1. Chain Chomps are based on real life events.

That's right. This little character is based on real events that happened to the creator of Mario, Shigeru Miyamoto. Supposedly, he got too close to the neighbors dog and when the dog went to attack he ran until the chain the dog was on pulled the dog back.

2. Mario was originally a carpenter.

As you can see here from the game Donkey Kong, Mario is holding a hammer. Why would he hold a hammer if he was a plumber? The answer is he used to be a carpenter until the later games came out with the green pipes as his main mode of transportation, then he became a plumber.

3. Bowser's fireball is backwards?

In this picture, it looks like the fireball from Bowser's mouth should be going towards him. If you play the game however, you see that it's actually going to the left where Mario was. Is this a glitch in the game? Maybe the creators did it to have a laugh when no one noticed? You decide.

4. The bushes and the clouds are the same in the Mario games.

As you can see in the picture the clouds and the bushes are shaped almost exactly the same. The one key difference being the color to differentiate between the two. I've never tried to make a video game but it looks like it would be easier just to change the color than try to draw a completely different shape. Maybe they were lazy or just being geniuses who knows?

5. Mario was designed with graphical limitations in mind.

When Mario was first made, the creators knew that there were many limitations when it came to designing Mario. Key features were made to combat these limitations. For example, Mario has a mustache because it was hard for them to draw a realistic looking mouth with the limited space that they had. His hat is there because they couldn't draw realistic hair. Finally, his overalls. Mario was given overalls so that the player could see that he was running because his arms would move in front of the buttons. Not too bad for an 8-bit animation.

6. Mario wasn't the original star in Super Mario Bros.

While we all know Mario as the star of this game now, he wasn't the original main character. Some people might think that it was Luigi or any other Mario character that we know and love today, but that's not the case either. The main character was actually a blank box. That's right a blank box that looked like well, nothing. It wasn't until later that someone realized that earlier Mario games were selling and suggested that Mario be the main character. The creator agreed saying "I guess that's an improvement."

7. Goombas were the last enemy that was added to the Mario games.

That's right the first enemy that you see was actually added last. The creator decided that he had to add an enemy that was easy to kill at the beginning of the game and that's how Goombas came about.

8. Because they were the last enemies added, their design had to be super simple.

Because space was so limited for new content to be added to the game, the creators had to make Goombas as simple as possible. So they basically took a ball, put some eyes on it, and then only made it's feet move.

9. Mario's backstory is very dark and horrifying.

There's not much on the internet about this but if you own the game, read the Super Mario Bros. instruction manual. The backstory it gives makes you look at the game in a completely different way.

10. Mario was originally known as Jumpman.

While Jumpman is a pretty cool name, I can see why they went with Mario.

11. The Mario theme was a billboard hit for 125 weeks.

The song is officially titled "Ground Theme" written by Nintendo composer Koji Kondo

These are just a few of the interesting Mario facts out there you can always go and find more on your own.