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When Donkey Kong was created, the character now known as Mario was then called Jumpman. Mario Segale was the owner of a warehouse that Nintendo of America rent

When Donkey Kong was created, the character now known as Mario was then called Jumpman. Mario Segale was the owner of a warehouse that Nintendo of America rented in Tukwila, WA. Nintendo wasn't timely paying the rent, so Segale showed up at the warehouse to collect he money from the then Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa. He did so in an aggressive manner, often trash talking everyone. This is when Nintendo decided to create a game around Jumpman, with its name changed to Mario, after Mario Segale. Because Segale is Italian, they also made Mario Italian, and it's possible that the entire game started as some bizarre parody of Italians made by people that have no idea about Italy, and then was toned down and made more abstract. And by the way, "Goomba" is a racial slur for Italians. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goombah https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goombah "Koopa" sounds similar to "Cumpa" which means the same as "Goombah". Basically they made all the enemy names sound like "Goombah" and this is no coincidence.

zapzupnz 6y ago
In Japan, King Bowser is called 大魔王クッパ, or Great Demon King Koopa. Koopa, or クッパ (kuppa), is named for the Japanese pronunciation of a Korean soup , 국밥 (gukbap). In the West, Koopas were retroactively changed to be the name of the turtle species with Bowser as their king. They didn’t make all the enemy names sound like Goombah, just one, Goomba. Koopas having a similar sounding name is coincidence. The actual name of the Goomba species, however, is likely to be, as you say, a reference to Italians. In Japan, they are called クリボー (kuribo) in reference to their chestnut (栗, kuri) appearance — this is supported by the even more chestnut-like appearance of the subspecies Galoombas (クリボン, kuribon) from Super Mario World.
- 29athrowaway 6y ago
  I am not too much into the phylogyny of koopas, but I can tell you this: it is a confirmed fact that Mario was named after Mario Segale. And if they named the main character after him, it would make sense that they named other characters in the game after things related to him. King "korean soup" sounds really random to me. The "goombah" hypotheses makes more sense to me. Especially given the presence of "goomba".
  - zapzupnz 6y ago
    It’s not random at all, naming things after food is pretty common in Japanese media. See half the characters in the Dragon Ball series. It’s also attested in Nintendo’s own documents, alongside other candidates for names taken from Japanese names for Korean food dishes. Yes, Mario is confirmed to be named after Segale. No, that doesn’t make your theory about Koopas being named to sound similar to Goomba any less ‘random’. It would also fail to account for the fact that (a) Nintendo is first and foremost a Japanese company, with the American branch relegated to managing marketing, sales, and localization meaning that (B) クッパ as a name predates the English naming of Koopa. If Nintendo of America had as much influence as you suggest, then the name Koopa would apply consistently to either the great demon king or the turtles, and the turtles wouldn’t be called ノコノコ (nokonoko, in reference to the sound they make when pushed into their shells and bounced around) in Japan.
gnicholas 6y ago
Not sure why this comment is at the bottom, as it's actually interesting, and the part about Mario Segale is clearly true. [1] I can't vouch for the relevance of the rest of the naming stuff and possible connection to Italian-ness, but it was neat to learn where the name Mario came from! 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/obituaries/mario-segale-dies-super-mario.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/obituaries/mario-segale-d...

zapzupnz 6y ago

In Japan, King Bowser is called 大魔王クッパ, or Great Demon King Koopa. Koopa, or クッパ (kuppa), is named for the Japanese pronunciation of a Korean soup , 국밥 (gukbap). In the West, Koopas were retroactively changed to be the name of the turtle species with Bowser as their king. They didn’t make all the enemy names sound like Goombah, just one, Goomba. Koopas having a similar sounding name is coincidence. The actual name of the Goomba species, however, is likely to be, as you say, a reference to Italians. In Japan, they are called クリボー (kuribo) in reference to their chestnut (栗, kuri) appearance — this is supported by the even more chestnut-like appearance of the subspecies Galoombas (クリボン, kuribon) from Super Mario World.

29athrowaway 6y ago
I am not too much into the phylogyny of koopas, but I can tell you this: it is a confirmed fact that Mario was named after Mario Segale. And if they named the main character after him, it would make sense that they named other characters in the game after things related to him. King "korean soup" sounds really random to me. The "goombah" hypotheses makes more sense to me. Especially given the presence of "goomba".
- zapzupnz 6y ago
  It’s not random at all, naming things after food is pretty common in Japanese media. See half the characters in the Dragon Ball series. It’s also attested in Nintendo’s own documents, alongside other candidates for names taken from Japanese names for Korean food dishes. Yes, Mario is confirmed to be named after Segale. No, that doesn’t make your theory about Koopas being named to sound similar to Goomba any less ‘random’. It would also fail to account for the fact that (a) Nintendo is first and foremost a Japanese company, with the American branch relegated to managing marketing, sales, and localization meaning that (B) クッパ as a name predates the English naming of Koopa. If Nintendo of America had as much influence as you suggest, then the name Koopa would apply consistently to either the great demon king or the turtles, and the turtles wouldn’t be called ノコノコ (nokonoko, in reference to the sound they make when pushed into their shells and bounced around) in Japan.

gnicholas 6y ago

Not sure why this comment is at the bottom, as it's actually interesting, and the part about Mario Segale is clearly true. [1] I can't vouch for the relevance of the rest of the naming stuff and possible connection to Italian-ness, but it was neat to learn where the name Mario came from! 1: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/obituaries/mario-segale-dies-super-mario.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/obituaries/mario-segale-d...