He’s really 38? Yes, sort of. The plump Italian-American plumber - with his instantly recognisable blue dungarees, red hat and moustache - made his video games debut as “Jumpman” on July 9, 1981 in the arcade game Donkey Kong. He was later renamed Mario in the 1982 follow-up, Donkey Kong Junior.

And so, he turns 38 today, but in an interview in 2016, his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, said Mario was eternally just “24 or 25”.
If you take a quick look through his back catalogue, it’s clear he has not aged a day, appearing largely the same since 1981.