Mario comes to Google Maps on International Mario Day

After 36 years since the Italian plumber made his debut trying to rescue the princess in the commercially acclaimed game ‘Donkey Kong’, Mario will accompany users of Google Maps on their driving adventure starting today.

In a partnership between technology major Google and Japanese gaming major Nintendo, the technology company is rolling out a global update wherein users can simply change the navigation arrow to Mario.

History of Mario
Nintendo started as a toy company which saw a struggle during the 1970s and early 1980s. It started working towards venturing into the arcade game market – a segment where they saw a huge potential. After they tried making a few video games, which were sub-par at best, and realised they needed something original and new to break into the market. This is when a Japanese artist named Shigeru Miyamoto was tasked with creating a video game for Nintendo by the company’s then-President: Hiroshi Yamauchi. Nintendo’s President thought this ‘fresh approach’ would yield something new and unique. Miyamoto wrote a story for a game and then went to work on it, the result was Donkey Kong, a game released in 1981.

Donkey Kong featured a character originally called ‘Jump Man’ but whose name would later be changed to Mario. So how did Jump Man become Mario?

It all comes down to the fateful day when the landlord of Nintendo’s warehouses showed up demanding his rent, which happened to be late. The name of the landlord was Mario. Soon, the employees began calling ‘Jump Man’ by the name Mario and it stuck.

Mario on Google Maps
To get started, you will need to first update the Google Maps app from Google Play or the App Store. Once updated, the users can simply click on the yellow ‘?’ icon found on the bottom right of your Google Maps app on Android or iOS.  The user will be then see a prompt to enable Mario Time. The feature will be accessible till March 17, 2018.