A Complete History of Mario Rumors

Transcript
Did you know? The Super Mario series has always been rife with rumors, but before the advent of the internet, they weren’t as widespread. In the late 80s, a series of books titled “How to Win at Nintendo Games” was published in which writer Jeff Rovin shared various video game tips and strategies from readers. In one installment, Rovin shared a lead he’d heard about a secret chocolate factory level hidden in Super Mario Bros. No information on how to access this level was given, and nobody ever came forward with more information. In later years, some have suggested that Rovin shared the tip as a joke, or as a way to catch people plagiarizing his books. Similar rumors arose about the game’s second quest. Completing the game once will begin another playthrough at an increased difficulty where the enemies are faster, moving platforms are smaller, and all Goombas are replaced with Buzzy Beetles. Some players claimed that each subsequent playthrough would become harder and harder to the point that every Goomba in the game would be replaced with Bowser. Another rumor claimed that by beating the game twice, players would unlock a full new game titled Super Mario Bros. 2. These claims were all false as beating again simply starts another playthrough on the same harder difficulty.

According to TV Tropes, there were also rumors of reaching a secret World 10-1. Although this was a hoax and Nintendo never included any worlds beyond World 8-4 in the game, there is some truth to the rumor. Due to the way that Super Mario Bros. was made, the game has 256 worlds, most of which are unused. Everything beyond the planned levels are glitches that reuse data from the real levels. Because of this, it’s possible to access a glitched unplanned World 10-1 using cheat devices or by hacking the game. The game allegedly had a no death trick as well where plugging in a second controller and holding B would turn Mario invincible. This, of course, was false. Another rumor of the era was that something could be found behind the flagpole, and that it was possible to jump over and reach whatever was there. Although players eventually found out how to jump the flagpoles in World 1-1 and World 3-3, the only thing beyond the flag is infinitely looping space.

Super Mario Bros. 3 was also the focus of rumors in the late 80s. The game supposedly had a hidden set of levels and a ninth world with various rumors describing different ways of reaching it. The rumors were clearly false as the game already contains a ninth world: the Warp Zone. The game even shows World 9 on screen while in the Warp Zone. This rumor may stem from Mario 3’s box art, which displays beta levels that aren’t accessible in the final game.

Rumors about hidden levels made their way to 16-bit Mario games too. Since Super Mario World’s release, rumors have spread about a ninety-seventh level in the game. Descriptions of how to unlock the level range from getting specific Dragon Coins in the right order, to collecting all Dragon Coins in every level. However, not only does no such level exist, but the premise of this rumor is based on a misunderstanding. If the player completes Super Mario World, the file select will show the number 96. Although you might assume this means ninety-six levels completed, it actually means ninety-six exits found. The game only has seventy-two levels, but several levels have multiple exits which add up to ninety-six.

After completing Mario World’s Special World, the game will become autumn themed. This led to rumors that completing the game a second and third time would unlock winter and spring themes, but this claim is baseless. There also aren’t any dedicated art assets within the game’s data that would suggest this is a feature.

Super Mario World rumors continued to emerge even as recent as 2006. Late into the year, a video emerged showing how to reach a hidden level containing a secret laser suit powerup which had all the functionality of the Cape plus the ability to shoot lasers. While the video fooled many, the laser suit was actually a rom hack created by a modder known as KPhoenix. By KPhoenix’s own admission on the Acmlm’s Board forums, the special message from Nintendo staff at the start of the level was added specifically to fool people who saw the video.

In the early 2000s, there were rumors that another Mario had been in development for the Super Nintendo. The game was set to take advantage of the Super FX chip to feature groundbreaking three-dimensional gameplay, and was apparently called Super Mario FX. The story gained enough traction and credibility that it was even picked up by publications such as IGN. The source of the initial rumor appears to be an interview with series creator Shigeru Miyamoto from the January 1996 issue of Nintendo Power, where Miyamoto stated that he formulated the first ideas for Super Mario 64 while working on Star Fox, a project which pioneered the use of the Super FX chip to create full 3D polygonal environments. To help clear things up, retro gaming site SNES Central reached out to Dylan Cuthbert (a developer who worked with Nintendo on the Super FX chip). Cuthbert confirmed that Super Mario FX was actually just the internal project codename for the Super FX chip itself, discrediting the rumor.

