Monday marks the day that video game fans celebrate the little plumber who battled Donkey Kong, Bowser and Wario.

National Day Calendar said that the Mario that we know and love started as a villain when Donkey Kong was first developed. He wasn’t even a plumber in 1981. Instead, pre-plumber Mario, or Jumpman as he was called at the time, was a carpenter.

It was 1983 when Jumpman changed careers and became Mario —named after Mario Segale, a real estate agent who rented Nintendo its office in Seattle — and the rest, as they say, is history.

Mario holds the Guinness World Record for being the most ubiquitous videogame character, appearing in 255 characters as of Feb. 19.

He was also declared the best-selling videogame character by Guinness in December with 807,620,000 units sold of the following games: “Super Mario,” “Mario Kart,” “Mario Party,” “Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games,” “Mario Tennis,” “Paper Mario,” “Mario Golf,” “Mario & Luigi,” “Mario vs. Donkey Kong,” “Mario Strikers,” “Super Mario RPG” and “Mario Baseball.”

“Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,” which came out in 2017, is the best-selling Mario game according to VGChartz and Guinness, selling 67.35 million games as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Because of the success of the digital plumber-turned-hero, March 10 is now known as MAR10 Day and to celebrate the unofficial holiday, Nintendo is offering some Mario-related savings.

Nintendo is cutting the price of games such as Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Odyssey and Mario vs. Donkey Kong. CNET reported that the prices for many of the games are about $20 lower. On Nintendo’s website, some games are listed up to 75% off.

Nintendo launched the My Nintendo Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Community Challenge where players worldwide try to finish one million combined laps. You had to log into the game before Friday, and enter a code under the Online Play/Tournament/Search by Code option and then race until March 17 to have your laps added to the grand total.

Super Mario Lego sets have a free gift and extra Lego points to mark the celebration. The Lego deals end on March 11. To see all of the sets, including the new Mario Kart - Mario & Standard Kart sculpture, click here.

Nintendo is running a sweepstakes to win a trip to Super Nintendo World at Universal Epic Universe in Orlando. You have until June 30 to enter.

JetBlue isn’t being left out of the celebration. The airline wrapped one of their Airbus A320s and renamed it the “Cloudtop Cruiser” which features Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, Bowser, Donkey Kong and Yoshi on the outside, while inside, the plane’s seatback entertainment systems will show Mario and his friends on the welcome screen.

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