10 Video Game Characters Who First Appeared Sooner Than You Think

7. Mario - Donkey Kong

If you ask most casual gamers when Mario made his debut, they'd probably guess it was 1983's arcade classic Mario Bros.

But as dedicated Mario fans should know, Mario actually first appeared a few years prior in the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong - but with a catch.

Mario appears as the player character tasked with taking Donkey Kong down, yet in the game's original Japanese arcade release actually went entirely unnamed. In later versions, however, he was given the bizarre moniker "Jumpman."

Only for the game's U.S. release was he again renamed to Mario, and as confirmed in recent years by Nintendo themselves, the platformer icon's name was inspired by the landlord who leased Nintendo of America their warehouse, Mario Segale. The rest, as they say, is history.