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Dark Nintendo Lore That Changes How We View Our Favorite Games

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For decades, Nintendo has produced some of the world's best video games, creating iconic characters like Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, and Princess Peach. Fans love playing as these characters time and time again. However, each character has a backstory, and some are darker than fans realize. Nintendo's games are filled with lore, some of it dark and intense, authored by the company or introduced by fans. This list explores the darkest Nintendo lore that might change how you view classic childhood games.

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  • 1
    Donkey Kong Belonged To A Circus Run By Mario

    Players first saw Donkey Kong in the ape's game, where a future Mario (then called "Jumpman") fought to stop him after he took his girlfriend, Pauline (a future Princess Peach). This happened early in Nintendo. Many backstories lacked detail then. The 1981 game provides an early look.Donkey Kong appears in 'Dark Nintendo Lore That Changes How We View Our Favorite Games'.This is not the first time players saw the main ape.

    Donkey Kong first appeared in the Game & Watch title.The Donkey Kong Circus is featured in 'Dark Nintendo Lore That Changes How We View Our Favorite Games'.The game Donkey Kong Circus started in 1984. This takes place before the events ofDonkey Kong belongs in 'Dark Nintendo Lore That Changes How We View Our Favorite Games'.In that game, Mario runs a circus with Donkey Kong as the main act. Donkey Kong balances on a barrel while juggling pineapples; flaming torches fall around him. When Donkey Kong drops a pineapple, Mario laughs. This shows that before Donkey Kong took Mario's girlfriend, he was mistreated and laughed at when he failed.

  • 2
    Mario Is A Bully

    Wario's rivalry with Mario stems from their childhoods. The pair grew up together. Mario bullied Wario when they were kids. Nintendo Power revealed this backstory.Nintendo Power is in 'Dark Nintendo Lore That Changes How We View Our Favorite Games'.Volume 44, published in January 1993. The magazine featured a short comic showing the whole backstory with detailed illustrations.

    You can read the entire comicHere is 'Mario' in 'Dark Nintendo Lore That Changes How We View Our Favorite Games'.The comic shows Mario and Wario were childhood friends. Mario made Wario's life terrible. An adult, crying Wario, confronts Mario about his past treatment. Mario tells Wario to "stop being a wimp." Mario dismisses Wario's painful memories, acting like an a**hole who avoids apologizing for tormenting his "friend."

  • 3
    Luigi Has Suffered Mistreatment From Mario For Decades

    Fans have long theorized Luigi is the less-loved brother compared to Mario. This theory stems from looking at video games, comics, and cartoons. Luigi appears to have suffered under his more popular brother. Mario frequently made hurtful jokes toward Luigi, and the behavior went further.

    During the Donkey Kong celebration from the cut-scene, Luigi appears.The cut-scene shows Luigi.Luigi appears during the celebration from the Donkey Kong.Mario Power Tennis is 'Mario Power Tennis' in 'Dark Nintendo Lore That Changes How We View Our Favorite Games'.On the Nintendo GameCube, Mario interrupts Luigi's tournament win. Mario suddenly appears and hits Luigi hard on the back. Mario then stomps his foot into Luigi's, showing his jealousy of his brother's success. This action is meant to be funny, but it shows how much Luigi suffers from his brother's big ego.

  • 4
    Yoshi Is Constantly Being Punched In The Head In 'Super Mario World'

    Mario acts abusively, but his treatment of Yoshi seems the worst example of his meanness toward friends. Yoshi serves as both a ride and a partner for the main hero in the game; he proves very useful. Yoshi sucks in enemies with his long tongue and spits them out, causing damage. He also helps Mario jump higher with a double jump.

    Players often used this to hurt Yoshi, causing him to fall when his usefulness ended. That is the players' fault, not the character's. Mario's cruelty was visible to everyone. Whenever Yoshi stuck out his tongue to eat enemies or grab fruit, Mario punched him on the back of the head.

    Some players thought he was pointing, but the game's developer...Shigefumi Hino.He confirmed punching Yoshi in the back of the head: "The idea is that when Mario punches Yoshi, Yoshi is so surprised his tongue shoots out." This tactic pressures your friend for help. The game's prequel made this worse. That game shows Mario and Luigi raising baby Yoshis, making the punching more horrific. Nintendo stopped the punching and shifted the target after the game's release.

