Father of man who inspired Super Mario was also named Luigi, researcher finds
Summary
Nintendo named the video game character Mario after a real businessman, Mario Segale, who was their landlord in the 1980s. A recent research study found Segale’s father was also named Luigi, which might have inspired the name of the character Luigi, Mario’s brother in the games.Key Facts
- Mario Segale was a businessman from Washington state who inspired Nintendo’s character Mario.
- Nintendo created the character Luigi as Mario’s brother, but the real Mario Segale did not have a brother named Luigi.
- Researcher Elisabeth Zetland found that Mario Segale’s father was named Luigi.
- Luigi Segale immigrated from Italy to the US in 1909 and later became a farmer in Washington.
- Luigi Segale served in the US military during World War I.
- The video game creator Shigeru Miyamoto said Luigi’s name was chosen because it rhymes with a Japanese word meaning “similar.”
- Some thought Luigi’s name came from a nearby pizza parlor called Mario & Luigi’s.
- Nintendo has not commented on the new information about Segale’s father’s name.
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