I turned 29 years old in August.  The year I was born, the iconic video game character Mario hopped out of Shigeru Miyamoto’s skull and onto the screen at arcades around the world in the iconic video game Donkey Kong.  Four years later, Mario got his own title, Super Mario Brothers, and the character once known as Jumpman became an international sensation.  To celebrate Mario’s 25th, The Guardian has put together 25 fascinating facts about everyone’s favorite plumber.

When I was a youth, I didn’t have a Nintendo Entertainment System for years.  My best friend at the time, the kid across the alley, had a NES and I used to go over there and we’d play Super Mario Brothers for hours.  If you still have an NES or one of the re-released versions (like for the Wii’s virtual console) then I suggest you fire it up.  You’ll find it’s still an awesome game.  Unsurprisingly, it holds up really well to this very day.  There’s no shooting or 3D, but there’s a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of challenge (especially if you don’t cheat and use the warp zone tricks).