Question
Who created Mario for Nintendo?

Who created Mario for Nintendo?

Last updated: March 10, 2025

The early 1980s arcade scene was pumping out hit games faster than players could feed quarters into them. While giants like "Space Invaders" and "Pac-Man" dominated the floors, Nintendo needed something fresh to compete. They turned to an inexperienced artist on their team who had never made a game before. Which gaming legend created Mario?

Shigeru Miyamoto created Mario while working as Nintendo's first full-time artist in 1981, despite having no previous experience in game design. The company basically threw him into the deep end after their "Radar Scope" arcade game flopped in America, giving him complete creative control to transform 2,000 unsold arcade cabinets into something new. Nintendo was desperate enough to let their rookie artist turn a failed space shooter into a game about a jumping carpenter fighting a gorilla. I can't say it'd be my first choice, but that's probably why he's the one worth writing trivia about.

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