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So Mario is no longer Italian? (Quote comes a from a former employee who retired in 2004)

Sea lion

Sea lion

Banned
Nov 8, 2017
903
www.google.com

Shockingly, Super Mario ISN'T Italian - He's Japanese

Fans have been certain of Super Mario's background for decades, but one former Nintendo employee has cast doubt on those origins now.
www.google.com www.google.com

"Super Mario Bros. isn't set in Japan, but the character's Japanese. The name Mario sounds Italian, but he isn't Italian. They were really able to capture that ambiguity," Uemura said.
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Seems like a pretty big retcon to erase a characters nationality?
 
dakun

dakun

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,588
never made any sense to me that Italian would be a way to describe a fictional character that lives in a fictional world where Italy doesn't exist.

But having said that it still makes more sense for him to be Italian than Japanese
 
waugh

waugh

Attempted to circumvent ban with an alt-account
Banned
Feb 21, 2020
1,401
Ambiguity? I... what? Why have they let Charles Martinet play a really bad Italian accent for him for years then?
 
LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,099
He's from Brooklyn, but yeah I am p sure he's Italian American.
mario.fandom.com

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is a borough of the greater city of New York, and is located in the United States of America. It is the actual hometown to Mario and Luigi were born in the TV shows and movies, such as the DiC cartoons and The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The first in-game appearance of Brooklyn was in...
mario.fandom.com mario.fandom.com
 
mozbar

mozbar

Member
Feb 20, 2018
856
He's Italian. Here from Shigeru himself.

Q: Mario is Italian. Or we assume he is Italian, was there something behind that?
As a kid, I was a big comic fan and I liked foreign comics as well. So I drew some characters that had more western type features with a little bigger noses and what not. Now with Mario, I think with Mario Bros. we had a setting of course that was underground, so I just decided Mario is a plumber. Let's put him in New York and he can be Italian. There was really no other deep thought other than that.
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Hermii

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,685
dakun said:
never made any sense to me that Italian would be a way to describe a fictional character that lives in a fictional world where Italy doesn't exist.

But having said that it still makes more sense for him to be Italian than Japanese
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Never thought about it that way, but you are right.
 
FarZa17

FarZa17

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,570
I have yet to see what exactly Mario did in his life that resembles to Italian culture, other than name and nationality claimed to be an Italian.

Even the classic ads that feature Mario show he's practicing Japanese cultures. I mean, there must be an attempt to make him like..an Italian?


 
mopinks

mopinks

Member
Oct 27, 2017
30,577
A2Z90 said:
I have yet to see what exactly Mario did in his life that resembles to Italian culture, other than name and nationality claimed to be an Italian.

Even the classic ads that feature Mario show he's practicing Japanese cultures. I mean, there must be an attempt to make him like..an Italian?
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he dreams about ravioli
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,041
Nintendo hasn't officially declared Mario is a Japanese character with an Italian name. Uemura has been retired from Nintendo since 2004, so his take on Mario's origins has first-hand credibility but not the company's seal of approval.
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LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,099
A2Z90 said:
I have yet to see what exactly Mario did in his life that resembles to Italian culture, other than name and nationality claimed to be an Italian.

Even the classic ads that feature Mario show he's practicing Japanese cultures. I mean, there must be an attempt to make him like..an Italian?
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He has lent his name and likeness to pizzerias all over the world.
 
Greywaren

Greywaren

Member
Jul 16, 2019
9,933
Spain
He's not Italian. He's not Japanese. Neither Italy nor Japan exist in the universe he lives in, so he's none of that.

But he has an Italian name and accent, so...
 
LuigiV

LuigiV

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,685
Perth, Australia
A2Z90 said:
I have yet to see what exactly Mario did in his life that resembles to Italian culture, other than name and nationality claimed to be an Italian.

Even the classic ads that feature Mario show he's practicing Japanese cultures. I mean, there must be an attempt to make him like..an Italian?


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He's actually eating risotto there.
 
ThreepQuest64

ThreepQuest64

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
5,735
Germany
I mean... he lives in lands and worlds with pipes coming out of the ground and mushroom creatures and anything that is unlike Italy so Italy was never the first thing that came to my mind when I see Mario.
 
Neiteio

Neiteio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,135
The real world doesn't exist in the Mario world, so my head canon is that Mario is a short New Donker, and New Donk City is where you find the Mario universe's Italian-Americans.

Also while we're shooting down retcons, the Koopalings are totally Bowser's children and I refuse to accept otherwise.
 
thisismadness

thisismadness

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,446
So Mario is a Japanese man who dreams of spaghetti, has an italian name, and runs around yelling MAMA MIA... 🤔
 

GameBytes

Member
Jan 22, 2019
88
He was "born" by a Japanese person but acts like an Italian - thus he is a Japanese obsessed with Italian culture, a Japanese Italophile
 
MrCibb

MrCibb

Member
Dec 12, 2018
5,349
UK



Even his voice actor, at the audition for the character, was told he's voicing an "Italian plumber from Brooklyn".
 
MaverickHunterX

MaverickHunterX

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,184
Yeah, Horseshit on this one.

But then again, I was never a fan of that "it's-a-me" crap. I'll probably get booed but Captain Lou will always be Mario to me (just like Jaleel White and Sonic).
 
weekev

weekev

Is this a test?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,215
When he falls asleep in 64 he dreams of Spaghetti and Ravioli. GTFO with this nonsense, he is clearly Italian.
 
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