What you’ve always wanted to know: Why Mario is a plump shape

Through the many interviews of Iwata Asks, we’ve found out some very interesting things about Mario. We’ve learned about plans for a rifle, beam gun, and rocket in the original Super Mario Bros., heard why Shigeru Miyamoto included coins in the game, and received a ton of other interesting tidbits.

The latest edition of Iwata Asks focuses on Steel Diver, but Satoru Iwata, Miyamoto, and other members of the development team couldn’t resist bringing up Mario in the conversation. Miyamoto happened to discuss why Mario has a plump shape. He said:

“The reason Mario is a plump shape is because gaming devices at that time could only read collisions between square boxes, not because I wanted to make him cute. His design turned out like that because I adjusted for the capabilities of the gaming device of the day. For example, resolution was low, so I made his face big. But today’s game consoles can handle collisions with round or irregular shapes.”

For the full interview, which actually does discuss Steel Diver, click here.