History Headscratchers / SuperMario64

* Why do the cannons [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:SM64_BoB_Cannon.png have question marks on their sides?]]
** Maybe whoever made them was a REALLY bad shot?
** Given the ? Blocks everywhere in the Mushroom Kingdom, it probably so they could blend in with the environment more easily.
** It's not likely to be the real reason, but I can't help but think of it as the cannons asking, "Where to?"
** Kind of pointless, because they're already pointed in the direction Mario needs to go.
*** Actually no. Those cannons are a bigger game of chance then you think. Even a proper aim isn't always effective. You could overshoot yourself to your doom on some levels.

** Or what if--work with me here--what if Bowser used some sort of consumable resource to lock the doors? Let's call it Anti-Star Power. He started by locking the door leading to Bowser in the Sky, and in order to provide powerful protection to his final stronghold, he blew 70 Anti-Stars on it. He used 50 Anti-Stars to lock the door to the castle tower as an added layer of protection, and 30 to lock his secondary stronghold in the basement. By this point he was running severely low on Anti-Stars, so started doling them out in single-digit quantities to the remaining accessible doors. He miscalculated and ran out before he could lock Bob-Omb Battlefield. He also didn't realize that Mario would retain possession of the Power Stars after using them to unlock doors, or he would have been a lot smarter about distributing the Anti-Stars.
*** If that was the case, then he had 165 Anti Stars, more than the actual number of Power Stars in either version of the game. Why not just use all 165 on the door to the tower? Mario could play around on the lower floors all he wanted and he'd never be able to get to Bowser's stronghold. Or even better, use only one on the only accessible door into the castle at the time, stop Mario getting in altogether.

** He Figured Mario would be too afraid of lava, ghosts, toxic gas, and shifting sand.
*** It makes sense to leave a pathway open to force your enemy through. Bowser believed that Mario would be killed in a warzone between feuding, sentient bombs, which by all rights would be one of the most dangerous scenarios one could be forced to run through. He just didn't account Mario being good enough to get through that.
** But Bowser took the time to lock a door that--to his knowledge--had no stars behind it. The secret slide was hidden from Bowser, so no troops were in it, and had not one, but TWO stars hidden within that Bowser knew NOTHING about. Therefore, wouldn't it have made sense if the room with the secret slide was the first unlocked room that Mario got Stars from, and Bob-omb Battlefield was the first level he'd be able to unlock after getting one of the slide's stars, and so on? The secret slide isn't even all that difficult to find, nor long or hard to navigate either, so it's not like new players would get confused by it.
*** Jumping into one of three stain-glass windows? [[SarcasmMode New players who had not been introduced to paintings would have found that trivial to find]]. In the DS version, there's the rec room stuff in here, so it makes a bit more sense, but it was possible that Bowser was locking as many doors as he could, just in case. I mean, Peach is vain, but surely a room with nothing in it but her face would have some significance that, even if Bowser had no idea what it meant, Mario would have?
*** It ''would'' have been trivial. The message in Peach's room states that the secret entrance is right there in that room. And what is the first thing that gets your attention? The stain-glass windows. In fact, they're the ''only'' thing of interest in that room apart from the sign. Therefore, finding the secret entrance is a 1/3 chance. How's it any more confusing than figuring out how to get to Big Bob-omb, let alone beat him?
*** Remember, by your train of thought, new players wouldn't yet be exposed to jumping through paintings/windows. Bob-Omb Battlefield may be (somewhat) unfamiliar territory, but at least you can see where you can and can't go. Plus, every boss announces their weakness, and there's multiple stars initially available. At some point, we'll have to concede that Bowser wasn't too good at the whole 'foresight' thing (notice how Mario, to the best of my knowledge, has yet to beat Bowser in a straight confrontation?)
*** You expect Nintendo to make the first level in the first 3d Mario game a freakin' slide side course?
** Honestly, any explanation involving Bowser actually sealing doors under his own power just makes him look like a massive idiot for leaving one or more doors open. One explanation I thought of is that Bowser didn't actually actively seal anything. The doors sealed themselves after there wasn't enough power left in the castle from the stars to keep the magical worlds in paintings running. Bob-Omb Battlefield was just able to keep running for some reason.

* Why does Mario 64 have ''two'' snow levels? Not counting mini levels and boss levels, no other level motif repeats. And considering that the game has only 15 main courses due to memory limitations, you would expect the devs to avoid this.
** Eh, you're probably overthinking this. There are two levels that are essentially the same, but different in this game (I'm referring to the big world and small world paintings). The devs just didn't bother to stay consistent. That, or they really liked snow levels and bothered to add another one.
** Also, isn't Dire Dire Docks something of a retread of Jolly Roger Bay?

* FridgeBrilliance courtesy of Medibot and [=MyNameIsKaz=] while they were playing ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'': the Princess' Secret Slide is basically an emergency escape tunnel in case of whatever. (Unfortunately for her, she hasn't been able to make use of it, ever.)

** Well, let's think about this from a story standpoint: In order to stay "powered" the castle needs stars. Boo's like mansions and don't really care where they place it in. To keep the power star safe, Bowser offered the Boo's a temporary location. Because the Boo's no longer have a reason to stay after their power star is gone, most of them just leave.

