The Super Mario Galaxy Movie cast reacts to disturbing Nintendo lore
The cast of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie — including voice actors Donald Glover (Mario), Charlie Day (Luigi), and Chris Pratt (Yoshi) — recently discovered a deeply disturbing piece of Super Mario lore during an interview. The revelation concerns the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES and its troubling backstory regarding the game’s iconic power-up blocks and other inanimate objects.
According to Nintendo’s original 1985 instruction manual for Super Mario Bros., these seemingly innocuous game elements have a horrifying origin. The blocks, bricks, and other objects were not created as simple game mechanics, but were actually transformed Mushroom Kingdom residents. The original inhabitants were cursed by Koopa — known to modern players as Bowser — and his “tribe of turtles” into these inanimate forms. The manual specifically states that residents were transformed into “stones, bricks and even field horsehair plants” as part of this dark magic.
The cast members’ reaction underscores how this historical Nintendo lore has largely faded from mainstream awareness. While modern Super Mario games have evolved far beyond these grim origins, the 1985 manual provides a chilling context to the cheerful, colorful world that has become synonymous with Nintendo’s flagship franchise. The revelation serves as a reminder that even beloved, family-friendly gaming franchises sometimes contain unexpected darkness in their foundational mythology.