On March 31st, 2021, the belovedNintendomascot,Marioof the Super Mario Bros. franchise, perished. He will be survived by his beloved brother, Luigi, the brothers' mirror opposites, Wario and Waluigi, and his dear friend and baker of cakes, Princess Peach. His death was brought about by the removal of his titles,Super Mario 3D All-StarsandSuper Mario Bros. 35as well as the pulling of theSuper Mario Bros.Game & Watch handheld.
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Mario will of course also live on through the countless titles he will be receiving in the future, as Nintendo isn’t reallypulling the plug on Mario. It’s just pulling these three products–one of which,Super Mario 3D All-Stars, will still be available in the Nintendo eShop. However, this was a strange move on the part of Nintendo, and what motives are apparent seem to relate to the annoying practice of artificial scarcity. So, naturally, gamers made jokes at Nintendo’s expense to spread the rumor that their axing their most eponymous icon, and memes were made.
10Mario’s Public Execution
One of the most infamous and, frankly, hilarious memes to come out of this worldwide sorrow over Mario’s demise is this image tweeted by@NS_Wormon Twitter. Here, we see our beloved hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, cap absent, awaiting his death with an empty look in his eyes and a low-res image.
Only Nintendo can stop this from happening, and we know by the time of writing this that they won’t. So long, Mario.
9Thank You, Mario
This next meme comes from Twitter user@FanamalT. It depicts one of Peach’s famous cakes mourning Mario’s death in tiny figurines. As you can see, the beloved Mario is in his casket while Peach and Luigi weep over the plumber’s death.
All in all, it is an immaculate and tasteful table setting to homage to the brave plumber that fought against gorillas, Koopas, Goombas, and other variety of monsters to keep the Mushroom Kingdom from collapsing.
8Mario Comes Back
On a more hopeful note, Twitter user@IGNWorseThanuses a classicSimpsonsscene to remind us that Mario will be with us forever. Though Nintendo mayseemingly forget about the red-and-blue clad plumber now, Mario will almost certainly come back to help his sometimes comrade Donkey Kong celebrates his own 40th anniversary.
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Like Barney Gumble, once you let a Mario inside your house, you’ll never be able it out. Thankfully, Mario is less likely to drink all of your Duff.
7Press F To Respect Mario
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfaregave the internet an eternally-beloved meme in “Press F to pay respects,” and it was inevitable that this would be combined with the demise of our beloved Mario.
That doesn’t make it any less funny. In this scene, we see the protagonist ofAdvanced Warfaresaluting the fallen plumber with a picture of Mario next to the casket. This comes to us from Twitter user@asheliren.
6Super Banjo Kazooie Bros.
With Mario falling to digital death, it does seem as good a time as any to go ahead and name his successor. Twitter user and artist@DekuNarosuggestsBanjo Kazooieas a potential new mascot for Nintendo.
While Banjo and Kazooie aren’t (technically) Nintendo originals, he is a beloved videogame mascot with classic and celebrated videogame entries that originallycame out on Nintendo 64. Perhaps Banjo can come home and take over for Mario?
5Infinity Bros.
The finale toAvengers: Infinity Waronce again brings us a funny yet painful gut-punch that takes us back to Iron Man watchingSpider-Manslowly die thanks to Thanos. This time, however, we are forced to watch Mario cease to exist in the arms of his beloved brother, Luigi–thanks to Twitter user and artist@Mystar_21.
Mario, beaten and bloody is pixelating out of existence, and there’s nothing Luigi–or any of us–can do to stop it. Hopefully, this can be undone withSuper Mario:Endgame
4Too Soon, Plankton
Voice actress Kirsten Candelore aka@lovejinklesbrings us this moment of epic villainy from Plankton ofSpongebob Squarepantsfamecelebrating the demise of Mario, further cementing Plankton’s status of one of the most evil villains of all time.
Plankton has spent his entire adult life trying to steal Mr. Krabs' Krabby Patty secret formula, which one would think should have no intersection with the life of Mario. Apparently, we were all wrong, and Plankton has reason to celebrate Mario’s demise as well. Reports that Plankton is the one that killed Mario are as-of-yet unconfirmed.
3Sonic Was Too Slow
Artist@krumperonibrings us this heartbreaking moment ofSonic the Hedgehogblaming himself for Mario’s death. He thinks if he were just fast enough, Mario would still be alive. Unfortunately for Sonic, there was never a chance that he could save Mario, especially if Plankton is responsible as reports seem to be showing.
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It is nice to see old console rivals coming togetherlike this, as Sonic clearly is mourning Mario’s death earnestly. Perhaps he can team up with Luigi and avenge the fallen plumber and save the Mushroom Kingdom from whatever comes next.
2It Was Kratos All Along
Here, Twitter user@BT_BlackThunderposits thatit wasn’t Nintendoor Plankton that killed Mario but instead Kratos ofGod of Warfame. In this image, Kratos can be seen strangling Mario to death with his arms while Mario fruitlessly fights back for his very life.
While Mario has a myriad of items and years of experience on his side, it is uncertain whether he could actually best Kratos in this one-on-one deathmatch. The odds aren’t looking good for the plumber, unfortunately.
1Or Was It Homer?
Finally, we have a substantial lead in the death of Mario the plumber.It appears that not Nintendo, Plankton, Kratos, or even a washing machine are responsible. It was, in reality, Homer J. Simpson with a series of metal trash cans. This information comes to us thanks to Twitter user@OOCCouchGags.
In this video, Homer can be seen becoming enraged with Mario and hurling a seemingly infinite amount of metal trash cans at the plumber until, inevitably, Mario slipped up and was hit by one of the trash cans. Homer Simpson is believed to still be at large.
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