Warp Pipe: the green icon of the Mario universe

ObjectWarp PipeTeleportation

Born in the sewers of 1983, turned teleporter in 1985. Dokan in Japan, the Warp Pipe first showed up in the Mario Bros. arcade cabinet in 1983, before Super Mario Bros. turned it into a means of teleportation. This guide tells the story of an idea born on the building sites of Kyoto, the legendary Warp Zones, the Piranha Plants that live inside and the clear or golden variants.

Apple green, planted flush with the ground and swallowing Mario with a 'bloop' you would recognise anywhere: the Warp Pipe (Warp Pipe) is arguably the single most iconic object in the whole Mario universe. Long before mushrooms and shells, it is the piece that shapes the scenery of the Mushroom Kingdom and sets the pace of every playthrough.

Yet this ordinary-looking duct hides a surprisingly rich story: born as a simple obstacle, inspired by real Japanese building sites, over the decades it has become a genuine video game symbol. Here is a look back at the career of a green icon.

Contents

• A simple duct that became a legend
• An idea born on the building sites of Kyoto
• Teleportation and the legendary Warp Zones
• Careful, it bites: Piranha Plants and colours
• Clear, golden, pixelated: the new generation of pipes
• A life-size pipe at Super Nintendo World
• Quick facts
• FAQ

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A simple duct that became a legend

The Warp Pipe did not begin life as a means of transport. It shows up as early as Mario Bros., the arcade game released in 1983 (Japan): enemies — turtles and crabs — poured out of the pipes at the top of the screen, worked their way down platform by platform, then dived back into a duct at the bottom to start their round all over again. At this stage, the pipe is nothing but functional scenery, not yet a magic door.

Another veteran of 1983, the POW Block sets off a quake that sweeps the entire screen, and it has never left the series since.

Everything changes with Super Mario Bros. (1985 in Japan, 1987 in Europe). The pipe becomes a real passageway: Mario can climb down it to explore underground rooms packed with coins, or take the famous Warp Zones. Within a few months, the object goes from bit part to essential game mechanic — a role it has never given up since.

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An idea born on the building sites of Kyoto

Where does such an odd idea come from? From the street, quite simply. Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario's creator, has said he took his inspiration from the plastic drainage pipes he used to spot along walls and on building sites around Kyoto. In Japan, these concrete or ceramic conduits — known as dokan — were often left lying in stacks on the vacant lots where children played, for lack of any park nearby.

The Japanese name for the pipe, 土管 (dokan), refers very literally to that kind of conduit. As for the iconic green, it owes a great deal to the technical limits of the time: Miyamoto explained that this shade looked particularly good on screen once split into two tones. Green has remained the Warp Pipe's default colour ever since, and is now inseparable from the saga.

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Teleportation and the legendary Warp Zones

What turned the Warp Pipe into a cult object is its ability to teleport In Super Mario Bros., dropping into certain ducts leads to secret rooms, while others open the way to the Warp Zones, those special areas that let you skip several entire worlds in one go.

The most famous one hides at the end of World 1-2: by climbing above the level's ceiling, you reach a room offering three pipes that lead straight to Worlds 2, 3 or 4. It is one of the game's three Warp Zones, and probably the best-known shortcut in the entire history of video games — a must for anyone trying to finish the adventure as fast as possible.

This idea of a network of pipes linking distant places spread to almost every later instalment, right up to connecting entire worlds on the maps.

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Careful, it bites: Piranha Plants and colours

Going down a pipe is not without danger. These ducts are precisely where you find the Piranha Plant, the carnivorous flower that snaps its jaws the moment Mario comes close. The survival reflex is well known to players: never stand right on top of a suspicious pipe, and wait for the right moment to slip past.

Looks-wise, green remains the norm, but very early on the Warp Pipe came in several shades:

• Silver or grey in some castle and snow levels of the first game;
• Orange and purple for other sections of the game;
• and, in more recent instalments, a wider palette that adapts to the worlds you travel through.

Beyond the Piranha Plants, the pipe is also a promise: it frequently conceals bonus rooms filled with coins, the classic reward for the curious player who dares to dive in.

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Clear, golden, pixelated: the new generation of pipes

Over the generations, Nintendo has multiplied the variants without ever betraying the original silhouette:

• The Clear Pipes (Clear Pipes), introduced in Super Mario 3D World (2013): you can see Mario travelling inside them, and he can even change direction along the way;
• There are golden pipes, rarer and often tied to special passages or bonuses;
• In Super Mario Odyssey, flat pipes pressed against the walls switch Mario into his pixelated 8-bit version, an unabashed nod to his origins;
• More recently, Super Mario Bros. Wonder introduces living pipes that ripple and crawl along like caterpillars.

So many ways of reinventing an object that is now more than forty years old, while keeping its visual DNA intact.

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A life-size pipe at Super Nintendo World

The Warp Pipe has finally stepped out of the screen for good. At Super Nintendo World, the Nintendo area of the Universal parks, the main entrance takes the shape of a huge green Warp Pipe. Visitors walk through it to the sound of the famous sound effect, streaking light effects included, before emerging in Princess Peach's castle, the threshold of the Mushroom Kingdom.

The big screen is not to be outdone: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) also puts pipes centre stage, since it is one such duct that sucks Mario and Luigi away from Brooklyn, before separating them between the Mushroom Kingdom and Bowser's world. It is hard to imagine a finer tribute: a simple piece of scenery dreamed up in 1983 has become the gateway — a very real and very cinematic one — to an entire universe. The Warp Pipe is no longer a prop; it is a signature.

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The Warp Pipe at a glance

French name	Tuyau
English name	Warp Pipe
Japanese name	土管 (dokan, 'pipe')
First appearance	Mario Bros. (arcade, 1983, Japan)
Becomes a teleporter	Super Mario Bros. (1985, Japan)
Type	Interactive scenery / teleportation
Creator	Shigeru Miyamoto
Iconic inhabitant	Piranha Plant

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FAQ

• Where does the idea of the Warp Pipe in Mario come from?
  Shigeru Miyamoto took his inspiration from the plastic drainage pipes he saw on building sites around Kyoto. Green was chosen partly for technical reasons, because it looked good on screen in two shades.
• Which game does the Warp Pipe first appear in?
  It shows up as early as Mario Bros. (arcade, 1983, Japan), where enemies came out of it. It is in Super Mario Bros. (1985, Japan) that it becomes a true means of teleportation.
• What is the Warp Zone in World 1-2 for?
  Hidden at the end of World 1-2, it offers three pipes leading straight to Worlds 2, 3 or 4. It is one of the three Warp Zones in Super Mario Bros. and a shortcut that has remained famous.
• Why does a Piranha Plant come out of the Warp Pipes?
  In many levels, the Piranha Plant hides inside the pipes and springs out to bite Mario. So it is best not to stand right on top of a suspicious duct.
• Is there a giant Warp Pipe at Super Nintendo World?
  Yes. The main entrance to the Super Nintendo World area takes the shape of a huge green Warp Pipe that you walk through, sound effect and lights included, to arrive in Princess Peach's castle.

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