Speaking to Game Hunters during Mario's 25th-anniversary celebration at the Nintendo World Store, Mario maestro Shigeru Miyamoto revealed some interesting tidbits about everyone's favorite plumber. When asked what fans don't know about Mario, Miyamoto revealed that the development team on Super Mario Bros had considered using the NES D-pad to make Mario jump instead of the A button. We know, madness.
Another revealing bit of trivia: Miyamoto admitted that his favorite Mario game is Super Mario World. Miyamoto liked that the game combined the traditional action of the series with new map features, making players "think about where they were going and what they were going to do next." He added that many of the Super Mario World staff went on to become producers and directors.
Strangely, Miyamoto neglected to mention the SNES game's standout feature: namely, that the cape is awesome.