How Old Is Mario? | Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers

Mario and Luigi are the biggest names in video gaming AND plumbing. These red and green Italian dudes are the stars of many of Nintendo’s biggest games from their single biggest franchise. Every Nintendo gaming system has multiple titles from the Super Mario Bros universe.

Mario is versatile. He can fight in Super Smash Bros, drive like a maniac in Mario Kart, play golf, tennis, and, wielding only his work boots, explore worlds to defeat monsters and a peculiarly romantic giant turtle. (Bowser. I’m talking about Bowser.)

Luigi is often there, too. Good for him.

Not-so-fun Fact: Princess Peach and Mario have never explicitly dated or been a serious couple. Why do we assume they have something between them? Doing the right thing is reason enough to motivate Mario to rescue a damsel in need.

Being an ageless immortal plumber, Mario’s age is not exactly clear; this is a common issue with characters from video games, anime, and manga. Character fact-sheets really need to become standard, so we know these things.

We’ll do our best with the scarce information.

Mario’s Age (Luigi’s Age)

Before we get started, if you’re curious about Mario’s not-girlfriend Princess Peach, we have an article about her and how old she might be! Then you’ll be equipped to judge their relationship yourself.

How Old Is Mario?

If we go by Mario’s debut into the world in the first Mario game from Nintendo, the year 1981, we could say Super Mario as a concept has been around for 41 years; but would that mean the Mario from the very first game was a newborn? That’s weird…

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, stated that Mario’s age is around 25 years old. I don’t know about you, but I get distinctly older vibes from Mr. Mario. (His name is Mario Mario. Seriously. His brother is Luigi Mario, hence the “Mario Brothers.” Don’t think too hard about it.)

Mario Mario as a 41-year-old man makes sense, not really as a twenty-something. Miyamoto is also on record calling Mario an “old dude.” I don’t think even his creator knows his actual age when it comes down to it. Can we be sure that his twin brother Luigi Mario is even the same age at this point?

If we learn anything from the Super Mario Brothers franchise and universe, it’s that nothing matters, and sometimes your hat will come to life and, through a series of hot air balloons that run on galaxy stars, help you save your crush from an enthusiastic, pushy, scaled suitor named Bowser.

Also, there are these gangster rabbits or something… (Go play Super Mario Odyssey and try to forget the nature of Mario Mario and his age. It’s for the best.)