The Official Mario Character You've Probably Never Seen

Did you know Namco built an official robot clone of Mario and Nintendo never let him out of the arcade?

This forgotten character made his debut in the classic Mario Kart Arcade GP by Namco and returned in Arcade GP 2.

True Mario Kart and Luigi's Mansion lore buffs know Professor E. Gadd doesn't just make gadgets for Luigi. The logo on Robo Mario's cap points to him building an entire mechanical clone of Mario, built by E. Gadd.

In his Rainbow Cup challenge in both games, there are no item boxes, and he doesn't need them. Robo Mario can spawn infinite bananas and shells on his own, dropping bananas when he leads and green or black shells when you do.

Despite being voiced by Charles Martinet, Nintendo completely abandoned the design after Arcade GP 2, opting to use Metal Mario in home console spin-offs instead.