The world’s most famous leaping plumber is setting his sights a bit higher when it comes to his career.
Gaming news site Kotaku noticed that Nintendo has updated the official Japanese-language profile of Mario, its flagship character, to reflect his myriad skills which go far beyond fixing leaky pipes.
The translated bio says, “All around sporty, whether it’s tennis or baseball, soccer or car racing, he does everything cool. As a matter of fact, he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago.”
Perhaps Mario’s newfound ambition was inspired by his Seattle-area namesake. The character was named after wealthy Tukwila, Wash. real estate developer Mario Segale, who rented a warehouse to Nintendo in the early ’80s when the Japanese game maker was first setting up shop in the U.S. (Nintendo’s American headquarters remain in the Seattle area).
According to video game legend, Nintendo was struggling financially while it prepared for the U.S. launch of “Donkey Kong.” The company got behind on rent and Segale stormed into the warehouse demanding answers — or so the story goes. Nintendo game designers reportedly noticed similarities between the landlord and the hero of “Donkey Kong,” then known as Jumpman. The nickname stuck and it wasn’t until the release of Mario Bros a few years later, that Mario became a plumber.
