Whoa, okay—so imagine you’re making a video game and then some existential question just plops into your lap. Like, does Mario actually eat those mushrooms, or what? Sounds silly, yeah? But for the team behind Mario Kart World, stuff got real when they needed to figure it out. I mean, picture Shintaro Jikumaru, who’s been in the Nintendo scene for two decades, scratching his head over it. Mushrooms: eat ’em or just touch ’em?
So Jikumaru, along with the Mario Kart World producer Kosuke Yabuki, decided to dig deep. They ended up going straight to Takashi Tezuka, who knows Mario like the back of his hand. I mean, if anyone’s got answers about the Mushroom Kingdom, it’s this guy. Tezuka’s been involved since the original Super Mario Bros., so—yeah, you’d think he’d know.
Apparently, Jikumaru got this wild idea: add food like hamburgers. Yeah, in the game. That led to all sorts of craziness, like characters munching away mid-race. Imagine a drive-thru for kart racers. What were they thinking? But really, why not? “Make them change outfits while munching away,” Yabuki explained with a laugh. Totally bonkers, right?
So, they’re hashing out these ideas and—boom—back comes the mushroom question. “Does Mario eat mushrooms?” Turns out, Tezuka confirmed, yep, Mario chows down on ’em. This openness is cool and confusing ’cause, you know, sometimes it’s like Mario just uses them like turbo boosts for his kart, not a snack for himself. So which is it?
For die-hard fans, it’s not a shocker—we’ve seen Mario gobble those power-ups like candy in the games, in movies, you name it. But there’s a twist: they needed to pin down these rules for the new game’s sake. Just to be sure they don’t break any of the “Mario gospel” in their fun food frenzy. Also, what’s up with mushrooms being like NOS for the karts in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? It’s like, c’mon, figure it out.
But you know, all these tricky questions are just scratching the surface. Imagine landing an interview with Tezuka and bombarding him with these weird inquiries! I’d probably drive him crazy—yet you can’t help but wonder about all these Mario mysteries.
