In 1985, an Italian-American plumber from Brooklyn first saved a princess from a tyrannical turtle monster, using only mushrooms and guile. Since then, he’s gone on to get a doctorate, appear in more than 250 video games, and earn a spot in the hall of fame. But Mario had an arduous beginning. For the first Super Mario video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, its designers had to draw every pixel by hand.
