Talk:List of rumors and urban legends

Can someone add These Rumours?
All of them have been believed by a lot of people.
 * Marty the Thwomp in Mario Kart 64.
 * Blue Luma in Mario Tennis Open.
 * Purple Yoshi in Yoshi's Story.
 * Chocolate Factory Level in Super Mario Bros. (And no, people really thought that there was one. Look it up).
 * Mario in Flappy Bird (It is a Mario rumour, just not a Mario game).
 * Yoshi ridable in Super Mario 64.
 * Geno in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * Sony Pictures is working on a new, animated, Super Mario Bros. movie.


 * I'm not sure, I'll call these to attention, but I doubt they are notable enough. Blue Luma and Purple Yoshi were beta elements. Marty was a vandal, and was put on BJAODN. I never heard of any of the others though.Toad-brigade model CTTT.png Toad   and his brigade! Toadette model CTTT.png 21:02, 22 December 2014 (EST)
 * I vaguely remember the Chocolate Factory, but I couldn't tell you where it came from... I might be thinking of "Mario's Factory" from Super Mario RPG. LinkTheLefty (talk) 21:14, 22 December 2014 (EST)
 * Sorry, LinkTheLefty, forgot the source. The Chocolate Factory rumour was spread through a well-known message board that many gamers consulted. Can't remember the name though.
 * @86.46.226.175, please sign your comments using ~ at the end. 04:07, 5 January 2015 (EST)

Marty the Thwomp has been added. The rumor is (barely) alive, but it has its own Youtube video and Facebook page, and I think it's one of the more widely spread rumors. The rest, though, I haven't even heard about. The rumors have to be spread around enough to maybe have their own articles or their own few seconds on DidYouKnow gaming. Rumors are frequent in the series, and we cover mostly the well-known ones. We need more sources aside from gaming forums. In the last case, we have to wait until there's more information that proves the rumor true or false. 15:09, 5 January 2015 (EST)
 * +1 for better sources. 05:50, 7 January 2015 (EST)


 * I know that that mario movie rumour's real. There's a poll on it on the main page!


 * mario in "flappy bird" is real. there is a video that shows that mario squishes the player when they get 999 points, and that could be the reason why it was taken off the store
 * Can you link the video yourself?
 * That's a fake video, it's not from the original game. 21:22, January 4, 2021 (EST)

Speculation
I don't think speculations are allowed. Are they? User:Kirby kart
 * No, but I think these are the more-substantiated (not crap from 4chan, GameFAQs, or circulated "leaks") speculations that are debunked, so we're not actually speculating. Either way, it's a new page, and there are several questions regarding what content should be placed here, although there isn't a definite answer yet. 17:10, 10 August 2014 (EDT)

Shigeru Miyamoto
"Shigeru Miyamoto himself has asserted multiple times that he used the word "donkey" to convey stubbornness. "

Before anyone calls me out and slaps after this statement, the original source, "Miyamoto Shrine: Shigeru Miyamoto's Home on the Web" is unavailable, so I can't quite source the statement. If there's any archive or something like that to substantiate the claim, please add it. 17:16, 10 August 2014 (EDT)

Sould these do?
I remember of people believing in two things: Should these appear?
 * Waluigi in SM64DS
 * Mii Outfit C in MKWii

Hello my User name is Ian Clark. What about the diddy kong in Mario kart 8 rumor?

Not OK
Suicide is not appropriate for 7 years old children... I don't know how to change it though.
 * I'm sorry? Suicide is a topic that is seen sometimes in several children's TV cartoons. Besides, we're the same wiki that doesn't censor swear words in articles. We're not going to remove suicide implications because it's "inappropriate" for children. It's not like we're advocating it either. 14:28, 16 August 2014 (EDT)

