Mario's Original Name was Ossan - Middle Aged Man

By Jorge Ba-oh 07.10.2010 8

Mario

In a new Iwata asks roundtable Nintendo discuss the history of the NES and Mario's original name before Jumpman and Mr. Video.

Super Mario Bros. turns a youthful 25 this year in Japan, and despite being one of the biggest, if not the biggest, selling video game franchise to date Mario and co had a fair few obstacles to overcome in the early days of the NES.

  • In the early days NES catridges were produced and sold by different developers and manufactuers, causing consistency issues and complaints to Nintendo.
  • This caused Nintendo to launch its renowned Seal of Quality to ensure all software running on the NES was approved and hopefully fault-proof.
  • As the console grew in popularity Nintendo suffered stock issues, faults in the controller buttons, TV cables and weird game glitches.
  • This prompted Nintendo to up the quality and take more care in future products.
  • With the release of Super Mario Bros on the NES the system finally took off and saw the series span many generations of new games, spin-offs and a tonne of merchandise.
  • Aside from Jumpman and Mr. Video, two original names for Mario, Nintendo's plumber mascot was also known as "Ossan" which translates to "middle-aged guy/man".
  • Decided to give him a hat, moustache and overalls due to technical limitations with the NES's pallete and to make it functional to easily see where Mario is going, which way he's facing.
  • That's the way it was at first, but even as games' visual capacities have increased, those basic lines have never changed. I think that may be why, even after 25 years, everyone still loves Mario.

    Box art for Super Mario Bros.
    Developer

    Nintendo

    Publisher

    Nintendo

    Genre

    2D Platformer

    Players

    2

    C3 Score

    Rated $score out of 10  8/10

    Reader Score

    Rated $score out of 10  9/10 (18 Votes)

    European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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    Comments

    Julia Tamworth (guest) 07.10.2010#1

    Really? You sure this isn't bull? Ossan?! WTF is Ossan? Sounds like some Dragonball Z character Smilie

    Julia Tamworth (guest) said:
    Really? You sure this isn't bull? Ossan?! WTF is Ossan? Sounds like some Dragonball Z character Smilie

    As stated in the article, "Ossan" translates to "middle-aged guy/man".

    Miyamoto has mentioned this name in the past.

    3DS Code 2578-3122-0744

    That would have been pretty funny, but I can't imagine it would have been as well received by western audiences. :\

    Actually it's really funny how Mario is middle ages yet ridiculously popular.
    Most game heroes nowadays have to be teenagers or in their early 20s to sell.

    Twitter | C3 Writer/Moderator | Backloggery

    Point one: Ossan Mario is a stupid name, glad he ended up Mario Mario.
    Point two: How bad is it that I remember the Seal of Quality coming in?
    Point three: Mario will be around forever. FACT

    Ossan, LMAO @ that, ALL day today!

    tremor (guest) 10.10.2010#7

    Super Ossan man 64
    Super Ossan kart
    Ossan All Stars
    Ossan is Missing
    Ossan and Luigi

    Get!

    tremor (guest) said:
    Super Ossan man 64
    Super Ossan kart
    Ossan All Stars
    Ossan is Missing
    Ossan and Luigi

    Get!

    No, just no. 'Cept for Ossan is Missing... it sounds fitting. How about we call Luigi... Nissan? Um, nevermind ._.

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