On the premiere episode of ABC’s reboot game showThe Chase, one contestant received a question asking the name of Mario’s arch-nemesis who shares the last name with the president ofNintendo of America, and answered it incorrectly.
Brad Rutter, known for his outstanding accrued wins in American game shows such asJeopardy!andWho Wants to Be a Millionaire, was brought on for the revival of ABC’sThe Chase. But despite his expansive knowledge that brought him to be the second highest-earning American game show contestant of all time, he flubs the question, “President of Nintendo of Americaand Mario’s arch-nemesis share what name?” by answering with “Wario,” but perhaps that makes the mistake all more hilarious.
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In an ironic turn of events, Doug Bowser succeededReggie Fils-Aime, the former president of Nintendo of Americaback in 2019, and he’s been no stranger to jokes tying him to the main antagonist of theMariofranchise. In fact, he often embraces jokes about his namesake of Mario’s nemesis. But rather than think this career path happened by chance, in the past, BBC called this a charming case of “nominative determinism,” or the idea that people tend to gravitate towards careers that can relate to their name in some way.
“Good ol' Doug Wario,” one Twitter user jokes while another one says that it’s “actually impressive that someone hears ‘Mario’s arch nemesis’ and thinks of Wario before Bowser,” suggesting they may have grown up playingSuper Mario Land 2onNintendoconsoles. Some also believe saying “Wario” was actually just a knee-jerk reaction to hearing the name “Mario,” as the names sound so similar, rather than Rutter not knowing the correct answer.
But Wario is a villain featured in manyMariofranchise titles.Super Mario Land 2marked his debut, where Wario is the main antagonist that put an evil spell over Mario’s private island and brainwashed its inhabitants. His success as a character would spark an entire line ofWario Landgame, making him the antihero of the 90s Nintendo games, so Rutter’s reaction to the question with Mario’s rival is not so far-fetched.
After succeeding as president of Nintendo of America in 2019, Doug Bowser shared some of his favorite games, includingSuper Mario Odyssey, the 80s classicDonkey Kong, and his favorite game of all time,Myst. This past October,Bowser shared some of his favorite horror gameson Twitter in the spirit of Halloween. It may be no surprise to seeLuigi’s Mansion 3on this list, but the President of Nintendo also enjoys more gruesome games likeDead SpaceandLeft 4 Dead.
