History CommonKnowledge / SuperMarioBros

* Everyone "knows" that Mario is abusive towards Yoshi, hitting the poor dinosaur on the head to make it attack his foes. In actuality, it only appears this way due to sprite limitations in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''; [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:NSMBW_Blue_Toad_and_Pink_Yoshi_Artwork.png official artwork]] has always depicted Mario pointing forward at their target, not smacking Yoshi, and this is how it has always been represented in [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:Bluepinktoadyoshi.png more recent media]] with higher-fidelity graphics. As for Mario dumping Yoshi down a {{Bottomless Pit|s}} just to save his own skin that is a purely player choice and there is no part of the game where that is required. In 2017, it was [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mario-punching-yoshi#nintendo-confirmation "confirmed"]] in [[https://topics.nintendo.co.jp/c/article/cb34ab17-9135-11e7-8cda-063b7ac45a6d.html an interview with Takashi Tezuka and Shigefumi Hino]] that Mario has always been hitting Yoshi on the head... [[GodNeverSaidThat except it wasn't confirmed at all]]. The interview actually reveals that this was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the original intention]], but it was changed during development to Mario telling Yoshi "Go!" to avoid making him seem abusive towards Yoshi. Unfortunately, misleading headlines in reports covering this interview only worsened the CommonKnowledge effect.

* Everyone "knows" that Mario is abusive towards Yoshi, hitting the poor dinosaur on the head to make it attack his foes. In actuality, it only appears this way due to sprite limitations in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''; [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMW_Art_-_Yoshi_and_Berry.png official artwork]] has always depicted Mario pointing forward at their target, not smacking Yoshi, and this is how it has always been represented in [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:Bluepinktoadyoshi.png more recent media]] with higher-fidelity graphics. As for Mario dumping Yoshi down a {{Bottomless Pit|s}} just to save his own skin that is a purely player choice and there is no part of the game where that is required. In 2017, it was [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mario-punching-yoshi#nintendo-confirmation "confirmed"]] in [[https://topics.nintendo.co.jp/c/article/cb34ab17-9135-11e7-8cda-063b7ac45a6d.html an interview with Takashi Tezuka and Shigefumi Hino]] that Mario has always been hitting Yoshi on the head... [[GodNeverSaidThat except it wasn't confirmed at all]]. The interview actually reveals that this was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the original intention]], but it was changed during development to Mario telling Yoshi "Go!" to avoid making him seem abusive towards Yoshi. Unfortunately, misleading headlines in reports covering this interview only worsened the CommonKnowledge effect.

* Mario and Princess Peach are a couple. Though it varies, most media present them as not actually dating yet. They're flirty but are not going steady.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' takes place in an alternate world where everyone is made of paper, right? Except it usually doesn’t - that only applies to ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar Sticker Star]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash Color Splash]]'', the two newest titles in the series. The first three games were always intended to take place in the normal ''Mario'' timeline, and the “papery” aesthetic was merely that – an art style, chosen because Intelligent Systems wanted the game to resemble a pop-up storybook. (The original Japanese title of ''Mario Story'' reflects this). The misconception became widespread after the release of ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'', which does feature a literal “paper world” inside a book... but at most, it can only be said that ''Sticker Star'' takes place there, since only elements from that game appear.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' takes place in an alternate world where everyone is made of paper, right? Except it usually doesn’t - that only applies to ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar Sticker Star]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash Color Splash]]'', the two newest titles in the series. The first three games were always intended to take place in the normal ''Mario'' timeline, and the “papery” aesthetic was merely that – an art style, chosen because Intelligent Systems wanted the game to resemble a pop-up storybook. (The original Japanese title of ''Mario Story'' reflects this). The misconception became widespread after the release of Paper Jam, which does feature a literal “paper world” inside a book… but at most, it can only be said that ''[[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar Sticker Star]]'' takes place there, since only elements from that game appear.

* Mario and Princess Peach are a couple. Though it varies, most media present them as not actually dating yet. They're flirty but are not going steady.

* Mario and Luigi are Italian, right? Nope. Well, at least, not anymore. Although their being Italian was Shigeru Miyamoto's [[https://nintendoeverything.com/miyamoto-explains-why-mario-is-italian/ original intention]], none of the games ever stated this, and since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'', they have explicitly been shown as natives of the Mushroom Kingdom.

