I am not sure there is a video game character who is more intrinsically woven into the fabric of the gaming world than Mario, the gaming icon who has spanned over forty years of ups and downs in the industry and is still running just as strong as the day he debuted. But the reason WHY he was named “Mario” may not be a story we are all familiar with… for most of my life I honestly never stopped to question it myself. But the brief but true anecdote about how this fictional plumber who started out life with the simple name “Jumpman” became globally known as Mario is made all the more compelling because of how relatable its’ occurrence may be to all of us… Mario gained his name because Nintendo of America was behind on their rent.

Way back before the original Donkey Kong was released to a fascinated public and Nintendo emerged as a major player in the gaming world, the humble offices for Nintendo of America were home to a group of developers who were hard at work trying to get their little story of Jumpman and his nemesis Donkey Kong completed. This title would change more than just the future for Nintendo… it would change the entire landscape of the video game realm forever. But at the moment, it was not yet completed… and unfortunately, potential doesn’t pay the bills. In this case, the rent was late… and the landlord was coming to collect. While the full details of the conversation may never be fully unearthed, what we know for certain is that the owner of that warehouse, a real estate developer named Mario Segale, did NOT kick Nintendo out of the building for their overdue bills. The time they were given to get their rent caught up gave them the ability to complete their work on Donkey Kong, releasing their game to an adoring fanbase… and the rest is history. And as Nintendo has confirmed separately, the primary character for the game was renamed from “Jumpman” to “Mario” after their landlord gave them the extra time that they needed to launch the game that literally changed their company forever. As time would go on, Mario would slowly evolve into a plumber (to match the world full of pipes aesthetic), a brother, an Olympic athlete, a racoon, a cat, and more… but he has remained “Mario” through it all. And it is all because there was a time that Nintendo couldn’t pay their rent… and they were given grace to figure it out.

This story of Mario Segale as the REAL name behind Nintendo’s lovable gaming mascot is cause for a pause… what if he HADN’T granted Nintendo a little more time? What if they had been evicted? Would Donkey Kong still have managed to be completed, or would this setback prevent the game from ever seeing the light of day and impacting the gaming world in such a dramatic way? Or maybe the game would have been finished, but the delay in finding a new place to call home would have resulted in it releasing at a time that was too late to ride the wave of arcade fever that was currently running as wild as Hulkamania? Or one more “what if” scenario… let’s say Donkey Kong is released, but because the landlord kicked them out the primary character is never renamed “Mario”. Nintendo keeps the name “Jumpman”, which does not have quite the same ring to it. Would everybody still be lining up to play the “Super Jumpman Brothers” game or watch a movie based on “Jumpman”? I don’t know… and fortunately, I will never have to find out. We live in a universe where an overdue bill turned out to be the impetus for “Mario” to become a global icon and the face of gaming for multiple generations… all because of a seemingly small interaction in a non-descript warehouse that inspired one little change.

As followers of Christ, we all have been chosen for specific missions down here to complete for His Kingdom as well as the overall achievement of “the Great Commission” found in Matthew 28…

Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

But in our everyday, normal, simple human lives it can be difficult to see how we are accomplishing any of that. Sure, there are well-known ministers and world-wide evangelists who are out there doing the visible work of the ministry with hundreds of people in attendance during each service and millions watching around the world… but what about us? What about me and you… those of us who love the Lord, desire to serve Him in our everyday lives, but find ourselves overwhelmingly caught up in the “ordinary stuff” that makes up normal life as we try to simply get our bills paid on time? Sure, I would love to have a powerful message to share that impacts thousands of lives… but right now I am overwhelmed just trying to get my daughter to eat her dinner. And while it would be amazing to travel around the world and reach others with the Gospel, the truth is many times I get defeated just trying to get the family ready for a trip to Target. These well-intentioned aspirations of being used by the Lord to help others enjoy a relationship with Him the same way I am often run into an uncrossable ocean that I can’t simply “jump” over… I think we are going to need a bigger boat. Actually, let’s just jump into the one that Jesus is riding around in over in Luke 8…

Luke 8:26-37 Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

There is more stuff going on in this tale than you can shake a Fire Flower at, but the quick synopsis is that Christ performed a supernatural healing work on this man who had been oppressed by demons for a long time. It is an incredible story of deliverance that is available to all of us, no matter how far gone we may seem to be… but it is the ending of this story that has me intrigued. After the incredible change in this man’s life, he begged Jesus to let him travel with Him and join Him on His journeys. But that was NOT the mission for this man… even though his heart compelled him to enlist as one of the Lord’s disciples, Jesus had a different mission field in mind.