Some of the wildest rumors in the series’ history came about during the Nintendo 64 era, namely the infamous “L is real 2401” rumor from Super Mario 64. As the story goes, the inscription on the fountain in the castle courtyard appears to bear the message “L is real 2401”. Many players interpreted this as a secret clue hinting that it was possible to play as Luigi. Theories on how to achieve this included collecting all the coins in the game, running a specific number of laps around the castle, or finding all 120 Power Stars within a specific time limit and so on. So many stories from players who claimed to have actually unlocked Luigi flooded the internet that IGN offered a $100 reward to anyone who could produce concrete proof that Luigi was playable in Super Mario 64. The reward, ultimately, went unclaimed.

Other interpretations of the fountain’s inscription were offered up. Some players believed that it simply read “Eternal Star” while others propose that the number “2401” was somehow a reference to the North American release date of Paper Mario. Reading the number as February 4, 2001 would match up eerily close with Paper Mario’s actual release date of February 5, 2001, nearly five years after the release of Super Mario 64.

In December 2016, a Reddit user by the name Bond18T shared a 1998 letter they’d received from Nintendo after they asked about the meaning of the “L is real” message. In the letter, the Nintendo gameplay councilor Michael D. Chandler explained that the message had no actual meaning and that the programmers put it in there as a joke. Another nail in the coffin for the “L is real” rumor, the same texture that was used on the fountain in Super Mario 64 also appears in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Rumored powerups for Mario 64 included a Hammer Bros suit (which could allegedly be obtained behind the waterfall in the courtyard) as well as Fire Mario and Ninja Mario. Dan Owsen (a translator at Nintendo of America who worked as a contributing writer for the Nintendo Power magazine and Nintendo’s official website) received frequent questions from fans about the existence of a ninja powerup in Mario 64. Despite repeatedly stating that no such powerups exist, fans continue to ask about Ninja Mario. It was also rumored that players could ride and control Yoshi after beating the game. Yoshi himself appears in the game after collecting all 120 Power Stars, but riding Yoshi is not possible. Yoshi would eventually be rideable in Super Mario Sunshine and would later appear in Mario 64’s DS remake as a fully playable character.

The next major Mario game to make its way to the Nintendo 64 system (Mario Kart 64) featured eight playable characters. One common rumor about the game was that a Magikoopa was an unlockable character. Some doctored screenshots were even passed around that showed him in action, but beyond the lies, there was some truth to the rumor. Magikoopa was actually planned to be a playable character back when the game was titled Mario Kart R, and even appeared in pre-release media. Pictures of the early character select screen revealed that Magikoopa was ultimately replaced by Donkey Kong in the final game.

Another character that was rumored to be unlockable in Mario Kart 64 was a Thwomp. Not just any Thwomp though, specifically the green Thwomp that can be found behind prison bars on the Bowser’s Castle track. Nicknamed Marty by the community, many rumors of how to unlock this Thwomp were shared across various sites. The most significant piece of evidence that supported the rumor was a YouTube video from April 1, 2007 showing that Marty could be unlocked by playing as Bowser. The player would need to drive backwards around the track, circle the statue of Bowser several times, and use Mushrooms to boost up the stairs at which point Marty would become playable. The video turned out to be an April Fool’s hoax, and data mining the game showed no evidence of Marty being playable.

Unlocking different characters would become a recurring rumor for Mario titles. After the release of Yoshi’s Story in 1997, methods for how to unlock two additional colors of Yoshi began to appear online and continued to circulate into the 2000s. In order to unlock Purple Yoshi, it was said that players had to collect every single coin in the game. To unlock Gold Yoshi, players had to unlock every level in the game’s Time Trial mode and then beat the top score for each of those levels. Documented attempts to replicate both of these methods have proven them to be false, and data mining the game’s files shows no trace of either Yoshi in the game. Footage of Yoshi’s Story early in its development revealed that both Purple and Brown Yoshis were a part of the game at one point, but were eventually replaced by the Pink and White Yoshis seen in the finished product. Unlike other rumors that were proven false, the Purple Yoshi rumor remained a fixture on many walkthroughs and cheat codes for years after the game’s release.

