List of rumors and urban legends

Being a long-running and popular franchise, there have been many rumors, misconceptions, and urban legends regarding production history, fictional details, and gameplay elements within the Mario franchise.

Donkey Kong's name origin
The origin of Donkey Kong's name has been the subject of several conflicting explanations over time. One popular myth states that the original Donkey Kong game was intended to be titled "Monkey Kong", and was actually named "Donkey Kong" due to either a mistranslation or typo. However, the words monkey and donkey are completely different from each other in Japanese, so it is unlikely to be a translation error. Additionally, while typos resulting in popular names do exist, the accuracy of the latter claim is questionable considering the conflicting viewpoints surrounding it.

Another explanation states that donkey was used to avoid copyright issues with the character. The etymology of the word "donkey" can be traced back to the word ass, which can also mean fool, with the word fool traditionally being the opposite of the word king. This may suggest that the name "Donkey Kong" was intended as a subversion of "King Kong", and a way to refer to the movie and character without violating copyright law. However, Nintendo was sued by Universal Studios in 1982 for the exact reason that Donkey Kong was too similar to King Kong. Notably, a written statement produced in 1983 regarding this lawsuit states that Nintendo employee Shinichi Todori came up with the name "Donkey Kong" towards the end of May 1981.

Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Donkey Kong, has claimed multiple times that he found the name from a Japanese-English dictionary when looking for something "stubborn" or "stupid". While "donkey" is not usually considered to be an adjective or a synonym of those terms, the animals themselves are often associated with those traits. In an interview published in 2016, Miyamoto stated that he was informed by Nintendo of America staff that "donkey" does not mean "stupid" as the dictionary said, but that he ignored their feedback, as he liked the sound of the name "Donkey Kong".

Donkey Kong 64 only required the Expansion Pak to fix a memory leak
On May 28, 2013, former Rare employee Chris Marlow published a video of  in which he shared an anecdote revealing that Donkey Kong 64 was allegedly not initially planned to support the Expansion Pak RAM expansion. Marlow explained that Rare found a memory leak to occur after a short amount of playtime and, as they were unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the issue before release, were forced to bundle the Expansion Pak with the game as a quick fix. The story was immediately picked up by video game news websites, and was presented as fact on the Super Mario Wiki page for Donkey Kong 64.

Mark Stevenson, a developer of Donkey Kong 64, would deny this claim in a November 2019 interview, stating that Rare's management instructed the game's developers to support the Expansion Pak early in development to accommodate advanced graphical effects. (Dynamic lighting was specifically cited as a feature that made use of the Expansion Pak in another interview with Stevenson. ) He added that while Donkey Kong 64 did contain a game-breaking bug during development, it only affected one revision of the Nintendo 64 hardware, and was eventually resolved. Stevenson speculated that these two stories were likely conflated into one, creating the memory leak rumor.

Donkey Kong Country 2 for the Virtual Boy
On August 10, 2001, in response to a letter sent to 's Scribes website about a Donkey Kong Country game on the Virtual Boy, Rare employee Leigh Loveday stated that a Virtual Boy port of Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest had been in development, but that it "didn't get very far".

However, an article on the DK Vine fan website showcased that subsequent statements were made by former Rare artist Steven Hurst and, more notably, engineer Paul Machacek, employees who worked on the project. They clarified that there were no concrete plans for any Donkey Kong Country game on the system, and that what Loveday referred to was a short demo to test the capabilities of the Virtual Boy which consisted of a short stretch of land featuring reused Donkey Kong Land and  graphics. No evidence suggests this demo was ever planned to become a full game, and DK Vine assumed that it was ultimately scrapped after it became clear that the Virtual Boy was a commercial failure.

The usage of the name "Jumpman"
Due to Mario initially being referred to as "Jumpman" in the arcade version of Donkey Kong, it is sometimes believed that he was not given the name of "Mario" until the release of Donkey Kong Jr., the game produced immediately after Donkey Kong. This theory is supported by the name "Jumpman" being common throughout English material related to the game, appearing in its operation manual and several graphics containing instructions for play, including a page, card, and banner.

While no Japanese material included the name "Mario" until Donkey Kong Jr. as the theory states, a flyer with story information was released to arcades internationally, in which the protagonist was referred to as "little Mario" in its English localization, proving that he was known as "Mario" to the public before games other than Donkey Kong had released. All subsequent ports of Donkey Kong to home console removed the name "Jumpman" in favor of "Mario", with the exception of Arcade Archives: Donkey Kong on the Nintendo Switch.