* Many fan videos joke that the manual for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' states all the blocks are Mushroom Kingdom citizens transformed into blocks and thus whenever Mario breaks a block, he's killing a citizen. The original manual actually says ''only'' the PowerUp Blocks are transformed citizens and they are noticeably completely indestructible within the game; in fact, they actually ''help'' him by giving out the various items they hide. Good luck getting that point across to the many people that believe that every single brick block is actually a Toad, and that Mario is a murderer for every ordinary brick block he breaks.

* Mario and Luigi are Italian, right? Nope. Well, at least, not anymore. Although their being Italian was Shigeru Miyamoto's original intention, none of the games ever stated this, and since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'', they have explicitly been shown as natives of the Mushroom Kingdom.

* Mario and Luigi are Italian, right? Nope. None of the games have ever stated this, and since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'', they have explicitly been shown as natives of the Mushroom Kingdom.

* There's a portion of the fanbase that believes Bowser used his Japanese name of Koopa in the NES games. With [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 one tiny blip]], this isn't the case; the name Bowser goes all the way back to [[AllThereInTheManual the instruction manual]] for his debut, ''Super Mario Bros.'' While he was called Koopa in [[WesternAnimation/SuperMarioBros the cartoons]] and [[Film/SuperMarioBros movie]], English translations of the games have consistently called him Bowser.

* Mario and Luigi are Italian, right? Nope. None of the games have ever stated this, and since ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland, they have explicitly been shown as natives of the Mushroom Kingdom.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn2Bozv6bbk This track]] from ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'' for the Nintendo 64 is almost exclusively referred to as "Dormie". However, not only does it play when a player has one hole left to win in Match Play/Get Character regardless of whether or not it's a Dormie, but it plays on the last hole in all other multiplayer modes.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn2Bozv6bbk This track]] from ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'' for the Nintendo 64 is almost exclusively referred to as "Dormie". However, not only does it play when a player has one hole left to win in Match Play/Get Character regardless of whether or not it's a Dormie, but it plays on the last hole in all other multiplayer modes.

* Whenever Daisy's kingdom of [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand Sarasaland]] is brought up, it is always said to be a kingdom that consists only a desert. However Sarasaland is made up of four different climates. Alongside the desert of Birabuto, there is the aquatic Muda Kingdom, Easton is made up of rocky terrain, and the Chai Kingdom is based on Ancient China.

* Luigi is often treated as the poster child for put-upon little brothers, with Mario being a BigBrotherBully. This seems to come from people misinterpreting, or misunderstanding Luigi's Second Banana Complex. Mario's not a glory hound who forces Luigi out of the spotlight because he can't share it. As a matter of fact, Mario is just about the only person who actually appreciates Luigi. Luigi's issues instead stem from the fact that ''everybody else'' puts the spotlight solely on Mario, ignoring him and his accomplishments, even if he was right there alongside Mario to help. Luigi's cowardly personality also means he tends to prefer being safe at home than going on adventures, often being dragged into his latest adventure against his will, so it may even be that he actually ''prefers'' Mario to be in the spotlight.

* Everyone "knows" that Mario is abusive towards Yoshi, hitting the poor dinosaur on the head to make it attack his foes. In actuality, it only appears this way due to sprite limitations in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''; [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMW_Art_-_Yoshi_and_Berry.png official artwork]] has always depicted Mario pointing forward at their target, not smacking Yoshi, and this is how it has always been represented in [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:Bluepinktoadyoshi.png more recent media]] with higher-fidelity graphics. As for Mario dumping Yoshi down a {{Bottomless Pit|s}} just to save his own skin that is a purely player choice and there is no part of the game where that is required.
In 2017, it was [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mario-punching-yoshi#nintendo-confirmation "confirmed"]] in [[https://topics.nintendo.co.jp/c/article/cb34ab17-9135-11e7-8cda-063b7ac45a6d.html an interview with Takashi Tezuka and Shigefumi Hino]] that Mario has always been hitting Yoshi on the head... [[GodNeverSaidThat except it wasn't confirmed at all]]. The interview actually reveals that this was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen the original intention]], but it was changed during development to Mario telling Yoshi "Go!" to avoid making him seem abusive towards Yoshi. Unfortunately, misleading headlines in reports covering this interview only worsened the CommonKnowledge effect.

