You don’t have to be a gamer to know who Mario of Super Mario Bros. fame is. The plumber’s presence has permeated popular culture since the Nintendo video game’s release in Japan on September 13, 1985. It reached the United States about a month later.
Ahead of the game’s big 40th anniversary, Nintendo is hosting a Nintendo Direct live stream event today (Friday, September 12) at 9 a.m. ET. It’s expected to last around an hour.
Let’s take a look at the history of this popular gaming franchise before we get into how to watch Friday’s event.
Mario could have been Popeye
In 1977 Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, was hired by Nintendo when he was 24 years old, having recently finished a degree in industrial design, as the New Yorker reported. He started out working in the planning department.
After a game called Radar Scope failed to be a commercial success, he was tasked with creating a new one. Miyamoto wanted to use the characters from the popular comic Popeye, but when Nintendo could not secure the rights he was forced to get creative.
Mario made his debut in ‘Donkey Kong’
Instead Miyamoto came up with characters of his own. His final product was called Donkey Kong, which was released in 1981. Players were transformed into the avatar of Jumpman, who was on a mission to get his girlfriend back from his pet gorilla. Eventually, Jumpman would evolve into the Mario that fans know and love today.
Mario got his name thanks to American executives
Nintendo executives in America were skeptical of Miyamoto’s platform game. They didn’t think it would be a hit. They also couldn’t help but notice that Jumpman looked similar to their landlord, so they started to call the character Mario. The execs might have been wrong about Donkey Kong—it was a huge success—but the new moniker stuck. Miyamoto even gave his seal of approval.
‘Super Mario Bros.’ reinvigorated video games
In 1985, the gaming industry was in shambles, due to a crash two years earlier caused by market saturation and too many lackluster games.
Instead of getting out of the business, Nintendo doubled down by releasing the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Super Mario Bros. was the console’s calling card.
About a year after the release of the NES, the Super Mario Bros. game was bundled with the system, meaning the two products were sold together. This only strengthened Mario’s popularity.
Mario was now a plumber with a brother named Luigi on a mission to rescue Princess Toadstool, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, from the evil Bowser. This one game has inspired over 200 spinoffs in the Nintendo catalog alone. There are also three movies with a fourth one set to be released on April 3, 2026.
How to watch Friday’s Nintendo Direct live stream
Fans are already speculating about what Nintendo is going to announce during its live stream. It is safe to assume that there will be some Mario news ahead of the big anniversary.
It’s simple to catch Nintendo Direct and see for yourself. You can watch it on Nintendo’s YouTube or Twitch channels. It will also be available on the Nintendo Today app. Finally, we’ve embedded the stream below.
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