Alright, so here’s a little dive into the wild world of Mario Kart development. Honestly, trying to imagine Mario chomping down on mushrooms is… well, bizarre. But let’s roll with it. So there’s this team, right? They’re working on Mario Kart World, and suddenly, out of nowhere, they get smacked in the face with this question: Does Mario actually eat these mushrooms, or just kind of… brush against them to power up? Yeah, I know, seems kinda obvious, but even veteran folks like Shintaro Jikumaru kinda scratched their heads over it.
Yabuki, one of the big shots on the team, along with Jikumaru, decides to run this conundrum by none other than Takashi Tezuka, the guru of all things Mario. Tezuka’s been around since Super Mario was just a wee little pixel, so if anyone’s got the scoop, it’s him. Now, picture this: Jikumaru wants to sprinkle some culinary chaos into the game—hamburgers, like, why not? But that means they need animations of Mario munching away.
“We thought, why don’t we let characters hit up a drive-thru while racing—change outfits as they chow down? Ridiculous? Totally,” Yabuki says, probably while trying not to laugh.
These food shenanigans really brought them back to the main question about Mario’s dietary habits in the Mushroom Kingdom. In a twist straight out of an interview, Yabuki spills the beans: “So, does he actually eat those?” And Jikumaru, bless him, goes on a mission to Tezuka to confirm: “Yo, is Mario munching on these mushrooms or what?” Tezuka’s like, “Yep, he totally is.”
Now, if you’re a die-hard Mario fan, you might be yelling at your screen about times Mario’s clearly gobbled up power-ups—like in those Mario & Luigi games or even the movie. I mean, it’s all pretty straightforward there. Eat mushrooms, touch Fire Flowers, whatever. It’s all part of the lore. But there’s this weird consistency thing since, in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, that Super Mushroom seems to boost the kart, not Mario’s metabolism.
Debating if Mario snacks or just taps these power-ups might be a never-ending saga. There’s a lot left unanswered. And should I ever get to chat with Tezuka, you bet I’d be firing off a ton of these quirky questions. He’ll probably get sick of me real fast… but hey, can’t blame a person for being curious, right?