Gunpei Yokoi is the creator of Wario and Daisy
Due to being the most notable member of Nintendo's former Research & Development 1 department and having a role as producer for many of their games, Gunpei Yokoi is often attributed as the sole creator of its franchises and characters up to his departure. This has led fans to credit Yokoi for the creation of the characters Princess Daisy and Wario, two main characters of R&D1's Super Mario Land games. In reality, Yokoi has never been credited as a character designer in any of the games he was involved with, and no report done during Yokoi's lifetime or modern interviews with former R&D1 staff stated he created any characters for its games.

While no specific creator has been attributed to Princess Daisy, Satoru Okada, the director of Super Mario Land, or Hirofumi Matsuoka and/or Masahiko Mashimo, graphic designers for the game, would be more likely candidates. Hiroji Kiyotake, director and graphic designer for Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, is the creator of Wario, as stated by multiple interviewees in a 2004 interview in the magazine Nintendo Dream ; he is also credited as the original designer of Wario throughout the WarioWare series.

Inspiration for the Super Mushroom
Some rumors have questioned the origin of the Super Mushroom, suggesting that it was inspired by real-world drugs such as the , or. While the spores of the latter species look similar to the Super Mushroom and other power-ups such as the 1-Up Mushroom, no evidence has confirmed that this was an intentional design decision.

On June 19, 2015, the nonprofit organization NPR published an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, in which he mentioned the story  in relation to the origin of mushrooms in Mario games. However, in an earlier Iwata Asks interview, he stated that there was no influence from Alice in Wonderland, simply citing "a relationship between mushrooms and magical realms". This more generic explanation also appears in an interview from October 2010 in the magazine, in which Miyamoto describes that "you see people in folk tales wandering into forests and eating mushrooms all the time".

An article on the website for the newspaper The Guardian contains an unsourced claim that Miyamoto drew inspiration from "enchanted foodstuffs in myths and folklore" to create the Super Mushroom.

Larry Koopa's namesake
On April 30, 2010, the Official Nintendo Magazine in published an article to their website stating the name origins of the Koopalings, with Larry Koopa said to be named after the talk show host Larry King. This was contested by former Nintendo of America employee Dayvv Brooks, who named all of the Koopalings during the production of Super Mario Bros. 3. According to Brooks, Larry is named after a musician like his siblings, in this case the inspiration being Larry Mullen, Jr., the drummer for the rock band U2.

However, on December 29, 2015, the gaming site published an interview with Brooks contradicting this action. Brooks asserted that all of the Koopalings were named after real-world figures except Larry, stating that "there’s no real-world equivalent—he’s not Larry Mullen Jr. from U2 or Larry King—he just looked like a Larry."

Mario and Luigi's last names
With the introduction of Luigi as Mario's brother, the pair began to be collectively referred to as "the Mario brothers", which has led many to believe that Mario and Luigi's last names are actually "Mario". This theory was supported by The Super Mario Bros. Super Show live-action episodes "Dance" and "Treasure of the Sierra Brooklyn", and, more famously, the 1993 Super Mario Bros. live-action film, all of which used "Mario" as the brothers' surname. Several other sources, such as the Mario Party 2 Prima Games guide and a promotional flyer for the Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr./Mario Bros. arcade cabinet, also use the "Mario" last name. Charles Martinet, Mario's current voice actor, has given it as his response when asked about Mario's last name.

Various Nintendo employees and representatives, including series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, have stated that Mario and Luigi do not have a last name at all. However, Miyamoto later retracted this stance, stating during the Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary festival held in that Mario's full name is "Mario Mario".

Norton AntiVirus: Dr. Mario
In 2008, announced a new version of their  software. Subtitled the "Gaming Edition", it used less computer resources to make it easier to play video games while the antivirus was running. However, when an article about the software was published to gaming site on November 11, 2008, it was accompanied by a picture of a different software, labeled Norton AntiVirus: Dr. Mario. No text in the article mentioned or alluded to Dr. Mario nor this image.

Other news websites would later republish the image ; some mistakenly stated that the software was directly related to Dr. Mario, likely due to them interpreting the image as the official art created for the software. While the Gaming Edition version of Norton AntiVirus was officially published, it did not contain any connection to Nintendo nor the Mario franchise.

The original source of the image remains unknown. It is most likely that the art was faked use image-editing software and presented to Kotaku as a genuine product, leading it to be spread and believed as such by other news outlets and their readers. However, as no proof of this is currently known, there is still a possibility that Norton AntiVirus: Dr. Mario was legitimate, cancelled software.

Peeka and Lahla in the Japanese version of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, there is a regional difference involving the Boo sisters Peeka and Lahla. In the Japanese release, they both wear a headband with fake bunny ears resembling the, the icon of the adult magazine , but international releases replace the bunny ears with cat ears. This change was made either to avoid a reference to adult headgear or out of legal concern, as the Playboy Bunny is a copyrighted icon.

