According to Mario’s newly updated, official Japanese-language profile, the iconic character isn’t working as a plumber. This shouldn’t be a total surprise, because the character seems to do everything but plumbing.
But doesn’t going down Warp Pipes count? Doesn’t appear so! Here is how the recently uploaded Mario profile explains the character:
All around sporty, whether it’s tennis or baseball, soccer or car racing, he [Mario] does everything cool. As a matter of fact, he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago...
Mario hasn’t always been a plumber. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the character, then named “Jumpman,” was “basically a carpenter” in 1981's Donkey Kong, because the game takes place on a construction site.
“With (1983's) Mario Bros., we brought in Luigi and a lot of the game was played underground so we made him to fit that setting and, we decided he could be a plumber,” Miyamoto previously told USA Today. “The scenario dictates his role.”
Think Mario was ever a real doctor?
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.