Nintendo Says Mario is No Longer a Plumber

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In their attempts to endlessly retcon stories behind their numerous game franchises, Nintendo has updated the official Japanese profile pages (via Kotaku) for Mario and friends with some slightly new information.


The new profile page points out that Mario has held a multitude of jobs across the various mainline and spinoff games and properties within the franchise, but it also notes that he “seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago..”

This sounds like Nintendo is officially admitting that he’s finally put away his license to plumb, and he’s completely embraced his role as .. well, savior of the universe, chef, racecar driver, construction worker, pilot, doctor, theme park owner, referee, and so on.

Mario was first introduced via the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong as Jumpman. Legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto said that originally the character was a carpenter, since the game took place on a construction site.

The 1983 arcade follow-up Mario Bros. introduced Mario’s brother Luigi, as well as warp pipes – thus Nintendo went along with the new themes and said they were plumbers. The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! also depicted the brothers as literal plumbers in New York City.

The latest game in the franchise, Super Mario Odyssey, launches for the Nintendo Switch on October 27th, worldwide. In case you missed it, you can find our exclusive, hands-on preview for the game (with video) here from this year’s E3.

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