Mario's face

Mario's face in Super Mario 64.

“I'm-a bet you can't-a do this! Wheeeeeeeee! Ahahaaha!”

—Mario's face, Mario Teaches Typing 2

Mario's face is a floating, disembodied head of Mario. The gameplay element of an interactive floating head of Mario along with the concepts of other disembodied character's heads have appeared in many games.

Mario's floating head (animated with VActor technology) first appeared in Mario Teaches Typing and its sequel Mario Teaches Typing 2. He narrated players' lessons and actions as they learned to type, while also making random small talk, sometimes invoking jokes and comments about his lack of body. Later, the head appeared on the title screen of Super Mario 64, where players could tug and stretch his facial features; his nose, ears, cheeks, chin, and hat, to humorous positions. As Super Mario 64 was Nintendo's first title for the Nintendo 64, an interactive Mario face served to familiarize the player to the Nintendo 64 controller without worrying about actual gameplay. Additionally, on Game Over Screen, the Mario head will appear dazed and worn out.

File:Mario Head.jpg

The floating Mario head as seen in Mario Teaches Typing 2.

Mario's face later appeared in the Mario Party 2 version of Face Lift (also in Mario Party 1, but with Bowser's face and no other faces), where the player has to alter the face of Mario or other characters in the game. The more accurately the face is changed to match a picture, the more points the player receives. The player who earns the most points wins, although two players can win if they earn the same amount of points. The Mario head, along with a Luigi head, Peach head, Yoshi head, Wario head, and Donkey Kong head, appear in the 1-vs-3 minigame Look Away where each head has to dance along to the music, and the team of three heads must avoid looking in the same direction as the single player head. Soon in the next game Mario Party 3, Mario's face is one of the faces (alongside Wiggler and Toad) to appear in the minigame Picture Imperfect. The player must get his M on his hat right, nose right, mustache right, mouth right and eyes right.

Mario's face in the Face Lift minigame, from Mario Party 2.

In the remake Super Mario 64 DS, the Mario head appeared along with a Yoshi head. In this game, Mario's face is able to turn into an ink outline version of itself, which can be distorted with the stylus or various buttons. The player can also erase the face and draw his or her own creations.

Mario's face is also a feature in some of the minigames in Super Mario 64 DS. When the player opens a chest in Boom Box, the chest makes a sound, astonishing the Mario head on the top screen. If the player makes a mistake, the Mario head frowns, while if the player succeeds, the Mario head beams joyously at the player. If the player gets a Game Over in any minigame, Mario's face will yell and look dazed. When a player clears any minigame round or beats a highscore, the Mario face is astonished, then bursts out laughing.

The heads of Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, and Toad, along with Mii heads, have appeared in both Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel as file icons. In the sequel, a Rosalina head can be unlocked as a file icon when the player collects 120 stars and unlock the Green Star Prankster Comets. Also, the Peach head has her neck removed unlike in the predecessor, allowing more of a disembodied feature.

Mario's face in Super Mario-Kun.

Mario's face is also spoofed in a beginning chapter of volume 16 of Super Mario-Kun. This volume also follows Super Mario 64's story. Later in the volume, there is a 4-koma that involves Yoshi playing the game and not only moving Mario's face to bizarre positions, but also drawing on it as well.

Game Appearances

Title	Description	Release Date	System/Format
Mario Teaches Typing (CD-ROM Version Only)	Makes small talk with player while playing.	1994 (CD-ROM Version)	Computers
Super Mario 64	Appears on title screen, speaks occasionally. Can be altered with hand.	1996	Nintendo 64
Mario Teaches Typing 2	Makes small talk with player while playing.	1996	Computers
Mario Party 2	Must be altered in the mini-game Face Lift. Also appears in Look Away along with other character heads.	2000	Nintendo 64
Pokémon Stadium 2	Cameo. Appeared on a TV screen, and appears exactly as in Super Mario 64.	2001	Nintendo 64
Super Mario 64 DS	Face appears on title screen, if touched with stylus becomes a sketch. Also, observes several mini-games.	2004	Nintendo DS
New Super Mario Bros.	Appears in and observes some mini-games.	2006	Nintendo DS
Super Mario Galaxy	File icon	2007	Wii
Super Mario Galaxy 2	File icon and Starship Mario	2010	Wii

Nintendo DS tech demo

Main article: Mario's Face (tech demo)

A tech demo for the Nintendo DS involved Mario's face, which could be squeezed and stretched so as to demonstrate to players about the usage of the touch screen.