* Everyone "knows" that Mario is abusive towards Yoshi, hitting the poor dinosaur on the head to make it attack his foes. In actuality, it only appears this way due to sprite limitations in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''; [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:SMW_Art_-_Yoshi_and_Berry.png official artwork]] has always depicted Mario pointing forward at their target, not smacking Yoshi, and this is how it has always been represented in [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:Bluepinktoadyoshi.png more recent media]] with higher-fidelity graphics. As for Mario dumping Yoshi down a {{Bottomless Pit|s}} just to save his own skin... [[WebComic/BrawlInTheFamily well, that's]] [[HeroicSacrifice up to]] [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation interpretation]].\\

* There's a portion of the fanbase that believes Bowser used his Japanese name of "Koopa" in the NES games. With [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 one tiny blip]], this isn't the case; the name "Bowser" goes all the way back to [[AllThereInTheManual the instruction manual]] for his debut, ''Super Mario Bros.'' While he was called that in [[WesternAnimation/SuperMarioBros the cartoons]] and [[Film/SuperMarioBros movie]], English translations of the games have consistently called him "Bowser."

* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn2Bozv6bbk This track] from ''VideoGame/MarioGolf'' for the Nintendo 64 is almost exclusively referred to as "Dormie". However, not only does it play when a player has one hole left to win in Match Play/Get Character regardless of whether or not it's a Dormie, but it plays on the last hole in all other multiplayer modes.

* Luigi is often treated as the poster child for put-upon little brothers, with Mario being a BigBrotherBully. This seems to come from people misinterpreting, or misunderstanding Luigi's Second Banana Complex. Mario's not a glory hound who forces Luigi out of the spotlight because he can't share it. As a matter of fact, Mario is just about the only person who actually appreciates Luigi. Luigi's issues instead stem from the fact that ''everybody else'' puts the spotlight solely on Mario, ignoring him and his accomplishments, even if he was right there alongside Mario to help. Luigi's cowardly personality also means he tends to prefer being safe at home than going on adventures, often being dragged into his latest adventure against his will, so it may even be that he actually ''prefers'' Mario to be in the spotlight.

* Many fan videos joke that the manual for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' states all the blocks are Mushroom Kingdom citizens transformed into blocks and thus whenever Mario breaks a block, he's killing a citizen. The original manual actually says ''only'' the PowerUp Blocks are transformed citizens and they are noticeably completely indestructible within the game. Good luck getting that point across to the many people that believe that every single brick block is actually a Toad, and that Mario is a murderer for every ordinary brick block he breaks.

* Mario is always viewed as using his head to smash blocks open in the games, which leads to people joking that Mario suffers brain damage or a similar injury by the end of the game. While not obvious at first, if one looks closely when Mario jumps, he raises a fist in the air as he jumps and his fist hits the block, not his head. Ironically, if Mario is using a power-up that lets him fly or he is holding something in his hands, he really does use his head to break block, but this is usually due to lack of proper animations. In official media, Mario always uses his fist to hit blocks from underneath, though Luigi actually ''does'' bash blocks with his head in ''Super Mario All-Stars + VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld''.
* Many fan videos joke that the manual for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' states all the blocks are Mushroom Kingdom citizens transformed into blocks and thus whenever Mario breaks a block, he's killing a citizen. The original manual actually says ''only'' the PowerUp Blocks are transformed citizens and they are noticeably completely indestructible within the game.

* Mario is a middle aged man in many gamers' eyes. While this was true in very early titles - thus why Mario was played by older men in live action adaptations - it has long since changed. Mustaches tend to make people seem [[ArtisticAge older]] after all. Mario is actually a very ''young'' man, barely older than Peach. In ''Super Smash Bros Melee'' he's said to be 26 and Miyamoto stated in 2016 that Mario is currently considered to be 24 years old.
* Every fan clumps Rosalina, Peach, and Daisy into a trio of princesses. After all, Rosalina is a fan-favorite princess. Canonically however she isn't a princess at all. She isn't a queen either. Rosalina has never ''officially'' been referred to as "Princess Rosalina". She is simply "Rosalina". Her crown is the cause of most of the trouble. It appears she was a princess as a child (judging by her crown and her living near a castle); however, that was centuries ago and she has no earthly kingdom anymore. It's possible Rosalina's crown is an [[TheArtifact artifact]] from when she was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned to be]] related to Peach.

