Mario
Segale, the man after whom video game hero Super Mario was named, has died aged
84.
Mr Segale
was a successful Italian-American property developer from the US state of
Washington.
In the
1980s, he leased a warehouse to Nintendo of America who decided to name the
star of their new video game after him.
Mr Segale
joked to the Seattle Times in 1993 that he was "still waiting for my
royalty cheques".
Super Mario
was originally called Jumpman until Nintendo decided it wanted to give the
character a proper name.
Mr Segale
said it was Minoru Arakawa, who had been tasked with setting up Nintendo of
America, who told him the video game hero carried his name.
According to
his obituary, Mr Segale "always ducked the notoriety and wanted to be
known instead for what he accomplished in his life".
He leaves
behind his wife Donna, four children and nine grandchildren.
The Mario
series is often cited as the most successful video games franchise of all time.
The
plumber's latest adventure, Super Mario Odyssey, is currently the best-selling
game on the new Nintendo Switch console and has sold more than 12 million
copies.
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