Things in Mario games that mystify you

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Basically, things in Mario games that were never explained at all or are just confusing.

This is not a topic to go "Why did my favorite Mario game not get a sequel specifically" or "Why does this Mario game suck so badly"

I'll start with an obvious one, what exactly is the nature of Peachette and why in universe does this power up even exist
 
Is Yoshi both genders because he can lay eggs?
 
How exactly does a leaf give Mario a tail and animal ears, and how do those physical enhancements give him flight. It's my favorite powerup in the series but it makes no sense.
 
Homer Claus said:
Is Yoshi both genders because he can lay eggs?
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No, that just makes him a biological female who identifies as male.

Gender is really what he wants to be called. He could be bigender if he identifies as one. He can also have intersex characteristics too if you want to headcanon that. Like he could be a true hermaphrodite.
 
・Mario suddenly having a previously-unmentioned castle for all of one game, then that castle never receiving so much as a small nod ever again for the rest of the series.

・Stanley's entire existence.

・Koopa Kid's entire existence.

・Pretty much everything about Wario's Woods, both NES and Super NES versions.

・Tiny Kong's redesign seen in Diddy Kong Racing DS, DK Barrel Blast, and Mario Sluggers.

・The four original Kremlings (Kip, Kass, Kalypso, and Kludge) introduced in Barrel Blast.

・All the human randos we see in Camelot's earlier Golf and Tennis games.

・The exact nature of the world we see in said Golf and Tennis games relative to Mario's world.

・Wario Land 4 in general.

・The sudden introduction of pretty much everyone and everything in the first WarioWare title.

・Dr. Mario 64's roster consisting of Wario Land 3 mooks and bosses.

・Mario RPG's localization in general.

・Almost every single plot beat in Mario RPG proper, to the point where I could probably make a whole thread about it alone.

・Why the guy running the Item Shop in Mushroom Village (Mario Party 1) is the only shopkeep who isn't named (the others are "Porto",
Fun Gus" and "Puff", respectively).

・Whether or not Big Ape City's (Donkey Kong Land) descriptor text is meant to suggest it is the setting of Classic DK or simply meant to remind you of it.

・Why the courses in Mario 64 have living residents (such as Koopa the Quick and the penguins) and implied history (such as Eyerok's presence inside the pyramid) when Bowser supposedly created them per Toad's text.

・Why we never see any other members of whatever Flurrie's species is supposed to be at any point in Paper Mario TTYD.

・Why Bubba/Cheep-Chomp (or "Bakubaku" if you live in Japan) was redesigned to look identical to Boss Bass ("Kyodai Pukupuku") for a bit, then unredesigned to look less identical (his new purple color) but still not as distinct as he looked on the N64 (with the yellow scales and sunglasses).

・Why Roy and Morton's roles among the Koopalings were swapped as of NSMB Wii (Roy used to be the biggest and heaviet Koopaling, but now Morton is the biggest and heaviest).

・Why the Star Spirits are suddenly in charge of Dream Depot in Mario Party 5 and make absolutely no reference whatsoever to anything from Paper Mario.

・How the hell the Mario & Sonic subseries' presumed setting (the real life cities hosting the olympics) relates to either the Mario series or Sonic series (since neither series takes place on "our" Earth and these games don't explain how or why the Mario and Sonic characters are there nor how they even got into the olympics in the first place).

・Rosalina's actual age, since the comet is stated to pass by every hundred years yet her storybook strongly suggests it's her actual backstory.

・How and why Star Hill/Shooting Star Summit ("Falling Star Hill" if you live in Japan) keeps changing locations every time we see it.

・Why the yellow Toad in the Toad Brigade is still the only member with no name in either English or Japanese (compared to "Mailtoad", "Banktoad" and "Hint Toad/Hint Kinopio").

・What the hell Spindrift is supposed to be.

・Why the background details that suggest Waluigi's Island used to belong to Luigi are never remarked on or even so much as acknowledged anywhere in Mario Party 3.

・Why Foreman Spike is even in Mobile Golf.

・How Bowser turning into Dry Bowser in NSMB1 was ever allowed by Nintendo when they've been way stricter on less.
 
I know this is applicable to any franchise that features a diverse set of sentient species but I guess it applies to Mario: how does urban establishments handle the huge size discrepancy between species? Like, the way our bathrooms are designed can accommodate all humans because we're similar anatomically speaking and we don't have drastic variances with our size. However, when you have not only humans but Toads, Wigglers, Koopas, Shy Guys, etc, how does service accommodate for them? How do cashiers that are human-sized conduct service onto Toad sized characters? Do they stare down at them, how do smaller characters put items up on tables? How do smaller characters get items on shelves in stores if they are too short? Ladder accommodations? How do they drive cars of vastly different sizes not suited for them and share the same traffic space? How are products designed for different species handled; do Toads get specialty glasses that can hold them up on their heads? How about clothes departments. Are clothing sizes segregated by species? Is everything in general segregated by species, or are they mixed? What constitutes as a "default" size that can cater to most species? Human-sized ones?

I know I'm overthinking this a lot but idk I find it fascinating to think about.
 
Why does Peach's castle change its setting so drastically between games? One time it's smack dab in the middle of a grassland, other times it has a moat around it.

Gameplay and convenience-related reasons aside (which would prolly answer most questions in this thread honestly), I find this pretty mistifying. Does Peach own a "chain" of castles, like they're some sort of holiday homes? Is Mushroom Kingdom administration enacted in some other building?

