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Yoshi's full name is T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas, and other recently revealed Nintendo facts

By Julia Jester
Before there were iPhone gaming apps, there were these beauties.
Before there were iPhone gaming apps, there were these beauties.
Moment Editorial/Getty Images

This week, Blake J. Harris bestowed a gift upon the Internet. The author of Console Wars, a history of the video game battle between the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, began sharing snippets of the official 1993 Nintendo Character Manual via Twitter. Once designed to help licensors and companies accurately use and portray the Nintendo characters, the character guide's information lets nostalgic Super Mario World fans learn more about the characters they've been playing for over two decades.

Some highlights include:

  • Mario's scientific name is homo nintendonus.
  • Mario is "the man," adventurous, brave, curious, resourceful, and tolerant, according to his character profile.
  • Yoshi's full name is T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas.
  • Bowser conquered the Mushroom Kingdom because he "could not stand the idea of happy fungi." And he has no friends.
  • Princess Peach's magical power "keeps her elegant gowns starched and clean." Of course it does.

Before widespread Internet use and corporate websites, brand management was clearly a little trickier. It's interesting to see how Nintendo managed its brand in the early 1990s, when it had to explain the PANTONE colors used in the ink formulas of the physical manual rather than share the characters' web safe color numbers.

Here's the series of tweets from Harris:

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