On the unused-content wiki, the regional differences page for Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door originally listed that only Peeka underwent this change. This was potentially due to Lahla not being a mandatory character to see to complete the game, meaning that Lahla wearing bunny ears may have gone unnoticed for an extended period of time. In reality, both sisters wear identical accessories in all versions, and the wiki page was edited to reflect this once it was discovered.

Shigeru Miyamoto's opinions on Donkey Kong Country
In 2001, author published the book , in which he discussed the development of Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island. On page 518, the book details that Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Donkey Kong, became frustrated after the the original graphical style of Yoshi's Island was rejected for having "not enough punch" compared to the pre-rendered graphics of Donkey Kong Country. Alluding to an interview he conducted with Miyamoto and Tim Stamper, the director of Donkey Kong Country, Kent stated that "Miyamoto was a bit hard on Stamper", and included a quote from Miyamoto saying "Donkey Kong Country proves that players will put up with mediocre gameplay as long as the art is good". This created the rumor that Miyamoto disliked the Donkey Kong Country series.

The interview in question originates from the May 1995 issue of the magazine. However, according to, founder of the , the supposed quote from Miyamoto is not present in the magazine. This led to doubts as to whether Miyamoto said it at all, or if it was merely a false memory from Kent.

Following the announcement of Donkey Kong Country Returns at, the gaming website conducted an interview with Miyamoto in which he alluded to the rumor and declared it to be false, saying "And apparently recently some rumor got out that I didn't really like that game? I just want to clarify that that's not the case, because I was very involved in [the game's production]."

Super Mario FX
A rumor suggests that a 3D platformer named "Super Mario FX" was in development for the SNES, which would have used the Super FX chip to display 3D graphics. Variants of this rumor claim that the game became or was otherwise the inspiration for Super Mario 64.

As SnesCentral elaborates, there is no actual proof that such a game was in development (which would have been unlikely due to the timetable of Super Mario 64's development), and claims of its existence seem to originate from IGN misinterpreting an interview in the January 1996 issue of Nintendo Power, where Shigeru Miyamoto stated he got the idea of developing a 3D Mario platformer (without specifying platform) while developing Star Fox, a game released on the SNES that used the Super FX chip to display full 3D graphics. Furthermore, said article's writer contacted Dylan Cuthbert (a game programmer who designed the Super FX chip and collaborated with Miyamoto on Star Fox), who confirmed that no 3D Mario platformer was in development for the SNES and that "Super Mario FX" was actually a codename for the chip itself.

Super Mario Galaxy DS
On December 9, 2007, a video showcasing a downloadable, Nintendo DS version of Super Mario Galaxy was uploaded to YouTube. The footage showed a hidden galaxy unlocked by collecting all 121 Power Stars as both Mario and Luigi and feeding them all to a Hungry Luma, which would allow the player to access the Nintendo DS version of the game using the Download Play feature. The player used the stylus to control Mario, and both brothers were shown in the game's galaxies simultaneously, implying a co-op mode. The video also stated that each Power Star collected in the Nintendo DS version would be redeemable for 10 Wii Points on the Wii Shop Channel.

About ten days after the video's release, an article on Engadget proved the footage to be faked by discovering a shorter but cleaner version of the same video on the video site Stage6. The video was posted by psycho3ler, the username of Pablo Belmonte, who had previously created a hoax video of a "Nintendo ON" console in 2005 (the original Super Mario Galaxy DS video even showed a Nintendo ON planet, adding credibility to this theory). Belmonte himself would later upload a high-quality version of the video, explaining in the description that it was created for a school project involving designing a viral video.

Coincidentally, a Nintendo DS game exists named Super Mario Galaxies. A group of four homebrewers are working on a Super Mario Galaxy DS project unrelated to the hoax video, which recreates gameplay from Super Mario Galaxy on real DS hardware.

Super Mario Galaxy box art hidden message
On September 16, 2007, shortly before the release of Super Mario Galaxy, a post about the game's logo art was made to the forum site NeoGAF. It noted that some letters of the logo contained a small twinkle; if these letters are singled out and read together, the end result is "UR MR GAY" (You are Mr. Gay). This led some to suggest that the twinkles may be a hidden message created by the logo artist.

In Super Mario Galaxy 2, these sparkles are still present in the game's logo, but have been rearranged. They now spell out "UR MI AY", although this can be interpreted as "YA, I M, R U?" (Yeah, I am, are you?) if read backwards. The preliminary logo of Super Mario Odyssey contains similar sparkles, which spell out "MARIO DYS" (interpreted by some as "Mario dies").

It is most likely that all three logos simply arrange the twinkles to be aesthetically pleasing, with any "messages" being entirely unintentional.

