Characterized by his pudgy appearance and thick mustache, it's easy to perceive Mario as a middle-aged man. However, we were all shaken upon learning from Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto that the Italian plumber is allegedly only about 25 years old in a resurfaced Nintendo Interview. How old are Mario and Luigi, really?
Is Mario really 25 years old?
Even though it's moot to bother what Mario's age is, fans were intrigued when the 2010 Japanese Nintendo interview with Miyamoto resurfaced. When asked about his plans for Mario, Miyamoto declared that "it's been 25 years since Mario himself was born." Does this allude to Mario's age in the game?
The answer: No, Mario is not 25 years old. At the time of the interview, it simply had been about 25 years since Mario's first appearance as a video game character in Donkey Kong. Given the context of the question, as Miyamoto was asked about Mario's future in the gaming industry, he alludes to the number of years since Mario's creation. It was not about Mario's age as a video game character.
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How old is Mario in his universe?
The question of how old Mario really is in his universe still begs an answer. Since the interview has resurfaced, fans just can't help but wonder. However, evidence shows that Mario is over 30 years old. This changes if another game comes along that would hint whether he has gotten older in age since.
In Paper Mario: Color Splash, we finally get a hint about Mario's age in his universe. An interactive character, the paint bucket, tells Mario in a dialogue: "I'm beginning to understand why you've been fighting this Bowser guy for 30 years." In Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Baby Mario rescues Baby Luigi and first duels with Baby Bowser. We can now surmise that Mario has been fighting Bowser since the beginning.
How old is Luigi in the Mario universe?
Mario and Luigi have always been brothers. But with the taller and more timid appearance of Luigi, whom Mario also had to rescue in Yoshi's Island, we can conclude that Luigi is the younger brother. With this, we can conclude that Luigi, Mario's fraternal twin, is also over 30 years old.
However, they are not only brothers but fraternal twins. The late former president and CEO of Nintendo, Saturo Iwata confirms this in a Nintendo Direct. Some fans can also discover this on the Super Mario Run app, with Luigi's character description saying, "Mario's twin brother is shy and easily scared, but that won't keep him from jumping a little higher!"
The creation of Mario over the years
When asked how Mario has grown, game creator and Nintendo director Shigeru Miyamoto said it was good that they "didn't put any weird restrictions on it." Typically, game characters are made with so much detail that we know plenty of information about them, down to their favorite food or color.
Miyamoto explains how he didn't want to set so many details in stone about his character. He thinks this potentially gets in the way of making more games with him. "In the future, I would like to create freely based on that," he says.
Evidently, Mario has been canon for so long in the gaming world that no one really bothers to inquire about the minuscule details about him. We all know video game characters do not age like us, but no one truly beats the immortality of Mario and his classic appeal that stands the test of time.
For more articles on Mario and Luigi, check out When will Mario Kart 9 release on Switch? and When will Mario Kart 9 release on Switch? here are Pro Game Guides.
Hi! I'm Iya, a huge fan of games of a wide variety of genres from FPS and RPGs, to casual and story-based games. The Uncharted franchise will always have a special place in my heart.