Ray Trace said:
I know this is applicable to any franchise that features a diverse set of sentient species but I guess it applies to Mario: how does urban establishments handle the huge size discrepancy between species? Like, the way our bathrooms are designed can accommodate all humans because we're similar anatomically speaking and we don't have drastic variances with our size. However, when you have not only humans but Toads, Wigglers, Koopas, Shy Guys, etc, how does service accommodate for them? How do cashiers that are human-sized conduct service onto Toad sized characters? Do they stare down at them, how do smaller characters put items up on tables? How do smaller characters get items on shelves in stores if they are too short? Ladder accommodations? How do they drive cars of vastly different sizes not suited for them and share the same traffic space? How are products designed for different species handled; do Toads get specialty glasses that can hold them up on their heads? How about clothes departments. Are clothing sizes segregated by species? Is everything in general segregated by species, or are they mixed? What constitutes as a "default" size that can cater to most species? Human-sized ones?

I know I'm overthinking this a lot but idk I find it fascinating to think about.
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Every appliance and establishment in the Mushroom Kingdom addresses the lowest common denominator, so to speak. Like, all shelves are short so Toads can reach items in it. If you thought only real life Mario fans complain about Toads, wait until you hear the opinion of tall in-universe creatures like Wigglers.
 
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silly explanation: the landscape in mushroom kingdom changes every other week, and so does the castles appearance, because of some magical force that nobody pays attention to. everyone is juts fin ewith it. this is not what i actually believe is hte case
 
Mario DOES have no canon, and Peach's Castle is a fine illustration of how there's so little continuity in the series.
 
How is Yoshi male when he can lay eggs?

How is Poochy male when he had the Poochy Pups? (unless he adopted them instead of giving birth to them)

Why is the Tanooki Suit no longer its own power-up?

Why does Peach's castle change its look in every game?

Why are there multiple places named Star Hill?

Are any toads with pink caps that appear prior to or after Toadette's debut related to her in any way? (especially Toadiko from PiT, since the two look so much alike) (This resemblance was why I made them sisters in the Car Wash roleplay)

Are brown Yoshis an extinct color that was driven out by the newly introduced orange Yoshis?

Are orange capped or pink capped toads a rarer variety of Toad?

Are Baby Rosalina and the Rosalina in her backstory in Mario Galaxy the same character?

What would change if the Mario edutainment titles and CDi game did not exist?

Why does Waluigi not work at Warioware inc.?

Why did Lulu join Warioware despite hating Wario?

And lastly, if Wario and Waluigi are not brothers or cousins, what is their relation between each-other?
 
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Homer Claus said:
Is Yoshi both genders because he can lay eggs?
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I mean, not really? The other responses you got were a bit more practical "he's possibly trans", but another explanation could simply be that Yoshi in general are able to reproduce asexually and egg-laying isn't really exclusive to their "biologically female" Yoshi. Binary gender concepts, besides being socially constructed, are also not universal through nature by any means, and Yoshi being reptilian lends itself well to potentially having very different reproductive systems in general. There are so many different explanations that can be applied to this that it's honestly not all that mystifying that Yoshi can lay eggs.

Christmas Tails said:
How is Yoshi male when he can lay eggs?

How is Poochy male when he had the Poochy Pups? (unless he adopted them instead of giving birth to them)
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Applies to these two things, by the way. (Poochy could also be a single dad.)

Christmas Tails said:
Are any toads with pink caps that appear prior to or after Toadette's debut related to her in any way? (especially Toadiko from PiT, since the two look so much alike) (This resemblance was why I made them sisters in the Car Wash roleplay)
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I feel like this is like asking "are those two blonds over there related? You know, because they're both naturally blond." There are people in existence who look pretty close to each other who aren't related in any way.

Christmas Tails said:
Are orange capped or pink capped toads a rarer variety of Toad?
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I mean, it's certainly possible it's a recessive trait. Humans have traits like these; blue eyes are rarer than other variation of eye color, for example. Natural gingers are especially rare at less than 2% of the population.

Seriously, you guys have no idea how weird reality is. If you did, none of these would be considered as baffling as they are in this thread, or unrealistic, or just "gameplay quirks". Several of the things you've asked have real world equivalents. Just because it doesn't have a solid confirmed explanation doesn't mean it's not possible/strange/out of place compared to what happens in the real world.

Christmas Tails said:
Are Baby Rosalina and the Rosalina in her backstory in Mario Galaxy the same character?
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It's possible they're not, given that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a canon alternate universe from Super Mario Galaxy.
 
Ray Trace said:
Male seahorses in real life incubate the young so idk, it's not that weird.
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As far as Marine life mating/nurturing rituals go thats pretty tame.

Seriously y'all underwater life be crazy.
 
Uh, that's clearly pants, you can see the texture of the fabric.

MKDS_Toad_Artwork.png
 
Why does Bowser survive lava then not survive lava? If he can't survive lava, why does he have lava in his castle?

Why do Red Koopas turn around, but Green Koopas can't? Bowser can turn around, and he is GREEN!
 
Why does every non-mainline villain that experiences any particularly flashy defeat animation die from it, while the same thing happens with Bowser & his minions and they're perfectly fine ten minutes later
 
Fawful Kart DS said:
Why does every non-mainline villain that experiences any particularly flashy defeat animation die from it, while the same thing happens with Bowser & his minions and they're perfectly fine ten minutes later
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Because the writers decided not to use them again.
 
Probably has the same secrets Dr. Eggman does when it comes to fighting Sonic again a few minutes later.
 
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