Speaking of Yoshi, there are rumors on how to get a Green Yoshi in Super Mario Sunshine. Although official artwork and early videos show a Green Yoshi, this variant doesn’t exist in the game. The only time Yoshis turn green is when they’re about to vanish. However, some fans who were desperate to have a Green Yoshi discovered it’s possible to alter a Yoshi’s color using Action Replay codes. Another rumor about Sunshine is about a hidden book in Noki Bay. Many rumors have emerged on how to retrieve or open the book and what it does. In reality, it doesn’t do anything, and Mario can’t interact with it. The book is most likely an early asset that was left in the game by accident. It was apparently going to be used in a mission to get a Shine Sprite, but the way of retrieving the Sprite is said to have been changed to collecting eight Red Coins.

Another rumor stated that, in the Japanese version of the game, the book was used in a level that was removed internationally. Another one claims that the book has a message reading “You have no life. Signed, Shigeru Miyamoto.” Both of these rumors are false. Some rumors were also spread that Luigi was actually present in Super Mario Sunshine. According to the rumor, collecting all 120 Shine Sprites would cause Waluigi to appear, alongside Luigi, trapped in a cage. Defeating Waluigi in a boss battle would supposedly free Luigi and unlock him as a playable character, but this rumor was easily proven false by players who actually collected all the Shine Sprites.

Similar to the rumors of Luigi being playable in Super Mario 64, the game’s remake for the Nintendo DS inspired rampant rumors about Waluigi being a playable character. The rumor reached a fever pitch in 2005 after a scan of a magazine article showing screenshots of Waluigi in action began making the rounds on the internet. According to the article, in order to unlock Waluigi, players would have to find all the stars and be the fastest foot racer in the land, at which point they’d have to defeat a Rabbit King boss and claim the key to Waluigi’s room. It turned out that the article was a hoax created by Nintendo World Report writer Andrew Brown, who uploaded the fake article to his DeviantArt account and shared it on various gaming forums as an April Fool’s prank. Within a week, the image spiked in popularity all over the world as people claimed the fake scan had come from Nintendo Power or was featured on IGN.

Also, in 2005, GoNintendo reported on a leak they’d heard about the development of a new Mario Paint game for the Nintendo DS. According to the leak, Nintendo was considering releasing it as three smaller games: one for music creation, one for animation, and one for painting. The games would even have featured connectivity with the Wii, then known as the Revolution. No mention of such a project was ever heard through official channels, and it may never have existed at all.

Other game rumors had more substantial evidence, however. One video from December 2007 fooled many and claimed to reveal gameplay of Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo DS. In the video, it was shown that collecting every star with both Mario and Luigi in the Wii game would unlock the option to transfer a special version of the game to the DS over a wireless connection. Gameplay consisted of Mario and Luigi exploring simultaneously using touch screen controls, and each star the player collected in the DS version could be redeemed for ten Wii Shop points. The video had many viewers on YouTube convinced. However, a different version of the video uploaded to the site “Stage 6” revealed that the whole thing was actually a project by video editor Pablo Belmonte. Belmonte was known for previous video game hoaxes, and had the self-professed goal of simulating a DS version of Super Mario Galaxy using the technical specs of Super Mario 64 DS.

This wouldn’t be the only time that gamers were teased with a mainline Mario platformer. In a January 2012 investors meeting, then Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed the company was developing a new 2D Mario game for the 3DS. According to an IGN article from April 12, 2012, Nintendo registered a trademark and domain for Super Mario 4. Five days later, an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto was posted on Korean website Beta News, where Miyamoto confirmed the existence of Mario 4, saying:

“[...] We are making Super Mario 4. But all I can say is, we just announced that game. More details will be revealed later.”

It seemed as though a game titled Super Mario 4 would be shown off soon, but no reveal came. The game Iwata referred to at the investor meeting was revealed to be New Super Mario Bros. 2, which left some gamers confused. Although it’s possible this game was originally titled Super Mario 4, there’s another likely explanation. New Super Mario Bros. U was in development when Miyamoto was interviewed, and this was the fourth New Super Mario Bros. game to be released. This seems to imply that Mario Bros. U was the rumored Super Mario 4.

In 2013, there were supposed leaks that Super Mario 64 would be remade again, but this time for the Wii U. Dubbed “Re-Umagined”, the game would have been the first in a series of HD remakes of older titles, released exclusively on the eShop for $30. The Re-Umagined version of Super Mario 64 was said to include two-player online co-op with both Mario and Luigi, as well as new multiplayer modes such as Race to the Star and Coin Collector. However, no official announcement of such a project ever materialized.