  • 5
    Toad Was Brutally Slain In 'Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door'

    A Nintendo title usually avoids dark themes or dark images. That is not true for...Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year DoorThe game shows Mario finding what looks like Toad's crime scene. The house is wrecked, and a chalk outline shows a character that can only be Toad on the floor.

    The scene seems mild now, but in 2004, it was too much for some. Nintendo sold the title globally, but the North American version removed this part, so American players only found out about the room by reading online. You can find screenshots of the...Japanese releaseThe scene shows, and seeing it makes it clear why it left the US release.

  • 6
    Cubone's Appearance In 'Pokémon' Is Intensely Dark

    Pokémon designs often spark guesses about a creature's origins, but Cubone's is darker. These small creatures carry a bone and wear a skull on their heads. The skull might seem like head protection, but it is actually much darker and scarier than what belongs in a kids' game.

    The lore inPokémon YellowCubone has a skull on its head. It wears the skull of its dead mother as a helmet. This explanation is given simply for the Cubone's headwear.Pokédex.

  • 7
    Losing In 'Mario Kart 64' Means Certain Doom For The Characters

    Mario Kart 64Mario Kart 64 is a top game for the system. Players gathered around consoles for hours, racing and battling. The game is intensely fun. Winners get their trophy after the Grand Prix, but losers face worse outcomes. Most players ignored it first, but losers must flee for their lives.

    As winners celebrate, losers flee on their karts, chased by bombs.bombs. When they catch them, the bombs explode, killing the losers each time. This addition is odd. It did not appear in other Mario Kart titles.Mario KartIn N64 Mario Kart titles, losing a race meant certain death. The cut scene shows a fourth-place Wario driving away while an incendiary device follows him to his end.here.

  • 8
    Mario Probably Offed Donkey Kong Jr.

    In the original Donkey Kong game, Mario (Jumpman) fights to rescue Princess Peach (Pauline) from Donkey Kong, capturing him at the end. The first sequel puts DK in a cage. The player controls his son, Donkey Kong Jr., trying to rescue him. DK Jr. jumps platforms and avoids traps while Mario tries to stop the small guy.Donkey Kong, Mario (Jumpman) fights to rescue Princess Peach (Pauline) from Donkey Kong, capturing him. The first sequel puts DK in a cage. The player controls his son, Donkey Kong Jr., trying to rescue him. DK Jr. jumps platforms and avoids traps while Mario tries to stop the small guy.

    That is correct. In Donkey Kong Jr., Mario acts as the antagonist, focused on defeating the child who works to save his father. Mario's attempt to kill DK Jr. seems to continue because the last time DK Jr. appeared in a Nintendo title outside a cameo was in Mario Tennis for the N64.Donkey Kong Jr., Mario is the villain, aiming to defeat the child saving his father. Mario's attempt to kill DK Jr. seems to continue because the last time DK Jr. appeared in a Nintendo title outside a cameo was in Mario Tennis for the N64.Mario TennisFor the N64, only Diddy Kong resembles him after that point.

    Nintendo's universe no longer features him in any playable capacity. The original DK is the grandfather of the playable character. He is Cranky Kong, but his son vanished. Junior disappeared, seen only as a sticker or trophy. This makes you ask if Mario finally succeeded in removing him?

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  • 9
    Princess Peach Is A Costly Liability To Her People

    Princess Peach rules the Mushroom Kingdom through diplomacy and peace with neighbors. However, she is a major problem. Bowser constantly targets and threatens the Mushroom Kingdom, capturing her.Bowser constantly captures her.Princess Peach is not entirely to blame. She does not invite Bowser to attack her kingdom and take it. Still, after the fifteenth time this happened, she might consider taking action to stop it.

    Princess Peach's appeal causes her citizens to get killed constantly. A plumber jumps in to save her and stomps Koopas, but this system fails. As a responsible ruler, she should attack Bowser and his kingdom to stop him permanently, or she should step down and leave to protect her kingdom.

  • 10
    Kirby's Stomach Is A Pocket Dimension Where Creatures Go To Perish

    Kirby is arguably one of Nintendo's cutest characters. Look at a picture. You will love the small, bulbous pink guy. He roams the world sucking in enemies of every kind into his belly. Consider his power; you wonder how he ingests everything.

    Fans assumed he had something like ablack holeinside his belly, which lets him suck in and compress all matter into nothing. That is not correct. Kirby's stomach is actually apocket dimensionwhere he keeps whatever he wants until he decides to eat it. Any character he eats is either digested and gone right away, or they face hell inside a pocket dimension. They must wait there until Kirby is hungry enough to eat them properly.