Mario Party: Star Rush cover artwork
Shortly after Mario Party: Star Rush was announced, a post on Twitter was made joking about Nintendo reusing stock art for the game's tentative cover which was also used on cans of Spaghetti-O's. The post quickly gained popularity, leading to it being picked up by several mainstream gaming sites   , giving the impression that the artwork was indeed derived from the render used on the can, when it is simply stock promotional artwork. The original art has also been used on other products and packaging, including stationery and the official Super Mario Brothers 2013 Wall Calendar, which was released on August 1, 2012. The stock art was also used for the Simon Mall event and the Mario Kart 8 Best Buy Event Demo in 2013, well before the official promotion of Campbell's Spaghetti-Os in November.

French title of the Donkey Kong Country animated series
Over the years, various English-language databases and fansites have stated that the original French version of the 1996 Donkey Kong Country animated series is titled La planète de Donkey Kong (lit. "Planet Donkey Kong"). "La planète de Donkey Kong" actually refers to a programming block (later renamed DKTV) which aired from 1996 to 2001 exclusively in France, and that hosted the Donkey Kong Country series alongside a large number of other children's programmes.

The Donkey Kong Country cartoon proper was also named "Donkey Kong Country" when it aired in France and Québec, with some ads and TV listings shortening the title to simply "Donkey Kong".

Yoichi Kotabe's involvement in Super Mario 3D Land
Various sources have stated that long-time Mario artist Yoichi Kotabe came back from retirement to draw the artwork for Peach's letters in Super Mario 3D Land, likely due to an unsourced claim on MarioWiki's Yoichi Kotabe page that was removed from the page in August 2018. While the art style is similar to Kotabe's Mario artwork, Yoichi Kotabe's name is not listed in the staff credits for Super Mario 3D Land, nor is he mentioned in the two Iwata Asks interviews dedicated to the game. The artwork was actually drawn by current Mario artist Shigehisa Nakaue, who is credited for "Illustrations" on Super Mario 3D Land by the January 2012 issue of the Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream, as well as the in-game credits of Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and Mario Party: Star Rush.

Yoshiaki Koizumi and Donkey Kong Country
In February 2005, Donkey Kong Jungle Beat producer Takao Shimizu and co-director Yoshiaki Koizumi conducted an interview with Nintendo Online Magazine regarding the game. An English translation of the interview was produced by the Nintendo fansite N-Sider and posted by IGN as part of a partnership between the two websites. One of the questions centered around the game's characters, with N-Sider's English translation rendering Koizumi's answer as "All the characters outside of Donkey Kong and the banana are completely original. We don't really feel the past look of Donkey Kong was fresh enough for today. We really gave our new development team the chance to really create something unique and stylish.". Due to its dismissive implications, the statement was the subject of substantial negative backlash from Donkey Kong fans.

This was a mistranslation: the original Japanese had Koizumi stating that the development team of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat decided to go with an original cast as the game's tone was very different from that of previous Donkey Kong titles, and that he hoped Jungle Beat would represent the style of the newly-formed EAD Tokyo team. Notably, N-Sider has been found guilty of mistranslations and even forgery in its purported translations of Japanese material.

The breakable bricks in Super Mario Bros. are transformed Toads
Due to the story in the instruction manual for the original Super Mario Bros. stating that the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom were turned into bricks, many people assume that the Brick Blocks that Mario can break throughout the game are transformed Toads, which has led to many parodies regarding them being "murdered." However, page 8 of the same manual specifies that the ones that were turned into blocks give items upon being hit, meaning that they are in fact specifically the blocks that act like ? Blocks, as well as the ? Blocks and Hidden Blocks that contain power-ups, with the manual additionally stating that they give these items to Mario as rewards for finding them.

Princess Toadstool was intended to be a Toad in early production of Super Mario Bros.
An image from an early guide has led to people mistakenly believing that Princess Peach was intended to be a Toad at some point early in development, with the illustrations being mistaken as actual concept artwork; this theory became more widespread after Peachette was revealed, with the image being used as "proof" for this theory. However, was from a strategy guide called How to Win at Super Mario Bros., which was written and illustrated by people outside of Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, and as such was likely illustrated based off of vague descriptions given to the illustrator.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is a stage play
Because of several design elements in the game, such as the rising and closing curtains at the beginning of the game, the end of each stage being a black void representing an exit stage, several platforms being held up in midair, and some platforms being bolted into the background and casting shadows onto the sky, it has become a popular idea that Super Mario Bros. 3 is actually a stage play rather than a real adventure. The theory began to spread around the Internet with an image showing evidence for the theory. In 2015, however, Shigeru Miyamoto, in a video discussing various Mario rumors and myths, would claim that the theory is true. This does not appear to be true of the Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 versions, however, due to the latter's opening cutscene, the more realistic backgrounds, and the removal of platform shadows.