** Did everyone just forget about the lake of water literally around the castle?

** Becuase a birdcage is [[RuleOfScary much scarier]] than a painting. Think about it. It's a particularly out-of-place location for a gigantic mansion to be in and to top it all off, it doesn't even make half as much sense as the magical paintings do. Just imagine interacting with that thing in real life!

** Becuase a birdcage is [[RuleOfScary much scarier]] than a painting. Think about it. It's a particularly out-of-place location for a gigantic mansion to be in and to top it all off, it doesn't even make half as much sense as the magical paintings do.

* What exactly ''was'' Mario supposed to be saying? Most people heard "So long, gay bowser" but what is it exactly? "So long, de bowser"?

** Wait, what? All Toads are tangible (you can't go through them) and are standing ''next'' to walls, not within them.

*** You're both wrong, it's because he can't kill ghosts which is needed to get in Big Boo's Haunt.

*** They should call a plumber.

*** This. Paper Mario showed that the rooms had furniture in them.

** They weren't locked within the castle as in by the front door, but literally ''within'' the castle walls. You saw them throughout the castle, able to talk to you, right? They are intangible and only just able to visually manifest so that they can chat with Mario.

** Supposedly, you could slip off of Dorrie's head before he raised it, resulting in Mario landing in front of his mouth and getting eaten accidentally. As far as this troper knows, this wasn't actually possible, and was either just a joke, a rumor, or perhaps a small feature that got scrapped in the final game.

*** And perhaps Dorrie's are notorous eating machines like Yoshi. But since Mario is friendly, he's off the menu.

** This troper thinks of the courses as the paintings themselves, and Mario as an [[IntrepidFictioneer intrepid fictioneer]]. It would explain how he is able to jump between different points in time within the painting world, apparently temporarily replacing the past version of him who originally obtained that particular power star, but how it will just be an outline and [[TimeyWimeyBall history will only be rewitten if he succeeds.]]

** It's not likely to be the real reason, but this troper can't help but think of it as the cannons asking, "Where to?"

*** Acctualy No. Those cannons are a bigger game of chance then you think. Even a proper aim isn't always effective. You could overshoot yourself to your doom on some levels.

** In 64 DS, and several other games, Bowser considers Mario his arch-nemesis. My view is that this whole scheme, even if he couldn't admit it to himself, is just to challenge Mario. Really, he had already won. He held the castle, he controlled the power of the Stars, and Peach was his prisoner. But what else was he going to do? Unless he actively defeats Mario, (And not just keeps him outside) he wouldn't consider his victory to be worth anything.

** He had two stars originally, and gave one to Mario after being beaten in the race. Then he somehow 'collected' his other star, ram through the castle into Tiny-Huge Island, and jumped into the painting. The same star let his get out of Tiny-Huge Island in the first place, and Bob-Omb Battlefield was an open room he could enter. The reason he never appears in any other levels is that he has no other stars and no way to get any because Mario took them all.

** This troper has always used the teleport on the hill yet Koopa The Quick has no problem with that and still gives me the star for some reason. Why is this allowed if other forms of cheating aren't?
* FridgeBrilliance courtesy Medibot and [=MyNameIsKaz=] while they were playing ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'': the Princess' Secret Slide is basically an emergency escape tunnel in case of whatever. (Unfortunately for her, she hasn't been able to make use of it, ever.)

*** you're both wrong, it's because he can't kill ghosts which is needed to get in Big Boo's Haunt

* If Mario doesn't need to breath while wearing the Metal Cap, why does he still cough when he stands in a Toxic Cloud?

** Eh, you're probably overthinking this. There are two levels that are essentially the same, but different in this game (i'm referring to the big world and small world paintings). The devs just didn't bother to stay consistent. That, or they really liked snow levels and bothered to add another one.

* Why is it stated by a Toad and Bowser that the Toads were trapped within the castle? The front door isn't locked, as Mario can just waltz in.

** I’m thinking possibly the penguin you race inside the cabin since he's the only other adult penguin on Cool, Cool Mountain.

** Reminder that Luigi is being constantly forgotten by his own friends. So it seems rather in-character for him and the other people to not invite Luigi. Luigi, being resentful and hurt, crashed the party.

* The manual for DS mentions that Mario is followed to the castle by “party crashers Luigi and Wario”. Wario crashing a party does make sense, but Luigi? It feels severely out of character for Luigi to be a party crasher. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Luigi to just also be invited, with Wario being the only party crasher?]]

* The manual for DS mentions that Mario is followed to the castle by “party crashers Luigi and Wario”. Wario crashing a party does make sense, but Luigi? It feels severely out of character for Luigi to be a party crasher. Wouldn’t it have made more sense for Luigi to just also be invited, with Wario being the only party crasher?

** I’m thinking possibly the penguin you race inside the cabin since he’s the only other adult penguin on Cool, Cool Mountain.

* Why does Mario 64 have ''two'' snow levels? Not counting mini levels and boss levels, no other level motif repeats. And considering that the game has only 15 main courses due to memory limitations, you would expect the devs to avoid this.

*** What if he hasn't any stars yet?

* Why does Mario 64 have ''two'' snow levels? Not counting mini levels and boss levels, not other level motif repeats. And considering that the game has only 15 main courses due to memory limitations, you would expect the devs to avoid this.