Luke 8:38-39 Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

Rather than bring this man along for the ride, Jesus commissioned him to go back to his own house and his own city and shine the light right where he was at… right in front of all of those people who had known him as “the crazy guy from the tombs” all of his life. His message, as inspiring as it is, was not meant to become a book of the Bible or even receive an honorable mention in a future chapter. We never hear from him again… but that is because what we have is enough. His mission was to share the Good News with those who were part of his everyday life and impact those who could see the change in him from who he was starting with his very own household, neighborhood, and community. And the final sentence of that verse captures that he did exactly that… He accepted that His ministry for Christ was best accomplished by sharing His love of the Lord and the change in life that he experienced with those who he would meet and interact with in his own city. And in His victorious tale and example of humble obedience is a message for all of us “Mario’s” out there… the profound impact of Christ in this man’s life resulted in a ministry that was best served in a “local” fashion. And as we consider the small actions that had a massive impact like the temporary suspension of an overdue rent payment resulting in the name of the most recognizable character in gaming history, perhaps there is a valuable lesson for each of us in this story as well.

In our modern era, I could see this formerly demon-possessed man going on a massive book tour promoting his best-selling autobiography, “They called me Legion”… he would have a global stage where everyone lined up to hear his incredible story of Jesus LITERALLY breaking his chains. They would probably sell millions of T-shirts with pictures of broken chains on them, make a movie about his life named “Broken Chains” starring Kevin Sorbo as “the man formerly known as Legion”, and he would become a well-known motivational speaker and Christian icon… but in the race to learn more about this man and his story we would all inadvertently shift our focus off of the star of the story, Christ Himself (1 Corinthians 2:2). We would be tempted to fixate on the miracle instead of the Miracle-worker… so the Lord kept his mission small, local, and personal. His testimony may be one of the most incredibly dramatic tales of a life turned around on record… but His ministry from the Lord was to reach those who were in his current circle of exposure and influence them with his message of deliverance (Matthew 5:16). Not because his miracle was small, but because his mission field was SPECIFIC.

As I reflect on the gigantic worldwide reach of the “Mario” character all thanks to a small decision made by a local businessman in a simple warehouse one day, I realized that there we are all going to act as different parts of the “Great Commission” that we are each charged with delivering… in the warehouse that day it took the combination of a group of developers working diligently to release a game that would change the gaming world, a disgruntled landlord named Mario who was willing to make a business decision with ramifications unknown to him at the time, and the president of a small company who made a personal choice to name his protagonist “Mario” without knowing where that road would eventually lead. These were all “local” decisions made in a building of no apparent significance that have impacted lives far beyond the obvious at that time… all to lead to a worldwide impact where the name “Mario” is practically synonymous with the world of video games. And in our walk with Christ a very similar truth is clear… while our testimonies are designed to reach others and guide them through salvation and into true discipleship, the story is really about JESUS (1 Peter 4:11). And because of this, the mission field that is typically most well-prepared for our message may not be on the grand stages of global ministry but in the smaller, invisible battlefields for souls in our supermarket lines, classrooms, workplaces, small study groups, social circles, and the members of our very own family. While the impact of our testimony may reach millions the way this unnamed man from the Gadarenes eventually did, it was his calling to minister right where he was… and the Lord took care of the rest.

I don’t know if Mario Segale was a good man, a kind man, or simply a shrewd businessman… but there is one thing that I DO know for certain. His seemingly small action had a “butterfly effect” far beyond anyone’s ability to comprehend at the time… and in our lives these moments may also appear to be simple on the surface but contain profound implications when placed under the magnifying glass of future review. Our mission for Christ is important and our testimony is powerful… but our story may have more impact when written on the heart of our next-door neighbor than in the pages of a book. Whose life has been deliberately placed by the Lord for us to show His incredible love and grace to… right where we are right now? Our testimony may be designed to have an impact across the world, but it might also be carefully curated to touch the hearts of someone sitting across from us at our current table. Each of us have been given a light to lift up for the purpose of bringing glory to Him, but the lampstand for that light will always start right where we are currently planted. The small decisions we make to demonstrate the heart of Christ through patience, kindness, and mercy in the seemingly inconsequential things may end up carrying our lasting legacy the way that “Mario” as a game character will live on long after people have forgotten the story of how he was named or who he was named for. With that in mind, let’s choose to act today in a manner that would be worthy of bearing our “name”… no matter how private or small these moments appear to be on the surface. It is our local actions on behalf of the Lord that often have the greatest impact on lives… and those who see and hear us the most are often the circle that He has entrusted us with reaching FIRST.

• Like us?  Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, TikTok, or YouTube for our articles, podcasts, and videos!
• Facebook: Finding God in Video Games
• Twitter: @FindingGodIn_VG
• Instagram: Finding God in Video Games
• Podcasts on Spotify/Apple/Google: Finding God in Video Games
• TikTok: @FindingGodInVideoGames
• YouTube: Finding God in Video games
• Video versions of our articles are available here: