Official Nintendo profile reveals iconic mascot Mario is no longer a plumber

Nintendo's iconic mascot Mario is no longer a plumber, according to new profile page for the character created by the Japanese gaming giant. "All around sporty, whether it's tennis or baseball, soccer or car racing, [Mario] does everything cool," the profile reads.

The profile, translated by Kotaku, goes on to reveal that not only is Mario no longer a master of plumbing, he hasn't been for some time. "As a matter of fact," it reads, "he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago..."

Mario's plumbing experience is why the Mushroom Kingdom is full of pipes, but it's never really impacted the games he and his friends have starred over the years.

He wasn't a plumber to begin with either. In a 2010 interview with USA Today, famed Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto said he was "basically a carpenter" in his first game, 1981's Donkey Kong.

"It was a 16-by-16 (inch) screen area. The character I came up with to fit that best was this small little guy with a big nose and a moustache, the characteristics that would stand out in that medium," Miyamoto explained at the time. "We created the game design first and then we put the characters in to fit that.

"With Donkey Kong, we have this gorilla who grabs this gal and runs away with her and you have to go chase the gorilla down to save the lady. And the game's stage was a construction site, so we made him into basically a carpenter.

"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. The scenario dictates his role."

With regards to his Italian heritage, Miyamoto said they decided in Mario Bros. to "put him in New York and he can be Italian. There was really no other deep thought other than that."

When asked about how Mario seems to resonate so well with players, Miyamoto explains that "when we create games, the gamer really is the main character."

"In that regard it may not really matter who the main character is onscreen," he said. "But you know, Mario is someone who has become very familiar and I think it is that people are comfortable with becoming Mario.

"Mario really has grown and changed and evolved with the evolution of digital technology. The new technology is fresh and exciting and the next thing you know it becomes familiar and Mario follows that. He's a familiar character, but he is also fresh because he is always doing new things based on what the technology allows him to do."