* Whenever people bring up ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels Super Mario Bros. 2]]'' (the Japanese version which is also known as ''The Lost Levels'' in the overseas release), they mention how Nintendo refused to release the game due to its sheer difficulty. What people tend to forget is that A: Japanese gamers and critics ''also'' had a major bone to pick with the difficulty, and B: Nintendo of America wanted a different Mario game, and believed the sequel to ''VideoGame/{{Super Mario Bros|1}}.'' was simply just a copy of the first game, thus people wouldn't want to play the exact same game again with new tweaks. (In fact the staff of Nintendo of America made a list called "Why Atari Failed" which outlined things which they must never do: releasing a tweaked version of an existing game as a new game was one of them. Also there's the myth that the game released as ''Super Mario Brothers 2'' was a randomly chosen game given a graphic facelift. ''Doki Doki Panic'' was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and had references to previous Mario games. It was changed to a licensed game for Fuji TV midway through the development process. In turn, it is sometimes claimed that ''Doki Doki Panic'' started development as a sequel to ''Super Mario Brothers''. An old interview between Wired and director Kensuke Tanabe said Tanabe was assigned to do a prototype for a "Mario-''style'' platformer focused around vertical levels" as his first job at Nintendo, but saying ''Doki Doki Panic'' was always intended to be a ''Mario'' game based on that is a leap of logic.
* The arcade version of ''Super Mario Brothers'', ''Vs Super Mario Brothers'', does not have levels from ''Super Mario Brothers 2'' in it. The arcade game was made first, by many of the same people, and some levels were copied into the console sequel. Therefore ''Super Mario Brothers 2'' has ''Vs Super Mario Brothers'' levels in it, not the other way around.
* It's often stated matter-of-factly that the seven Koopalings were "based on" the creators of ''Super Mario Bros. 3''. This comes from a somewhat clumsily-translated interview with Miyamoto in the Nintendo Power "Mario Mania" player's guide. Read in full context, it's clear that Miyamoto is saying the various creators of Mario 3 each got to design their own Koopaling, not that the Koopalings were based on themselves in some way. This explains why none of the Koopa Kids really "match" each other, from a design perspective, and why there is a female one, despite the fact that no women were part of the design team.
* Bowser's name was originally Koopa in the West... except the name Bowser goes all the way back to [[AllThereInTheManual the instruction manual]] for his debut, ''Super Mario Bros.'' While Koopa is his Japanese name, and he was called that in [[WesternAnimation/SuperMarioBros the cartoons]] and [[Film/SuperMarioBros movie]], English translations of the games have always called him "Bowser."
* One fact that tends to come up in {{Alternative Character Interpretation}}s of Mario being less than heroic, or straight up [[RonTheDeathEater evil]], is that he stomps on enemies that are beyond harmless, like Goombas, who don't even try to attack Mario, they just mind their own business and walk in pre-determined paths, the only danger being from running into them. It is true that in the original ''VideoGame/{{Super Mario Bros|1}}.'' and other old 2D platformers, technical limitations made it so that enemies couldn't have complex attack patterns, so they simply walked back and forth, acting more like obstacles. In modern 3D platformers, and in spin-offs like the various [=RPGs=], though, it's made clear that the Goombas that work for Bowser aren't simply "minding their own business" and they ''do'' actively try to attack Mario. The same can be said about basic Koopas.
* It's well known that the manual for the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' stated that Bowser had turned the inhabitants of the Mushroom Kingdom into brick blocks. It's less well known that the same manual explains that the transmogrified Toads are the hidden unbreakable blocks that give coins or items as a reward for finding them. Good luck getting that point across to the many people that believe that every single brick block is actually a Toad, and that Mario is a murderer for every ordinary brick block he breaks.

* Every fan clumps Rosalina, Peach, and Daisy into a trio of princesses. After all, Rosalina is a fan-favorite princess. Canonically however she isn't a princess at all. She isn't a queen either. Rosalina has never ''officially'' been referred to as "Princess Rosalina". She is simply "Rosalina". Her crown is the cause of most of the trouble. It appears she was a princess as a child; however, that was centuries ago and she has no earthly kingdom anymore. It's possible Rosalina's crown is an [[TheArtifact artifact]] from when she was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned to be]] related to Peach.

* Many fan videos joke that the citizens in ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros1'' were transformed into blocks and thus whenever Mario breaks a block, he's killing them. The original manual actually says ''only'' the PowerUp Blocks are transformed citizens and they are noticeably completely indestructible unlike regular blocks.

* One fact that tends to come up in {{Alternative Character Interpretation}}s of Mario being less than heroic, or straight up [[RonTheDeathEater evil]], is that he stomps on enemies that are beyond harmless, like Goombas, who don't even try to attack Mario, they just mind their own business and walk in pre-determined paths, the only danger is from running into them. While it is true that in the original ''VideoGame/{{Super Mario Bros|1}}.'' and other old 2D platformers, technical limitations made it so that enemies couldn't have complex attack patterns, so they simply walked back and forth, acting more like obstacles. In modern 3D platformers, and in spin-offs like the various [=RPGs=], though it's made clear that the Goombas that work for Bowser aren't simply "minding their own business" and they ''do'' actively try to attack Mario. The same can be said about basic Koopas.