Something I believe needs proper sleuthing - Pauline's relation to Mario.
Specifically in Saturday Supercade. We already know she was intended to have an undefined relation to the hero in the original arcades, was called Mario's girlfriend in some early home ports of Donkey Kong, then eventually considered a close friend in the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series. Looking around, one can see a ton of claims that she was actually supposed to be Mario's niece (Luigi's implied daughter) in that cartoon, but the problem is that none of those sources seem to be particularly reliable. Still, it certainly comes up often enough that I think it ought to be addressed. There's not too much information that I can find on the original cartoon (probably due to licensing issues preventing rebroadcast and such), but there must be a reason this idea was so widespread... That reason may be gossip or assumption coupled with general lack of knowledge about it, but for all we know it could have indeed been mentioned in some obscure commercial or segment. LinkTheLefty (talk) 16:10, 30 September 2014 (EDT)
 * If none of the sources is reliable, in my opinion you should not put it. This should not turn in a page with fanon thoughts...
 * It depends if those claims are true or not, but if the cartoon really does say Pauline is Mario's niece, we should mention it, but I don't think we should take it as fact. 01:30, 1 October 2014 (EDT)
 * Unfortunately, that's pretty much impossible to tell at the moment - it was listed here in this very wiki based on a Saturday Supercade overview, but it was later removed since there's no available direct source that's able to support this. Recordings of the episodes are hard to come by. LinkTheLefty (talk) 15:10, 21 December 2014 (EST)
 * Well, this one will remain in the gray zone, but yeah, maybe we can list this as a rumor without a source. Once we get something more direct, then we can move it into the main articles as fact. I just hope it doesn't end up misleading readers, though. 16:12, 21 December 2014 (EST)
 * That depends - is it okay to list a rumor if it currently doesn't have a satisfying conclusion? LinkTheLefty (talk) 21:30, 21 December 2014 (EST)
 * Rumors inherently don't have satisfying evidence. They wouldn't be rumors after all, right? But I don't know if this would count as speculation, which we don't allow... 22:48, 21 December 2014 (EST)
 * True, but unless I'm mistaken, the inspiration for this page doesn't allow rumors if they're inconclusive. It can definitely be called a rumor rather than speculation since the source definitely seems to have viewed episodes (at least, he manages to supply screenshots in an era of the Internet where videos were far less common), but at the same time, I don't want to end up misleading others if it turns out to be false memory all along. Here's an idea - he still seems to be an active writer, so perhaps he can be reached out. Best case scenario, he can dig up a clip that proves it. LinkTheLefty (talk) 20:39, 22 December 2014 (EST)

Interesting theory about the "Kaptain K. Rool is K. Rool's brother" thing
I remember reading on DK Vine a very interesting theory about how that infamous error might be related to the 1994 DKC CGi cartoon. The cartoon was popular in Japan and its cast list features Klump and Kaptain Skurvy, an obvious pirate-themed texture-swap of Klump who, in one episode, is revealed to be his brother. Considering the above, it's not entirely unlikely some underpaid Games Art intern might have confused or misremembered the cartoon while rushing to write the trophy descriptions.

Of course, it's *just* a theory and not really substantiated but well... any thought about incorporating that in the article? --Glowsquid (talk) 14:52, 26 October 2014 (EDT)
 * Just mention it, but don't create a connection between the two. And maybe say it's not substantiated to avoid misleading our readers. 15:52, 26 October 2014 (EDT)

Removing unrelated/unsourced information
I believe "Gunpei Yokoi's departure" should be removed for having nothing to do with Mario; it seems like a Nintendo rumour, not a Mario one. "Larry Koopa's namesake" should be removed, because it is unsourced; ONM is gone (dead link), and "Dayvv Brooks" is not a valid source. Finally, this is not anyhow a valid source; if User: Ashley and Red wants this in the article, he should publish it in an actual reliable article and then cite with it. No intent to offend anyone, I am just trying to be bold to improve the page. 08:54, 4 December 2014 (EST)


 * I wasn't initially sure about the Gunpei Yokoi one, but I was told it's ok when we brainstormed the page on the staff board. If there's enough of a consensus toward removing it... yeah sure.
 * The Larry Koopa one is totally valid. The ONM article is viewable via wayback archive and Dayvv Brooks' legit. He showed proof of his credentials. --Glowsquid (talk) 10:12, 4 December 2014 (EST)


 * OK, then, skipping the Larry Koopa part, let's wait for more feedback on Yokoi and "Rosalina in Mario Tennis Open". 10:24, 5 December 2014 (EST)