The Koopalings being Bowser's children is a Western addition
Following the release of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and its Japanese bios stating the Koopalings are minions of Bowser rather than his children, as well as Shigeru Miyamoto's statement in a 2012 interview that Nintendo's "current story" is that Bowser Jr. is Bowser's only child, there have been claims that the concept of the Koopalings being Bowser's children was a change made for the English releases of the games.

Though Nintendo of America effectively did change the Koopalings' dialogue in the Super Mario Bros. 3 manual and gave the originally unnamed characters their names that have been used in Japanese versions of the games ever since, the Koopalings being Bowser's children has also been present in official Japanese material since Super Mario Bros. 3. This is stated in the Japanese manual of said game,, in books written in cooperation with Nintendo and released during the 1990's such as the Super Mario Complete Encyclopedia (「スーパーマリオ全百科 」), in the description for Bowser's main trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee and in the Nintendo Official Guidebooks for Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, the latter case being notable as the game and its guide were released after the introduction of Bowser Jr. in Super Mario Sunshine.

Ashley's age
It is commonly claimed among online fans that Ashley is 9/10 years old in Japanese WarioWare material and that her age was "changed" for the western localization. The claim was featured for a time on MarioWiki's Ashley and Red page, although it was later removed for being unsourced.

The claim is only partially true in that Ashley's bio on the western WarioWare: Touched! website stated her to be 15 where its Japanese equivalent does not give a precise age to Ashley: while there are hints that Ashley is meant to be younger than 15 years old (such as her voice and Ashley referring to herself in the third person in Japanese material, a speaking pattern that usually denotes young, immature characters in Japanese media), she has never been given a precise age in any Japanese WarioWare media, beside the description for the Crazy Galaxy badges in Nintendo Badge Arcade stating that this specific incarnation of Ashley is older.

Clawdia Koopa
A popular rumor states that an unspecified UK Nintendo magazine issue once joked that Bowser's wife is named "Clawdia Koopa". However, despite the rumor's popularity, no scan or direct quotation of the statement has surfaced. Furthermore, most sites making this claim attribute it to "Nintendo Power UK", a publication that does not exist (the actual official UK Nintendo magazine went through a variety of names, but none of them were related to Nintendo Power).

The idea that Bowser has a wife named Clawdia Koopa likely originates from the Mario fansite Lemmy's Land. Lemmy Koopa, the webmaster, created an original character named Clawdia to play the role of Bowser's wife in his fanfiction. She appeared on the site as early as 2002. As Lemmy Koopa has always been open about Clawdia being his original character, it is most likely that a third party started the "Nintendo Power UK" rumor.

King K. Rool's costumes are separate characters in Japanese
King K. Rool's trophy description in Super Smash Bros. Brawl states that "His brother, Kaptain K. Rool, made an appearance in the game Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest". This lead to several fans wondering if this was a change in the Japanese localization of the Donkey Kong Country games, which, due to the broken telephone effect, was morphed into a "fact" that King K. Rool's disguises are separate characters in Japanese. In truth, Japanese material for the Donkey Kong Country series also has K. Rool's aliases being mere disguises, and thus the trophy description is merely an error.

The Donkey Kong Country animated series featured Kaptain Skurvy, a pirate-themed texture swap of General Klump who is eventually revealed to be Klump's long-lost brother. As the Donkey Kong Country series was relatively popular in Japan, it may have been a possible source of confusion.

The Mario characters are actors
In September 2012, Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka held an interview with gaming magazine Game Informer, which was reported by several sites. Among other information, the interview had Shigeru Miyamoto stating he pictured the Mario cast as "[...] a troupe of actors". As many who reported the interview omitted the context of the statement (with at least one site running it as the headline), this lead to several assuming that the statement was meant to be taken literally, that is, the Mario characters are actors playing a role and that their adventures are not "real" in the context of the Mario universe. Further supporting this idea is the above interpretation that Super Mario Bros. 3 is a play.

Miyamoto's answer, however, was of a different nature. When asked by the interviewer why Mario and Princess Peach partake in friendly sporting competitions with Bowser despite their antagonistic relationship in the platforming games, Miyamoto responded that he pictured the Mario cast as being similar to old comic and cartoon characters (specifically mentioning Popeye), which frequently changed time period and occupation depending on the scenario with no explanation, concluding that he envisions them as "one big family, or maybe a troupe of actors." .

Interviewer: Time and again, Bowser kidnaps Peach. Why do Mario and Peach still race go-karts and play tennis with him?? Miyamoto: If you're familiar with things like Popeye and some of the old comic characters, you would oftentimes see this cast of characters that takes on different roles depending on the comic or cartoon. They might be businessman in one [cartoon] or a pirate in another. Depending on the story that was being told, they would change roles. So, to a certain degree, I look at our characters in a similar way and feel that they can take on different roles in different games. It's more like they're one big family, or maybe a troupe of actors.

