8 Famous Video Game Characters Created By Accident
4. Mario
Most Nintendo fans will know by now the humble origins of the company's most famous character ever. Mario is now one of modern gaming's top-tier torchbearers, and the larger franchise comprising of main series games, spin-offs, and party games is currently the best-selling video game franchise of all time.
The Italian plumber's gaming life wasn't always quite as glamorous as that, though. His debut in a Nintendo game was Donkey Kong, in which he was a blue-shirted, red-dungareed sprite simply referred to as "JumpMan." And, as his name implies, he jumps. Clearly, '80s Nintendo didn't have as much faith in their characterisation skills as they do now.
After a further couple of Donkey Kong appearances, the company decided to rework JumpMan into a new character, a moustachioed plumber by the name of Mario, borrowing heavily from the original's design and penchant for jumping. Thus, a timeless classic was born.
To think that Shigeru Miyamoto had all but written off JumpMan in his early days as he'd expected the character wouldn't resonate with fans. Little did he know that he'd just created the eternal face of his company.