Thousand Year Door 3D
Should we add this? It was a pretty huge story.
 * It's not that big enough to get coverage from media other than GameExplain, so no. 21:37, 29 March 2015 (EDT)


 * It was also on Nintendo Life and Gamnesia, among other sites. But maybe you're right.
 * The problem is that these leaks happen like all the time. Are we going to cover Smash leaks as well? As well as Diddy Kong being "playable" from a Spanish magazine in Mario Kart 8? 22:11, 29 March 2015 (EDT)
 * Off the top of my head, I can't really name any Nintendo leaks that have happened recently. Could you name a few?
 * I think Mario Kart Wii got leaked with the reveal of Dry Bowser and all, but that's not recent. Since games don't come too often, and often leaks only go to the big games (Mario Kart or Smash Bros.) then I guess it's fine to not name any that has happened recently 22:24, 29 March 2015 (EDT)

Clawdia Koopa
There's talk of a Nintendo Power UK, but I would like to confirm that the magazine over here did make mention of such a character. It was Nintendo Official Magazine, the precursor to Official Nintendo Magazine UK (which got shut down a few months ago).

Can't remember if it was the main magazine or a freebie book that mentioned it though. Got quite a few of the latter, like a 'Nincyclopaedia'.

(the Nincyclopaedia is the one on the left in this image I found):

http://www.veooz.com/photos/QH8JMnc.html

So yeah, I can confirm it was mentioned by the magazine in some capacity, though god knows what issue or free book it was actually mentioned it.

Cheat-master30 (talk)


 * I'm still skeptical if the magazine actually mentioned it, especially since we have no idea specifically where it is mentioned. 21:27, 18 July 2015 (EDT)


 * Well I can definitely say the magazine mentioned it. And when it comes to Mario, my track record on these things is flawless.  Unless you want a third party article confirming it? Cheat-master30 (talk)
 * No, I'm just one of those questioning types. I believe you, but I just have a skeptical side, so I'd just like more information. 20:12, 31 July 2015 (EDT)
 * Unfortunately, wikis require the issue number and page number when it comes to citations. This isn't a question of whether or not we believe you, but it's necessary for quality control.

I did some things before
Back in my more youthful days, I did manage to find some ways to make certain events happen in game that shouldn't have. One such example would be the "Marty the Thwomp," where I did actually manage to glitch into the cell by way up speed boosts or whatever. Another was a glitch in Luigi's Mansion, where the game loaded in correctly when it placed Luigi in E. Gadd's Lab, allowing us to move around for a bit before it crashed on us.

I have not replicated these yet, try as I might, and I know these are more glitches than "urban myths," but I thought it would fit here seeing as, by way of glitching, somethings are possible...maybe? idk, just figured that might be interesting...(Alex95 (talk) 19:30, 25 October 2015 (EDT))

All the world's a stage
If the "SMB3 is a play" thing has been officially confirmed, why is it still listed as fiction?
 * Because it was considered fiction back then. Just as how we keep Mario and Luigi's namesake. Future information that contradicts previously established information does not mean we get rid of documenting the older stuff. 02:17, 25 November 2015 (EST)
 * I agree with Time Turner, I don't think it makes sense to keep it in the article. 05:53, 18 September 2016 (EDT)

Luigi's Mansion rumors should probably be listed here or on the prerelease page
I.e. nonsense like hunter ghosts and the game being T rated. --Hiccup (talk) 15:06, 10 December 2015 (EST)
 * I mentioned this earlier in the year and tried to write such an entry myself, but I hit a snag in finding sources (apparently the "ghost hunter" comes from an offhand joke made in Nintendo Power before the game was released, but I could not find the specific issue. It was also hard finding sources that described the game as having a time limit for game conventions demos...) etc. If someone could help me finding those sources, I'll write an entry. --Glowsquid (talk) 16:08, 10 December 2015 (EST)

Ok, I've had a guy look at the Oct 2001 previww of LM in Nintendo Power and here's what he found:

"''on page 39 there's an inset that says "MORE HAUNTS" then it shows a screen of the safari room with a blurb that says "When your ghoul-busting mission takes you to the trophy room, proceed with caution. If you meet up with the ghost of a hunter, he'll want to add Luigi to his collection."''

