Shigeru Miyamoto designed the protagonist of the 1981 arcade hit Donkey Kong as a middle-aged, overweight carpenter desperately trying to save his girlfriend from an angry ape.

A closer look

Shigeru Miyamoto designed the protagonist of the 1981 arcade hit Donkey Kong as a middle-aged, overweight carpenter desperately trying to save his girlfriend from an angry ape. He named the character Jumpman because the entire gameplay loop revolved around jumping over barrels, but Nintendo of America executives decided that was a terrible marketing angle for the United States. They renamed him Mario after their aggressive warehouse landlord, Mario Segale, who had angrily burst into their office demanding overdue rent money during the localization process. So the most universally beloved, cheerful icon of the global gaming industry was literally named as a cynical inside joke to appease an angry property manager yelling at struggling executives. It is a perfect reminder that legendary artistic inspiration is mostly just frantic corporate appeasement wrapped in bright red overalls!