Pit

The term abyss, more commonly called a Pit, refers to an area in a video game where solid ground is programmed, but not reachable. If a playable character falls or jumps into the pit, he or she will be affected negatively. While most games do not explain this phenomenon, in the Mushroom World, they are a natural element. Literally, these pits have no bottom, although after falling a varying distance down the abyss, the person will die without hitting the bottom. This will even happen to invincible characters. Some Shaydes are tasked with cleaning abysses as punishment in the Underwhere, as seen in Super Paper Mario.

Sometimes abysses are very narrow. In such cases, the player is able to run across the pits without falling down. Walking across the abyss without accelerating, however, does not work.

There are also two other types of holes easily confused with an abyss. First, some pits, such as those found in Donkey Kong, are not bottomless. However, players will be taken out if they hit the bottom and are issued a penalty, such as losing a life or being warped back to a particular location. Secondly, the pits in Wario World lead to Unithorn's Lair, a subterranean cavern, similar to Super Mario Bros. 3, where there are pits that will lead Mario to a underground room. Because players can resume progress once a specific goal has been reached, these cannot be considered pits.

Abysses also appear in the Mario Kart series. They appear in some courses, such as Mushroom Gorge. When a character accidentally drives off of the course into an abyss, the camera shows the character screaming as he/she falls into darkness, and the screen will turn black. A second later, Lakitu will lift the character up and drop him/her back onto the course.

Abysses are nonexistent in Super Paper Mario. Instead, if the player falls into a hole, he or she will flip back to solid ground and lose 1 HP.