  • 11
    Mario Slaughtered Tons Of Toads In 'Super Mario Bros.'

    For every kid who first used an NES controller, Mario ran right and punched a "?" block, releasing a mushroom that doubled his size. Many people remember this, but the game's manual shows a dark truth about those bricks you see the next time you play.

    The manual shows that when Bowser took over the Mushroom Kingdom, he turned its citizens into power-up-holdingMario smashed tons of Toads in 'Super Mario Bros.'Every power-up "?" block Mario smashed in the game was a Toad. Mario killed every one. Coins requiring repeated punching also turn into Toads. These Toads needed many hits to destroy, making their demise worse.

    The manual does not state this directly, but read between the lines for the truth. "If you find mushrooms turned into bricks or invisible, they give you a power boost." It does not show they left their blocky prison, so they likely gave up their riches to Mario for helping them escape.

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  • 12
    The Very Nature Of The 'Pokémon' Games Is Dark

    On the surface, thePokémonThis franchise lets the player control a young kid who loves competition, exploration, and fighting wild creatures. Players capture them and force them to fight. This is what a Pokémon game is all about.Pokémon The game is all about.

    Forget children roaming the wilderness unsupervised. Focus on the Pokémon. These wild animals fight until they are captured. Nintendo magically puts them in a small, spherical device in the kid's backpack. The kid throws the Pokémon into combat whenever they need them. It is a Gladiator game, but for children!Gladiatorbut for children!

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  • 13
    Mario's Original Design Was Much Darker

    Mario first appeared in several games before getting his big title. Despite this, the character should have acted much differently in Super Mario Bros.Super Mario Bros.Mario's jumping, brick-breaking, and enemy-stomping are core gameplay. Nintendo did not initially plan these actions for his design.Super Mario Bros.Mario originally zoomed around stages on a cloud.cloud... with a rifle and beam gun.

    This setup was for specific "shooter" stages. The cloud (or maybe a rocket ship) was not in the entire game. These elements were not strange for the time, but Nintendo aimed for a new path. They decided shooting enemies with a rifle was too violent. So, Mario stomps their heads or shoots them with fireballs—a different kind of violence.shooting enemies with a riflethe beam gun was too violent. So, he stomped on their heads, crushing them, or he shot them with fireballs—a "different" kind of violence.

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  • 14
    Samus's Gender Was Unnecessarily Sexualized In 'Metroid'

    The reveal that Samus was a woman was a big step for gender equality in video games. However, this took a different turn for others. Nintendo made the main character a woman. That was new for the time, but beyond the gender reveal, the character became hypersexualized, hurting the industry.differentdirection for others. Nintendo made the main character of a game a woman. That was innovative for the time, but outside of the gender reveal, the character was hypersexualized, setting the industry back.

    If you beat the game in under an hour, you get the revelation of Samus's gender. This happens in a very inappropriate way. She removes her armor to show a bikini, letting the player look at her revealing clothes. This was new for the time, but it showed video games, which lacked female characters then, would sexualize their characters.sexualizetheir characters unnecessarily.

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  • 15
    Chauncey Shouldn't Be In A Kids Game

    Luigi's MansionLuigi's Mansion is Nintendo's answer to adding a horror game to the Mario universe. It is one of the franchise's most loved titles. The game has scary parts, but it is horror-themed because it targets children, not true horror. Plenty of ghosts and spirits appear in Luigi's Mansion, but these have substance.Luigi's Mansion, but unlike the Boos in other games, these had substance.

    One item should not be in the game because it suggests something extremely dark.Chauncey's apparition is an infant, fully equipped with a rattle and a child's innocence. However, it is a ghost. This fact suggests Chauncey was once alive, along with his whole family, who appear elsewhere in the game. This raises a question: What happened to this innocent infant that doomed it to haunt Luigi's Mansion forever?Chauncey's apparition is an infant, fully equipped with a rattle and the innocence of a child. Yet, it is a ghost. This suggests Chauncey was once alive, with his whole family also spread throughout the game. This asks: What happened to this innocent infant that condemned it to an eternity haunting Luigi's Mansion?

    Chauncey has a backstory; he is the first boss Luigi meets. Chauncey is the son of Neville and Lydia, and the youngest brother of Henry and Orville. He excels at scaring people and cries loudly at night. The lore states he was "born a ghost," avoiding the idea of him being alive, but this makes little sense, so most fans reject it as canon.

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