The super mushrooms used in Mario was based on a fungi named Amanita Muscaria. They make the user feel as though they are growing in size. The effect was also referenced in Alice in Wonderland.

20. The bushed and clouds in Super Mario Bros. are the same sprite just in different colors.

21. The starman was the first Mario power up to have eyes. Every power up in the original Super Mario Bros. was blind.

22. Original documents for Super Mario Bros. show that Mario, at one point, was going to have a jet-pack styled rocket and wield a rifle or a beam gun.

23. Mario Kart 64 originally had several nods to real world products such as Marlboro Cigarettes, Agip Gasoline, Mobil 1 oil, and Goodyear tires. They were altered internationally for two like reasons, the first is that the companies parodied sold cigarettes, and the second is that any of them could have sued.

24. The “Chain Chomp” was inspired by Shigeru Miyamoto’s childhood experience being chased by dogs who were chained.

25. Super Mario 3D World’s double character power up came from a member of staff accidentally putting two controllable Mario’s on screen at the same time.

26. There is an unused animated Yoshi egg texture in Super Mario 64’s data, suggesting that Yoshi was going to play a bigger role in the game, similar to Super Mario World.

27. During the rise of the Soviet Union, Nintendo considered changing the color of Mario from red in fear of supporting communism. The unused concept was later seen as the character Luigi.

28. Whomps were likely based on the Japanese mythological creatures known as “Nurikabe.” Nurikabe were said to take the figure of a wall to trick or trap travelers.

29. In the Japanese version of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo, Yoshi could eat the dolphins. However, this was removed for the international release. It’s thought to have been removed because of different cultural views towards dolphins, or simply to make the level easier to finish, as the dolphins can be used as platforms. This was added back into all version of Super Mario World for the Game Boy Advance.

30. An island in Mario 3 looks like Japan, and its castle is where Kyoto would be, which is also where Nintendo headquarters are. The king of this castle looks like Mario, who you could say is the king of Nintendo.