Toads' genders
On November 17, 2014, GameSpot posted an article featuring a segment of an interview with Koichi Hayashida on Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, who, when discussing the Toad's genders, stated that, "[...]we never really went out of our way to decide on the sex of these characters, even though they have somewhat gendered appearances." This led the article's writer and many others to conclude that the Toad species is a genderless race. Other more direct sources reveal, however, that Toads are not exactly genderless. An interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, for instance, has clarified that when Toads were designed, the developers did not focus on their genders until Toadette, who was clearly designed to be female, was introduced, and then players began assuming the Toad character as male. In other words, Toads were more likely viewed with an ambiguous gender at first rather than being flat-out genderless as the GameSpot article seems to imply.

Luigi in Super Mario 64 / "L is real 2401"
A famous rumor surrounding Super Mario 64 was that Luigi can be unlocked as a secret playable character, with proponents often citing the star statue in the courtyard of Peach's Castle as proof. The statue contains a plaque with small, blurry characters that purportedly read "L is real 2401", which supports the idea that Luigi (the character "L" stands for) exists in the game. (The inscription has also been said to read "Eternal Star" by many, but this interpretation does not prove the point as clearly.) After the discovery of this plaque, many theories regarding the meaning of the "L is real 2401" message circulated, many being that the number "2401" hinted at the method of unlocking Luigi. These methods, which varied in levels of absurdity, included running 2,401 laps around the courtyard statue or collecting every single coin in the game (there supposedly being 2,401 coins in total). On April 1, 2000, the user Hairball published several fake screenshots onto the blog site Super Mario 128 Central with their own explanation, claiming that unlocking Luigi would also unlock a co-op gameplay mode.

After receiving numerous fake explanations and controller input codes from fans, the gaming website IGN offered a $100 reward for an authentic method of unlocking Luigi in the game. A week later, the staff would post an update stating that, while no legitimate methods had been found, the number of false submissions had significantly dropped. They concluded that Luigi's inclusion in the game was simply a myth.

Nintendo itself acknowledged the rumor in an April Fools' feature in the April 1998 issue of Nintendo Power, which stated that it would discuss the "L is real 2401" message on the non-existent page 128. During the same year, a fan sent a letter to Nintendo of America asking about the message on the statue. According to Game Play Counselor Michael D. Chandler's response letter, the message has no actual meaning and was only added as a joke to trick players into thinking that it had a hidden meaning.

Post-release interviews for the game would reveal that the developers had initially planned to include a cooperative multiplayer mode featuring Luigi, with early prototypes allowing players to run around in a large space simultaneously, but that this feature had to be cut due to hardware limitations.

A variant of the rumor claims that "L is real 2401" instead refers to Paper Mario, a game that Luigi does appear in, though as a non-playable character. According to the rumor, the "2401" refers to the game's supposed North American release date of February 4, 2001, even though the actual date was one day later, on February 5. In addition, Paper Mario was initially released in Japan on August 11, 2000, and was originally scheduled for a December 26, 2000, launch in North America before being delayed to February 2001. As the development team of Super Mario 64 could not have predicted the exact release date of any game years in advance, it is highly unlikely that the text was foreshadowing Luigi's appearance in this game.

Eventually, Luigi was made a playable character in the remake of the original game, Super Mario 64 DS. Coincidentally, due to a large-scale asset leak of pre-release Nintendo games, a prototype model of Luigi in Super Mario 64 was found and assembled on July 25, 2020, 24 years and one month (hence, 24-01) after the game was released. Additionally, the numbers that make up the day and month relate as well, with 7 (July) being all four digits added together and 25 being 24 + 01.

Ninja Mario in Super Mario 64
Former Nintendo Power columnist Dan Owsen would state in a subscriber-exclusive feature of the magazine that one question he was asked many times was how to unlock "Ninja Mario" in Super Mario 64. Despite repeatedly confirming that such a form does not exist, fans continued to ask him about it. After some time, his answers went from tongue-in-cheek responses such as "A ninja never reveals his secrets" and "I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you" to actively anyone who mentioned it.

Luigi's Mansion early versions
Various rumors have circulated regarding earlier versions of and cut content from Luigi's Mansion, most of which claim that the game was meant to have a darker and more violent tone than the final version. Two recurring parts of these rumors are a cut "hunter" Portrait Ghost and the presence of an in-game time limit.

Hunter ghost
The October 2001 issue of Nintendo Power included a page with preview screenshots of Luigi's Mansion, including a screenshot of an earlier build of the Safari Room with the caption "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." This created rumors that the Safari Room originally featured a hunter boss who wanted Luigi's head as one of his trophies, and players speculated that it was removed from the game for being too frightening to the target audience of children.