During the run-up to the release of Mario Kart 8, the Spanish language official Nintendo magazine published an article that listed Diddy Kong as one of the game’s playable characters, and even featured artwork of Diddy alongside other confirmed characters. Upon the game’s release, however, Diddy Kong was nowhere to be found. Fans still clamored for him to join the game, and new screenshots began circulating that showed a lineup of upcoming DLC characters, including Diddy, Magikoopa, Professor E. Gadd, Birdo, and Plessie. While Mario Kart 8 would receive new characters as DLC, none of the rumored characters made the cut.

After the release of Super Mario Maker, many 8-bit costumes were steadily released for the game’s Super Mario Bros. level theme. Two months after the game’s release, costumes for Daisy surfaced on social media. After some discussion around their authenticity, the person who leaked the images came forward, revealing the sprites were a hoax. They were an artist and an avid fan of the character, and stated that they wanted to show Nintendo how much demand there was to have Daisy in the game.

In June 2015, an image surfaced online depicting a render of Mario and F.L.U.D.D. in some sort of Splatoon presentation. The image supposedly came from a private meeting about new DLC for Splatoon, which would bring Mario Sunshine content to the game. Despite the image being fairly convincing, it had some discrepancies. For example, although the image accurately featured the Japanese Super Mario and Mario Sunshine logos, it used the English Splatoon logo instead of the Japanese logo. A few days later, after the image had been featured on many prominent gaming sites, the image was revealed to be fake. The creator of the fake leak came forward and released a full quality version of the image.

Another substantial rumor broke in the same month. According to Spanish site “Revogamers”, Nintendo and Disney were working out a collaborative deal involving games, toys to life, and even movies. Disney allegedly wanted Mario to appear in Disney Infinity, and they also wanted Nintendo characters for use in their films. Arguably, the biggest part of the deal was a game featuring both Mickey Mouse and Mario. Nintendo was apparently open to the deal as a whole and the game, and were negotiating terms. Revogamers had previously put out accurate information on several amiibo before they were announced, as well as Activision using Nintendo characters for Skylanders. This positive track record added some authenticity to the rumor, but nothing more has surfaced online since the article was published.

One particularly vague rumor came from an unusual source. In 1993, soda pop company Faygo Beverages ran a Mario themed advertising campaign as a tie-in with the live-action Super Mario Bros. movie. In October 2017, while sharing a photo of some of the Mario themed drinks from this campaign on their Instagram page, the company proposed that an unfound reference to Faygo Beverages existed in a Mario game. While no details were forthcoming, fans theorized that any such Easter egg would likely be hidden in Super Mario All-Stars, Mario’s Time Machine, or Mario Is Missing. This is because all three games were released around the same time as the marketing promotion.

At E3 2017, Nintendo revealed plans to bring DLC to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This was a new direction for Nintendo, and fans wondered if the company was also planning DLC for Super Mario Odyssey. Later, in May 2018, a short video emerged which seemed to show Isle Delfino as a new world in Odyssey. As many were already expecting DLC to be added to Odyssey, fans enthusiastically spread the video online and hoped it were the real deal. However, although the video was convincing, the level geometry in the video clearly used the same models as the one found in Sunshine. This didn’t line up with Nintendo’s mode of operation, as they typically recreate levels from scratch when adding throwbacks to new games. Because of this, the video was ultimately deemed a fake.

Other recent Nintendo games have seen fake leaks. Camelot have demonstrated some impressive post-launch support for Mario Tennis Aces, adding new characters every month for a whole year. This expanding roster led to speculation about which characters might be added, and in late 2018, some data miners tried to confirm the lineup themselves. One data miner uncovered several unused alternate costumes, and evidence that Baby Mario would be added to the game with green and yellow costumes that reference Luigi and Wario. And according to the Twitter account “MarioTennisClub”, another hacker reported that Link would be added as a playable character with unlockable Dark Link and Champion’s Tunic skins. However, MarioTennisClub later tweeted that they put too much stock in the report and found no evidence to suggest Link would be coming to the game. Since the leaks, there’s been no announcements surrounding Link or Baby Mario being added to the game.

Did you also know that a prominent games industry leaker was tricked into releasing fake information about Smash Bros. Ultimate? Or that, despite rumors, the original Smash was never planned as a Super Nintendo game? For more facts, check out our video on the history of Smash Bros. rumors.