Waiting On Royalty

Super media-shy developer Mario Segale finally breaks his public silence on Super Mario Bros., the Nintendo video game named after him.

The Tukwila developer of retail malls and office buildings was the landlord for Nintendo's U.S. division when it first moved to the area. Segale says the divison's president, Minoru Arakawa, told him that it was his name that was given to the mustachioed little cartoon character in the Mario Bros. game when it was first developed in the early 1980's.

The amusing factoid was mentioned in a book on Nintendo published recently.

So what does Segale think of his name being used for a game that has sold more than 100 million copies and made Nintendo one of the world's most profitable companies, not to mention the Super Mario Bros. movie just released?

"You might say I'm still waiting for my royalty checks," he

quips.