A Super Mario variety blog.
Screenshots, photos, sprites, gifs, scans and more from all around the world of Super Mario Bros.


In Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, only one side of the eponymous coins is ever visible, depicting the zones they are found in. However, in the North American commercial for the game, the reverse sides of the coins are visible for a few frames, revealing that they contain images of Mario and Wario. Here are both sides of every coin.
In Super Mario 64, positioning Mario next to a tree and using first-person view to look up and down results in the tree clipping through Mario (top image). The bottom image shows what is happening from the side. The tree is leaning forward and backward in response to the camera movement. (Footage of the Virtual Console version recorded by me in a Wii emulator.)
In the official artwork for Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, the tennis balls do not appear in reflections, while all other objects do. Two pieces of artwork where this is most notable are an image of Toadette about to hit the ball with her racket and the Sprixie Princess holding a ball in her hand. Zooming in on Toadette’s eyes reveals that the racket is reflected, but the ball isn’t. Similarly, zooming in on the Sprixie Princess’s brooch shows that her hand is empty.
Comparison between Mario’s tropical shirt from Super Mario Sunshine (left) and its appearance as a downloadable outfit in Super Mario Odyssey (right). While the placement of the Shine Sprites in the Super Mario Odyssey design appears to be identical to the original at first glance, one Shine Sprite has been added to the back of Mario’s left sleeve that was not present before, thereby making the redesign not entirely faithful. (Source 1, Source 2)
One of the tests performed by the SNES hardware testing program consists of displaying six separate sprites of Mario, moving slowly across the screen. In the final sprite, Mario grows animal ears for an unknown reason. (Screenshots taken by me in a SNES emulator.)
In Super Mario 64, it is possible to have a conversation with Lakitu while having no health remaining. For this, start a new save file and reduce Mario’s health to 2 before using a triple jump to get on top of Princess Peach’s castle. From the castle roof, drop down onto the bridge and Mario should lose the last of his health. However, Lakitu will still talk to him, preventing the death animation from playing. As soon as Lakitu stops talking, Mario will die. (Footage of the Virtual Console version recorded by me in a Wii emulator.)
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, it is possible to freeze the falling meteors in Shiverburn Galaxy in place simply by looking upward in first-person view. Looking upward at a steep enough angle stops the movement of the meteors entirely until the angle is lowered or first-person view is exited. (Footage recorded by me in a Wii emulator.)