The big green warp pipes populating Mario's world are just an accepted feature at this point, but have you ever wondered where they first came from? According to an old interview with series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the idea was inspired by a real-life pipe the designer just happened to see while wandering around Kyoto.
This comes from a Japanese interview from 2000, which was initially published in volume one of Game Maestro, and has now been translated by Shmuplations. In it, Miyamoto discusses Mario's origins, including the old enemy ideas Nintendo came up with. Other than the turtle-like Koopas, "we came up with crabs and flies," he revealed. From this, the team "figured the only environment with all three of those creatures – turtles, crabs, and flies – would be an underground tunnel," which Miyamoto suggested "must exist somewhere… like under New York, I thought."