However, no evidence of a hunter ghost is present in the game's data despite the presence of other unused ghosts, and no direct mentions of the boss exist in previews prior to the game's release in Japan in September 2001. The caption was likely an attempt at hyperbole rather than a serious indication that a hunter-themed ghost was in the game, as the article was written after Luigi's Mansion released in Japan, meaning all characters would have been finalized long before the article was published.

Time limit
During, a playable demo of Luigi's Mansion featured an on-screen timer of 1 minute 30 seconds. After this time elapsed, Professor E. Gadd would appear and return the player to the title screen, ending their time with the game. This time limit may have been subject to a effect leading to the belief that original versions of the game featured a mandatory time limit, after which the titular mansion would disappear with Mario still inside. Similar to the hunter ghost, no evidence of a scrapped time limit exists in the data of the final release. Additionally, no other previews of the game mention or showcase it.

Another contributor to this rumor may have been a commercial for the game in the United States, in which the narrator states "You only have one night to save Mario."

Luigi's hanging shadow
In Luigi's Mansion, when entering Area 4 after defeating Boolossus, a blackout occurs, and Luigi must proceed to the Telephone Room. If the player waits while he answers a telephone, lightning strikes and reveals his shadow, which appears to be suspended from the ceiling. This led many to believe that it purposely depicted Luigi hanging himself, and the shadow became a source of and speculation about the development of the game.

The appearance of Luigi's shadow is simply a glitch caused by shadow positions being based on the angle of the in-game camera. Because the camera moves slightly lower while Luigi is answering a telephone, his shadow is projected slightly higher. Additionally, what appears to be Luigi's arm to the right of his shadow is actually the shadow of the Poltergust 3000, which converges with Luigi's shadow in this instance. This graphical effect can be replicated while speaking to a Toad or Professor E. Gadd over the Game Boy Horror, as a similar camera angle change occurs.

In the Nintendo 3DS remake of Luigi's Mansion, the lighting system is improved, and shadow positions are no longer based on camera position; therefore, the error is not present.

Waluigi in Super Mario 64 DS
After Super Mario 64 DS released on November 21, 2004, its inclusion of multiple playable characters caused rumors to surface about Waluigi appearing in the game, similar to the original Super Mario 64 Luigi rumors. Various fake and sometimes very elaborate ways to supposedly unlock Waluigi were shared, some even involving the original "L is real 2401" statue. However, no evidence in the game's files suggests Waluigi was ever planned to appear.

One of the most popular pieces of evidence that Waluigi was both present and playable in the game was a fake magazine scan titled "Purple Prizes." It stated that Waluigi could be unlocked by collecting every Power Star and becoming "the fastest foot racer in the land," then triggering a hidden switch to reveal his door and defeating the "Rabbit King" to collect the key; the page also described his standard and Power Flower abilities, as well as stating that he has a "special ending." The image was created by Andrew Brown, who edited a custom-made Waluigi model into game screenshots and compiled them into a scan for a nonexistent magazine. He posted the image onto art-sharing site DeviantART and some small gaming forums as a joke for 2005, but it quickly spiked in popularity and began to be shared as fact, despite his detailed explanation of how the image was created only two days after it was first uploaded.

Marty the Thwomp
A popular rumor surrounding Mario Kart 64 involves the Thwomp locked behind a cage at the beginning of Bowser's Castle. Its peculiar color and situation led fans to name it "Marty". While the exact origin of this name is unknown, it was popularized by user Clay McElveen, who uploaded two videos to YouTube on March 24 and April 1 of 2007, showcasing complex methods to unlock Marty as a playable character in the game. Both videos involved playing as Bowser and making various complicated movements around the track, such as driving around a statue of Bowser or driving in reverse to a specific point of the track, before returning to the room with Marty, where the bars on his cage would rise, indicating that he was unlocked.

There is no evidence in the data or code of the game to indicate that this Thwomp or any other character is unlockable. Additionally, no green Thwomp textures exist in the game, and the green appearance of this specific Thwomp is a result of the yellow light from its cage reflecting off of its surface.

Laser Suit in Super Mario World
On April 21, 2007, a video showcasing a secret exit in the Top Secret Area of Super Mario World was uploaded to YouTube. In the video, Mario jumps between the two right ? Blocks of the level and enters an invisible Warp Pipe. This takes the player to a hidden Giant Gate, which unlocks a new level titled "???". In this level is a Message Block containing a congratulatory message supposedly from Nintendo staff presenting the Laser Suit power-up. In this form, Mario has the gliding property of Cape Mario, but can also shoot lasers directly forwards.