I'll write the entry now. --Glowsquid (talk) 17:59, 10 December 2015 (EST)
 * Another good source may be the TCRF prerelease article (with credit). --Hiccup (talk) 09:29, 11 December 2015 (EST)

Add these Rumours Please
- Mario keeps Luigi's powers in line - Mario appears in Flappy bird on the 1000th pipe. This rumour made the rounds after someone posted a video showing this as a hoax. - Wario is a crazed Mario Fan - Tabuu represents the social "taboo" of an adult playing videogames. - Coins are souls Signed: #BrickBlock
 * http://www.dorkly.com/post/74783/video-game-fan-theories/page:2
 * http://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/390ont/mario_series_luigi_is_always_with_mario_because/
 * http://mashable.com/2015/09/13/mario-fan-theories/#AiglNTK.wgqC
 * http://mashable.com/2015/09/13/mario-fan-theories/#AiglNTK.wgqC

Also, Donkey Kong killed Mario + Luigi's father: http://mashable.com/2015/09/13/mario-fan-theories/#AiglNTK.wgqC Signed: #BrickBlock

Toad
Wait, how could the Toad be genderless until Toadette, if both Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario included clearly female Toad characters? --What&#39;s my name? (talk) 09:12, 14 September 2016 (EDT)

Image of Nintendo Power
There is a sparse amount of images in the later section of the article where the Luigi's Mansion rumours are discussed, yet we actually have an image on the wiki of the Nintendo Power magazine that published those words, and even a pic of the page itself. While the writing is small, it could still be clipped, or we could specify that was where it was. Should it be added?

Quizmelon (talk) 11:40, 19 September 2016 (EDT)
 * Sounds like a good addition, so go ahead! 12:33, 19 September 2016 (EDT)

Music rumour?
I just discovered another rumour (that actually seems to be true) that people have realised on YouTube. If you listen carefully to the Wii Bowser's Castle music, it sounds like a slow version of Maple Treeway. The theory is actually really convincing, so should it be added in? Quizmelon (talk) 02:16, 3 October 2016 (EDT)
 * If the rumour is true, then it's fact not a theory, so it would be a trivia point on the respective articles.

Please add this Rumour regarding King Bob-omb : Also, could a new section be made? - Confirmed Theories? - Where "Mario Mario" and "Super Mario Bros. 3" is a play would go?
http://www.dorkly.com/post/81495/super-mario-64-has-been-hiding-a-secret-in-the-first-level-this-whole-time

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/11/random_fan_theory_explains_the_consequence_of_king_bob-ombs_defeat

The rumour notes that after Mario defeats King Bob-omb, the pit beside the mountain that previously contained two rolling balls now contains three rolling balls. Also noting that one of the Bob-omb Buddies remarks that the king ' is nothing but a big dud now ' after the fight, the theory suggests that King Bob-omb ended up as the third rolling ball in the pit.

Correction about the SMB3 stage play theory
There's a paragrpah that says "In 2015, however, Shigeru Miyamoto [...]". The word "However" doesn't belong there because he actually confirmed it, not debunked it. --Gabo 2oo (talk) 19:26, 29 July 2018 (EDT)
 * Fixed, thanks. 19:29, 29 July 2018 (EDT)
 * Uh, that means it does belong there, since this is about theories, which in cases like those that are listed here, are generally poppycock. Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 19:30, 29 July 2018 (EDT)

The Recent Super Mario 64 Rumors
Alright, this might have been a mistake, but here goes: Should there be a section on those various Super Mario 64 rumors of recent? Theories like "Every copy of Super Mario 64 is personalized," "The Wario Apparition," the supposed 1995/07/29 build, etc.

I'm asking because those have become quite popular, but I'm not sure if they are too much of a meme to be included. Anyway, I look forward to a response.

(This is also my second attempt at posting this since my edits were overruled since someone else was apparently editing the page at the same time.)

--I am Proto, your security is my motto. (talk) 13:43, June 23, 2020 (EDT)
 * They aren't substantial enough. 13:45, June 23, 2020 (EDT)
 * They're jokes, not serious misconceptions about SM64's content. --Glowsquid (talk) 17:14, June 23, 2020 (EDT)

Requesting an addition: "Bowser was originally known as King Koopa in the U.S. and had his name changed to Bowser later"
And now, on today's episode of "why is this still a thing in 2020!?! -_-;"...

