Mario is one of the most recognizable video game character to have been created. However, you may be surprised to know that the mustached man originally had a different name. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the initial plan was to call Mario “Mr. Video,” as he explained in the latest edition of Iwata Asks.

Iwata

So the entire design was a case of form being dictated by function. You can really see that your specialist field, industrial design, is evident in the final result. Then, because he jumped up and down, he became known as “Jumpman”, right?

Miyamoto

Well, I called him “Mr. Video”. My plan was to use the same character in every video game I made.

Iwata

So you had that plan right from the start? Why did you intend to use him in every video game you made?

Miyamoto

Well, I thought the way Hitchcock cropped up in all the films he directed was really cool! (laughs)

Iwata

(laughs)

Miyamoto

Or take manga artists like Osamu Tezuka and Fujio Akatsuka9 who have the same character popping up in a variety of different works. I think I was probably influenced by that at the time.

Iwata

If you were considering using the character in a number of titles, you must have been satisfied with the way Mario had turned out.

Miyamoto

I felt that I had come up with a pretty solid character, which is why I thought: “Right, I’ll keep using him from now on!” That’s why I decided a solid, imposing name like “Mr. Video” would work best. But thinking back, I don’t think I should have gone with that name. Someone at Nintendo of America actually came up with the name Mario. If he had been called “Mr. Video,” he might have disappeared off the face of the earth. (laughs)