In reality, the power-up was created by Super Mario World hacker KPhoenix, who added the secret exit, new level, and Laser Suit in a ROM hack of the game. On an online message board, they stated that they included the Message Block "so people would be fooled on Youtube", and made the hack publicly available to download on February 4, 2007. While this original download is no longer available, the files for the power-up were uploaded to ROM hacking site Super Mario World Central by KPhoenix on March 7, 2011.

Rosalina in Mario Tennis Open
Some time after the release of Mario Tennis Open on May 20, 2012, a Nindori magazine scan appeared on Japanese websites depicting Rosalina's head edited over the QR code used to unlock Black Yoshi in the game, despite Rosalina not appearing in Mario Tennis Open.

Chunky Kong in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U
In June of 2014, a playable demo of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was available at select North American locations. On July 28, 2014, Smashboards user wildvine47 reported that he saw Chunky Kong as an Assist Trophy character while playing the demo at a Best Buy in. He described Chunky Kong Ground Pounding, after which bananas fell from the sky to damage opponents. While the rumor was initially seen as credible, suspicion arose due to there being no video or image captured of the alleged Assist Trophy. The rumor was confirmed to be false when Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS were released, with no sighting or mention of Chunky Kong as one of the Assist Trophies in either version. On December 22, 2014, wildvine47 admitted in a forum post that he had invented the rumor, both to see which fake leaks would include the information as legitimate, and for his own amusement.

Mario Party DS anti-piracy measures
On October 13, 2020, YouTube user Joey Perleoni uploaded a video titled "Mario Party DS Anti Piracy Screen", showcasing what appears to be piracy detection features in Mario Party DS. In the video, the minigame Cherry-Go-Round is played normally until an error message appears stating that a pirated copy of the game is being played. The game then cuts to the eponymous anti-piracy screen. On the bottom screen, an image taken from a story cutscene where Bowser shrinks Mario and friends and traps them in a cage is used, meant to evoke a prison cell in the video. The phrase "Piracy Is No Party!" and a message about video game piracy are displayed on the top screen. During this portion of the video, ominous music plays in the background; an extended version of this track was uploaded by the same user on December 17, 2020. While both videos became very popular, with both accruing at least 500,000 views on YouTube, there is no evidence in the game's files that this screen, music, or any anti-piracy measure exists in the game.

After the success of the first video, Joey Perleoni would continue to post several other videos showing additional supposed anti-piracy measures in Mario Party DS. On December 20, 2020, a second video titled "Mario Party DS Anti Piracy | Item Shop Dialogue/Secret Boss HD" was uploaded, in which Luigi enters the Item Shop, only for the Monty Mole to state "I don't serve criminals". The player is then taken to a boss minigame version of Mole Thrill with the name "RUN"; the rules state "There is nothing you can do", and the controls are "None". When the minigame starts, the Monty Mole burrows through the ground until it comes into contact with Luigi and, as in the previous video, an error message appears, followed by the game cutting to the anti-piracy message screen. Other videos include one showing a version of the Final 5 Frenzy event where the player is unceremoniously squashed by a Thwomp, ending the game prematurely ; a self-reporting protocol that appears should the player wait on the anti-piracy screen for too long without turning the console off ; and a boss minigame called "Host Hoedown" which involves apologizing to a host named "DJ Hallyboo", inspired by MC Ballyhoo from Mario Party 8. Eventually, a "finale" to the video series was uploaded, dropping any pretense of legitimacy in favor of a live-action black comedy short in which Hallyboo escapes into the real world and hunts Perleoni himself down for pirating the game.

On December 21, 2020, the unused-content wiki 's Mario Party DS page was protected due to vandalism related to the hoax. Several other YouTube creators have since uploaded similar videos showing fabricated anti-piracy measures in other games.

"Wii Music U" patent
On May 22, 2014, the approved a patent application filed by Nintendo describing a music-based game using the Wii U GamePad. The user Rösti created a thread on the video game forum NeoGAF about the patent, speculating that it was related to a sequel or follow-up to the Wii game . In response to this thread, video game news websites ran articles stating that a sequel to Wii Music was rumored to be in development.

In reality, the patent did not pertain to a sequel to Wii Music or any other standalone game, but instead a small feature in Game & Wario. The Cluck-A-Pop mode features a series of prizes in toy capsules labeled with the name Bugband, and each one is a sound test where each layer of a song is represented by characters which the player can isolate, remove or interact with from the Wii U GamePad screen. This matches the description and images found on the patent.

Another indicator that the patent was for Game & Wario is that the inventors listed are Goro Abe and Takehiko Hosokawa, the director and assistant director of the game, respectively. Both worked for Nintendo SPD rather than Nintendo EAD, the developer of Wii Music, and neither had any involvement in Wii Music. Goro Abe is also listed as the inventor on several other patents filed around this time, all of which clearly describe aspects of Game & Wario: one patent application is for the Pirates minigame, another describes Disco, and a third depicts Bowling.