There exists a Super Mario World 1 ROM hack titled "Super Mario: The Friends Rescue" that begins with this message: "While a party was happening in the Mushroom Kingdom, King Koopa kidnapped Daisy, Yoshi, and Peach! Now Mario must rescue them!" On this playthrough, that led to me commenting:
 * &ldquo;0:30: "King Koopa" ...Okay, so, evidently, this hack takes place in the DiC continuity, then. ~Do the Mario! Swing your arms from side to side...~&rdquo;

I get these comments in reply:
 * &ldquo;Not necessarily. King Koopa was his name in the games before Super Mario World, which is why he's called that in the cartoons(the first two came out before Super Mario World was released).&rdquo;
 * &ldquo;Actually, his name was King Koopa before Super Mario Bros 3, I think&rdquo;

...which is a load of B.S., as can be verified at http://www.poisonmushroom.org/2015/09/lets-read-the-original-super-mario-bros-manual/ among many other places where the original manual for Super Mario Bros. 1 can be found, clearly showing that the name "Bowser" was in use from the very beginning!

Where did this myth come from!?! As far as I can tell, it may have originated in the "Rants" section of a defunct(?) website called "Super Mario Bros. Headquarters", where quite a few of the rants came from people who seemed to believe this. 72.168.142.74 11:16, September 17, 2020 (EDT)

Luigi's Mansion Contradiction
I noticed in the first paragraph about the time limit, it says no evidence of it was found in the final version. but in the second paragraph it says evidence was found in it. Which is true? Do they mean different things? Clarification would be really nice.
 * I think it's two different time limits: the first paragraph talks about a time limit for the overall game, while the second likely talks about a time limit exclusive to the demo versions of the game meant for demo play. 16:08, October 18, 2020 (EDT)

YouTube Recommendation of Mario Party DS Anti-Piracy Hoax
I added a brief aside that the MPDS Anti-Piracy hoax was partially spread thanks to YouTube's faulty recommendation algorithm causing it to spread further, though this was removed for a "lack of substantial evidence"; while I do get there should've been a citation, uh... how exactly does one cite the YouTube Recommended Algorithm? It's not like I can look up how to do that--it's not exactly something people cite everyday in academic papers.  ~Camwood777  (talk)  12:41, December 22, 2020 (EST)
 * Saying that the algorithm spread it is a good, and likely true guess, but it's only a guess. We can't really see what the algo recommended each day. 12:47, December 22, 2020 (EST)
 * Could we run a poll, perhaps?  ~Camwood777  (talk)  17:13, December 23, 2020 (EST)
 * I doubt it. 21:36, December 27, 2020 (EST)
 * there has been a new anti-piracy way, update?

Setting a clearer standard for what goes on this page
When I created this page, the idea behind it was to have a convenient place to debunk long-running misinformation. Like you'd see someone claim "Did you know Ashley is 9 years old in Japan?" or "Did you know the Toads are genderless beings?" and you'd link them to this page to prove them wrong. Sometimes the wiki has been successful in eradicating the misconception (far more people are aware Shigehisa Nakaue did the art in 3D Land and not Yoichi Kotabe) now, but a lot of this stuff is still clained in casual conversation to this day.

In that respect, I (and, it seems, other members on our discord server) feel a lot of the recent entries about social media stuff, for lack of a less pretentious word, dillute the page. Like the God Slayer Bowser entry - you could say that's a genuine misconception, but it also died off very quickly - as in the next day, when the Japanese overview trailer was released and it became obvious the character wasn't called that. I don't think anyone seriously thinks the character is called "God slayer Bowser" today. Same for those anti-piracy screens, which had a very fad-ish lifecycle and burned out very quickly to the point nobody talks about the finale video that more clearly spells out it's a hoax.

Also in the case of Scripulous Fingore specifically, I don't think that many people are genuinely confused on if it's a real cut character or not. From where I sit, most people are aware of that and are pretending it's real for the sake of the meme.

In that respect, I think adding a disclaimer among these lines could help:

''Before adding an entry, make sure the rumour in question has staying power. A good rules of thumb is that if people are still sharing it or seriously making the claim a year after the fact, it counts''.

