Mario was called "Mr. Video" in the early stages of character design. Shigeru Miyamoto later changed it to Jumpman and was a carpenter and not a plumber. Finally, Shigeru Miyamoto decided to use the name "Mario" and it has stuck ever since. He wears a hat because hardware limitations at the time would have made hair movement impossible.
First appearance of Luigi was in the Game and Watch version of this game, he later appeares in the arcade version.
The Super Mario series has 19 titles, and has sold a total of 174 million copies worldwide as of 2003.
This game was brought back in some part in SMB3. The in-game 2 player option of Battle Mode is an updated version.
The koopas in this game are called "shellcreepers".