Nintendo Unveils Mario’s Mushroom-Eating Past

During the chaos of putting together Mario Kart World, the devs found themselves tangled in a pretty wild debate. Do Mario and his buddies actually chow down on those funky mushrooms, or do they just touch them to get their superpowers? You’d think it’s obvious, right? But even Shintaro Jikumaru, who’s been in the Nintendo scene for, like, two decades, wasn’t so sure.

Jikumaru and producer Kosuke Yabuki did their homework and turned to Takashi Tezuka, the dude who helped bring the original Super Mario Bros. to life. So, he’s basically a walking encyclopedia on all things Mario.

Why did this even come up, you ask? Well, Jikumaru had this idea about stuffing food into the new Mario Kart. I’m talking burgers and the whole shebang. This meant they needed animations where characters eat — like, seriously munching away.

Yabuki pitched the idea: “Imagine a drive-thru where characters chow down while zooming around, and that changes their outfits or transforms them.” And, honestly, it sounds both hilarious and completely nuts.

Now, this whole food concept kinda threw Jikumaru and Yabuki into a bit of a crisis — like, does this work with Mario’s universe rules? During a chat in this Nintendo series, Yabuki and Jikumaru bring up this existential mushroom question.

Yabuki, chuckling, mentions, “So, does Mario eat mushrooms?” Jikumaru adds, “In the middle of everything, we had to ask Tezuka-san: ‘Is Mario eating those mushrooms for real?’” And Tezuka, without missing a beat, is like, “Yeah, he is.”

Old-school Mario fans might roll their eyes because in games like Mario & Luigi, it’s all about tossing those power-ups into their mouths. And hey, the Super Mario Bros. Movie? It’s crystal clear — eat those mushrooms to unleash their magic, while stuff like Fire Flowers just need a touch. But you’ve gotta respect Mario Kart World’s team for dotting their I’s and crossing their T’s. Because let’s face it, Mario’s world of power-ups is all over the place. Like in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — Mario grabs a Super Mushroom and it’s like the kart gets it, not Mario himself. Almost like a turbo boost for the car.

But honestly, whether Mario munches on power-ups or not is still kinda fuzzy. There are just too many mysteries to solve. Example:

If I ever snag an interview with Takashi Tezuka (which, after this ramble, might not happen), I’d bombard him with questions until he probably regrets meeting me. Who knows? Maybe that’s what keeps Mario’s world so dang intriguing.