But I'm also aware this is a wiki, and I don't have ownership of the page. What do you think? --Glowsquid (talk) 09:42, April 30, 2021 (EDT)

You make good points, but I believe they should stay. While perhaps the intent of the page was to debunk rumors/urban legends, to the letter it simple states that it is "a list", a function hampered if we decide to not accept shorter-lived urban legends regardless of how widespread they were. If they truly did have cultural relevance for any point, I don't think we should cut them from the wiki on account of "not being long lasting enough." Perhaps a proposal should be put forth about this. --Casual Koopa (talk) 10:02, April 30, 2021 (EDT)

I don’t think Scripulous Fingore is a much different case from the Mario Galaxy DS prank, for instance; they both gained significant traction in fandoms, it’s just that the former’s “discovery” happened to be fabricated at a point in internet history when such things are much easier to verify or people aren’t as gullible. For the time being, I’d consider him an internet meme from beginning to end, though I’m not sure he’d be notable enough to have an entry on List of Mario references on the Internet. 11:47, April 30, 2021 (EDT)

(I thought we agreed not to add Scripulous Fingore on Discord...)

So given the increasing frequency of these jokes that people try to pass off as reality (the anti-piracy screens, Fingore, the recent Mario 64 rumors that we don't cover on this page) it's probably a good idea to make a decision on this now. I can see both sides in this, on one hand, yeah, they started off as jokes but inevitably someone who's not in on the joke is going to take it at face value, and the more popular something gets the more of those people you're going to have. It also might be nice that if when these things get popular we have a statement saying "yeah no". On the other hand we don't want to cover everything under the sun if they're going to die out so quickly as memes often do.

I do think we're better off keeping this limited to the more long-running rumors, because if not, we're going to have to cover an excessive amount of information here if we want this page to have any sort of consistency. In that case, these should probably go, although I would support including them on the internet references page.

As for "God Slayer Bowser", yeah, get that out of here. It's lasted for literally a single day as you said, I highly doubt anyone legitimately still thinks this. Not to mention that misconceptions about a game's content before it's released happen all the time, and we certainly don't need to mention all of those. Similarly, if a conjectural name that we come up with takes off, and Nintendo later comes out with a different name, are we going to include the conjectural name on our rumors page? I don't see a difference between those two cases. -- 11:54, April 30, 2021 (EDT)


 * This page is increasingly skirting the line between "actual, widely believed rumor or misconception" and "joke someone belived because they're poor at detecting irony". In the current age of the internet, it's both increasingly easy to start a rumor and a bout of false information, but it's also just as easy for a joke without any poor intentions to be instantly believed as fact by someone who quickly scrolled by without bothering to do any research or think about irony. The Onion, a well-known satire site, still sometimes as people mistaking it's articles with obviously silly titles for an actual news report. It's prominent (and humorous) enough that there's an entire subreddit dedicated to making fun of this mistake. Due to this, I don't think Fingore is worth keeping: I see as a joke made by an obviously satirical Twitter account, then several people, also understanding the joke, continued the joke, and some people happened to view it as a fact. Us having Fingore is like us having the "Mario dies on March 31st" joke; that joke, too, had some people who unironically believed that Mario as a franchise was going to die, but that doesn't mean it's worth covering.

In my opinion, if something should be on this page, it should be more than an obvious joke taken seriously, and rather should have some sort of intent in terms of creating and spreading a rumor or deceiving people, or a genuine long-running misconception. "Donkey Kong 64 only required the Expansion Pak to fix a memory leak" qualifies because it was a piece of contradictory information which caused genuine confusion. "Luigi in Super Mario 64 / "L is real 2401"" was infamous, widely believed, and cause by player speculation rather than a joke; it stays. As for God-Slayer Bowser, I do believe it should be removed. Like, two popular joke tweets, taken as fact by some, dispelled in a day. Not notable in the slightest. I'd argue the MPDS anti-piracy may pass, as the original video was presented as less of a joke and more as actual (though false) footage, and was then in turn more widely believed as fact. It, additionally, lasted for a decent period of time. 12:15, April 30, 2021 (EDT)