Nintendo Finally Confirms Whether Mario Eats Mushrooms

Right, so here’s a weird little thing I stumbled onto while goofing off (I mean, working really hard) on Mario Kart World. Picture this: you’re developing a game, and suddenly you’re hit with a big, cosmic question — does our dear Mario actually munch on those iconic mushrooms, or are they just magical touchstones? I know, sounds silly, but hear me out.

Turns out, even legends at Nintendo like Shintaro Jikumaru had this head-scratcher. You’d think after, what, two decades of Mario magic, he’d have it nailed down, right? Nope. So, he and producer Kosuke Yabuki went full Sherlock, poking Takashi Tezuka, the grand wizard of Mario knowledge. And guess what Tezuka said? Yup, Mario’s snacking on them fungi. Mind blown, right?

Anyway, the whole mushroom debate kicked off because Jikumaru had this zany idea — let’s toss in hamburgers. Yeah, burgers in Mario Kart. Why not? Apparently, they wanted players to hit a drive-thru mid-race. Grab a burger, change outfits, maybe morph into, I dunno, a superhero plumber chef, or whatever. Sounds bonkers, but kinda fun. Yabuki was like, “It’s ridiculous,” with that classic eye-roll, I imagine.

So, adding all these foodie elements led them to wonder about Mushroom Kingdom cuisine laws, if you will. If you’re anything like me — random Mario trivia occasionally pinging around your brain — you might think, “Well, duh, they eat the stuff in other games.” Like in Mario & Luigi series, they’re definitely chewing power-ups. And the movie? Straight-up says Mario munches for power. Simple, right? But then there’s Mario Kart 8 Deluxe where Mario’s just kinda doing a fast and furious style NOS boost with the mushrooms, no eating involved. Make up your mind, game world!

This whole rabbit hole of Mario and his power-up consumption habits? It’s still got some fuzzy answers. Are there other odd mysteries hiding in the plumbing pipes of Mario lore? Probably. And I’ll say this: if I ever nail down an interview with Tezuka, he’ll probably go bananas with all my off-the-wall questions. But hey, that’s a risk I’m willing to take for the sake of pure, chaotic curiosity.