For video game icon Mario, plumbing has taken a back seat to driving go-karts and saving princesses.
Nintendo recently updated a profile of Mario on the video game publisher’s Japanese website. The profile describes Mario’s various interests such as soccer and car racing, but notes he was once a plumber a long time ago.
A rough translation of the profile through Google Translate says “Actually, there seems to have been work on ‘plumber’ long ago.”
Video game site Kotaku seems to have a cleaner translation of the Japanese profile to English: “All around sporty, whether it’s tennis or baseball, soccer or car racing, he [Mario] does everything cool. As a matter of fact, he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago.”
Naturally, Twitter users had lots of thoughts:
Imagine if Mario was your actual plumber though. Come back from making him a cup of tea and find him jumping on your pet tortoise. Liability
— Joe (@steamedhamms) September 4, 2017
Us: Good morning! It's a beautiful day!
Nintendo: Mario is no longer a plumber.
Us: pic.twitter.com/CA4iNgOFbV
— Joe-Joe and Kim! (@joejoehasfun) September 4, 2017
If he's no longer a plumber, then what is he? #Mario #Nintendo #gamer #gamedev pic.twitter.com/CjE74FuRzb
— Samantha J. Foster (@sjfostersound) September 5, 2017
Keep in mind this doesn’t mean Mario was never a plumber. He’s just not plumbing right now.
So, how did Mario become a plumber to begin with? It started with the 1983 video game Mario Bros., where he and brother Luigi worked underground removing crabs and turtles popping out of pipes.
However, Mario first “profession” was carpenter for the classic video game Donkey Kong, creator Shigeru Miyamoto told USA TODAY in an interview in 2010.
“We brought in Luigi and a lot of the game was played underground so we made him to fit that setting and, we decided he could be a plumber,” he said. “The scenario dictates his role.”