Quotes

All from the Mario Teaches Typing series.

• "You're fantastic! I know you're going to be a great typist one day."
• "I'm-a going to fly for you. Mmmmmph...mmmmmmmph....mmmmmmmmph....mmmmmmmph...KRSH! Ow! ... I hit my nose."
• "Oh, no! I'm-a fallen, and I can't-a get up! This is my impression of American advertising. Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you."
• "Hmmm... Oh! Nice computer you've got here. Can I have it?"
• "Look, I'm a video game. Pong...pong, pong...pong, pong...pong...Thank you very much, thank you, thank you."
• "Hey, you got a good joke for Mario?"
• "My nose-a feels-a funny against this screen. Hmm."
• "Have you seen Luigi? Hmm."
• "Have you seen the Princess? PRINCESS! Hmm."
• "Thanks for choosing Mario Teaches Typing. By Nintendo, and Interplay."
• "Have you seen the Princess? PRINCESS! Hmm, I'm can't find her. [SOURCE]"
• "Hey, I'm-a thirsty. You got something to drink-y?"
• "Say, I'm-a hungry. Have you got any food?"
• "Oh boy, finally! I'm-a get to move on the ground! Here we go! Movin' on the ground, movin' on the ground, hee hee hee hee hee! Hey, where'd everybody go? Oh, there you are, hahaha."
• "Hey! Are you ready to Mariocise? Okie-dokey. You do just like Mario, OK? One...Very good! Two...And three! Wheeeeee! Oh. Sorry. That's hard for you, but easy for me. You know why? IIII ain't got no BO-DY! Get it? No body? Heeheeheeheehee! Eeheeheehee! Wheeee, haha!"
• "Can I sing a song for you? When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that's amore; when an eel lunges out, and he takes a bite of your snout, that's a moray! Get it? The moray eel? Heeheeheeheehee! I said-a funny!"
• "Oh boy! That-a makes me so happy, I'm-a lightheaded, wee!"
• "Hey, why do you upside-down anyway? What's-a matter for you? Oh, wait a minute... Hmm... Oh, It's me, sorry. Heehee! [SOURCE]"
• "Oh boy, look at that keyboard! I'll bet you're going to learn how to type on it! Heehee!"
• "Hoohoo! Hello! It's me, Mario! And I'm-a want to thank you for choosing Mario Teaches Typing! I know you're gonna be a great typist. Hehe."
• "Hmm, you have a nice place here. Hmm."
• "I'm-a bet you can't do this! Wheeeeeeeeee! Hahahaha."
• "Hello! It's me, Mario! Thank you for starting me up!"
• "Hmm, Mario's Smash and Dash.""
• "Mario's Wet World of Challenge.""
• "Ooh, Mario's Tunnel of Doom! Very scary!""
• "Oh look! Hmm... It's-a Mario's Expert Express! I'm bet you're expert too."
• "Oh, you're doing great!"
• "Ooh! You're getting faster, keep it up."
• "Hey, who's that behind you? Made you look! Made you look! Heeheehee!"
• "Look, I don't got no tonsils! Aaaah..."
• "Hoohoo! I always want to type."
• "Hoohoo! You're getting better with each lesson."
• "Oh, boy! That was a tough lesson! But I bet, if we do it again, it's-a gonna be easier!"
• "Hmm... Guess what time it is? It's time for you to type! Let's do this!"
• "Hey, Luigi, it's-a time for you to type."
• "Hello there, are you ready to type? Good! And Let's go."
• "Okie-dokey. If you ready, go for me."
• "Okie-dokey. Get ready to move your fingers."
• "Hey, that was pretty good. Let's see if we can go even faster next lesson, eh?"
• "That was great! Want to try again?"
• "Uh-oh! That wasn't as fast as last time. Let's try again, okay."
• "Uh-oh. That wasn't quite as-a fast as the last time. Hmm... Are your fingers getting tired? Mine would be by now. If I had any! Hehehehehe!"
• "Uh-oh, we slipped a little bit. Now let's get back in there and try real hard to get better, eh?"
• "That was fantastic. See you next time. Okay, bye-bye! Peekaboo!"
• "Hey, don't leave me alone. Hey, where is everybody? Come back!"