Mario is probably the most famous gaming character of all time. First appearing on video games screens in 1981 as Jump Man in Donkey Kong he has become a franchise and a power house brand for Nintendo. We’ve all played a Mario Game at some point in our lives whether it be an NES classic like Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World and Mario Kart on the SNES, Super Smash Bros or even one of the recent releases on the Switch such as Mario Tennis Aces. You cannot escape Mario.
We know Mario quite, well don’t we? We know his name; his nationality and we even know his Brother and his friends (and enemies) but how old is Mario?
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My Assumptions
As a kid/teenager growing up playing Nintendo games I never worried too much about Mario’s backstory or age. As far as I was concerned, he was quite an old dude because he had a big moustache. When you look at him you would think (or at least I would) he was kind of older because of the moustache and what I would only describe to be a middle-aged paunch. I can’t say too much as although I don’t have the moustache, I have a beard and a paunch!
To me he has never looked young and was never portrayed as young (except when he’s Baby Mario). You can’t comment too much on the NES box art for Super Mario Bros as he is in pixel form, but he doesn’t really look that young on the box art for Super Mario Bros 2 or Super Mario Bros 3.
Note – in this post I am ignoring baby Mario as it will really muddy the waters and confuse me!
Carpenter Turned Plumber
Another thing that I have spotted is that on the Nintendo of America arcade flyer for Donkey Kong Mario is described as the brave Carpenter! If Mario has changed trades over the years this also involves some training surely, and this must age him a bit.
How long was he a Carpenter for? When did he give up carpentry for plumbing (probably around the time of the Mario Bros arcade game coming out) and he has he completed his training in either trades properly?
What Mario’s Creator Said
All this wild speculation is fun but what does Mario’s creator Shigeru Miyamoto have to say about Mario’s age? According to an old interview that was shared on social media and then reported by the Telegraph in 2016 he is in his mid-twenties. This information was taken from an interview for Nintendo Online Monthly and he states:
“I think it was fortuitous that we didn’t put any restrictions on Mario as a character,” Miyamoto told Nintendo Online Monthly. “Normally when you create a character and present him to the world, all the details get filled in: what’s his favourite colour? what kind of food does he like to eat? But with Mario, aside from the fact that he’s about 24-25 years old, we didn’t define anything else.”
So, he is around 24 years old. That makes me feel really old now! I would of course argue that he hasn’t really been portrayed at that age on box art or on TV and film.
What About the TV Show?
The Super Mario Bros Super Show mixed live action sections with cartoon and was first shown in 1989. In the live action parts of the show he was played by former WWF wrestler and manager Lou Albano who by my calculations would have been 56 years old when the show first aired.
Clearly Shigeru Miyamoto was not involved in the production meetings of the show or asked for his opinion on who should play Mario. I can remember the show being fun but this would have been my first experience of seeing Mario played by a real life actor and he was well into his fifties at the time. He seemed like a really old dude to me back then. My opinions on Mario’s age were now starting form a clear identity in my head.
What else could push my assumptions toward him being older?
You can find the Super Mario Bros Super Show on Amazon here.
What About Mario on the Big Screen?
The Super Mario Bros movie was released in 1993 4 years after The Super Mario Bros Super Show and this time around Bob Hoskins was cast as Mario. I didn’t see the movie until it was available to rent on VHS and I’ll be honest I didn’t find the movie very memorable. I haven’t actually seen the movie to this day for many years so perhaps I should give it a re watch with my Son (he considers himself a expert) and see what reaction we get. But heading back to the 1990’s when I watched it as a teenager it was Bob Hoskins playing the role of Mario and at the time of the movie being made, he would have been 50 or 51 again nowhere near 24!
Having done a small bit of research on the movie I have read that Danny DeVito was the role of Mario too as well as being offered the role of directing the movie as well. Around this time DeVito would have been 49 years old so clearly the producers had their own idea of Mario’s age which falls in line with my own perceptions.
You can find the Super Mario Bros Movie on Amazon here.
Can an Old Man Run and Jump A Lot?
My final point when thinking about Mario’s age is that surely the proposed age of 24 suggested by Shigeru Miyamoto does work when you think about all the running and jumping Mario has to undertake in most of the games, he does appear in when trying to save Princess peach.
He was originally known as Jump Man dodging all those barrels being thrown by huge gorilla and went on to be very active in all the Super Mario Bros games. Surely 24 is a better age for all this physical exercise rather than an age around the 50 years old? He must be very fit which without trying to be too ageist would suggest he is younger rather than older.
Whatever you may think surely the most important answer is that from the person controlling Mario when playing one of his games. Even in this day and age with superior graphics there is still an element of using your imagination when playing a video game. So maybe Mario should be as old as the video game player wants him to be.
If you haven’t seen it yet my previous article is here. You can also find my Top 10 C64 Games here too.
Thanks for stopping by.
Daz
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