These 11 Historical Figures Actually Became Video Game Characters In A Mario Game

William Shakespeare and Mario together in one video game? Yup, pretty much

Whether or not you've played any of their games, you probably know Super Mario and its namesake protagonist

Nintendo

In a typical Mario game, there's a lot of jumping, going down green tubes, more jumping to kill enemies or to collect coins from boxes, and a lot of love triangle drama between Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser.

Nintendo

But back in the day, waaaaaaaaaay before the Switch and the Wii, Mario was also used as an educational game for children. Don't believe me? Lemme introduce you to Mario's Time Machine.

The Software Toolworks

Playable on the MS-DOS (yes, it's that old) and the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES consoles, Mario's Time Machine aims to teach children about history. It is also one of the few Mario games not published by Nintendo.

How does it do that exactly? By turning historical figures into video game characters, course!

As the story goes, Bowser, Mario's forever nemesis, travels back in time in different points of human history to steal artifacts from historical figures so that he can display them in a museum inside his castle. In a bid to save history, Mario sets out to retrieve these artifacts from Bowser and return them to their respective owners by time traveling himself.

Wondering who got turned into video game characters? Here are 11 of them:

1. Thomas Jefferson

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

The third president and a Founding Father of the United States, Thomas Jefferson is the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, which the time-traveling Bowser steals in the game before anyone could sign it.

Note: Thomas Jefferson is the one on the leftmost end of the table

2. Galileo Galilei

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist and astronomer who is widely regarded as the Father Modern Physics and the Father of Modern Science. In the game, just as in real life, he was able to create a telescope powerful enough to view to moons of Jupiter. However, Bowser steals the telescope before he can even test it out.

3. Queen Elizabeth I

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Also known as the Virgin Queen because she neither married nor had children, Elizabeth I was the queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603 and the only child of King Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. In the game, Bowser steals her crown.

4. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Considered one of the greatest classical composers of all time, Mozart began composing music at the tender age of five. He went on to write hundreds of compositions, including the Eine kleine Nachtmusik, The Marriage of Figaro, and the opera The Magic Flute. In the game, the time-traveling Bowser steals his flute.

5. Abraham Lincoln

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer and the 16th president of the United States. In the game, Bowser steals his spectacles just before he reads out the Emancipation Proclamation. Unable to read without his spectacles, Abraham Lincoln fails to deliver his speech.

6. William Shakespeare

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Regarded as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) English-language writers in history, William Shakespeare was a playwright and poet who wrote classics such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet. Shakespeare is actually in the middle of preparing for the very first staging of Hamlet when Bowser enters the scene and steals an important skull prop.

7. Sir Isaac Newton

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

We all know about the story involving physicist Sir Isaac Newton and an apple that led him to come up with the concept of gravity. But as far as Mario's Time Machine is concerned, Bowser goes to steal said apple was supposed to observe to come with the idea of gravity. Mario successfully gets the apple back and, after doing research of his own, wisely returns the apple to the tree so that Newton can watch it fall.

8. Cleopatra

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Much has been said about her relationship with Mark Antony but beyond just being a love interest, Cleopatra (otherwise known as Cleopatra VII Philopator) was the queen of Egypt's Ptolemaic Kingdom. In the game, just as she is about to given a golden staff so that she'll be recognized as the true ruler of Egypt, Bowser swoops in and steals the staff.

When Mario manages to get it back and time-travels to Cleopatra's time to return it, he actually doesn't know who owns it. So what does he do? He asks a bunch of people along the way, Julius Caesar included.

9. Leonardo da Vinci

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect, and scientist among other things (he was basically a polymath) whose notebook filled with drawings and writings in mirror-image cursive is stolen by Bowser in the game. Mario successfully returns it to him, which he uses it to complete a very important painting. You know it as the Mona Lisa.

10. Mahatma Gandhi

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mahatma Ghandi was an Indian lawyer whose principle of using non-violence led to a successful campaign for independence for him country from British colonial rule. In the game, Bowser steals a flag that will eventually be the Indian national flag.

11. Charles Dickens

The Software Toolworks / Via mariowiki.com

Charles Dickens was a writer who is considered to be one of the greatest novelists during the time of Queen Victoria. In the game, the time-traveling Bowser goes back to 1843, heads to London, and manages to steal his inkwell while he's in the middle of writing A Christmas Carol.