The Nintendo Direct briefing has just ended and it was jam packed with announcements and heaps of news for fans. However within the midst of all the excitement one particular Twitter post stood out particular. On September 13, the official Twitter account for Nintendo of America made a post highlighting two new worlds that were shown off in a brand new trailer for the upcoming title Super Mario Odyssey which can be seen below the tweet.
But what has fans reeling all over the internet is the fact that Mario the beloved plumber (or former plumber) is in fact shirtless. This isn’t the first time we have seen Mario on the beach but even then he was always in his traditional red and blue attire. Not only that fans were even more shocked at the fact that the video game icon is sporting nipples! To some that might seem normal for a human to have nipples, but that brings forth the question on whether or not Mario himself is considered a human. One might consider it normal for Mario to have nipples but ask questions to why the developers chose to not include a belly button with them. Nonetheless, the post has raised many questions and opinions from fans concerning their discomfort and or unfamiliarity with the new portrayal of the character.
During E3, Waypoint asked the director of Super Mario Odyssey, Kenta MotoKura, whether or not Mario was a human or not. He went on to confirm that he was considered human. When asked why he looked so different from other human characters that Nintendo designed for Super Mario Odyssey, he stated “In the world, there are many different types of people, you know.” It seems as if Nintendo is trying to give the beloved character a more human feel this time around by putting in features such as Mario napping when he’s tired or him dancing in excitement. Either way, it looks like we might have to get used to the fact that the nipples are there.