Game Theory: Super Mario...BETRAYED!

Nintendo's character designer for Super Mario World, Shigefumi Hino, confirmed that Mario punches Yoshi in the head, causing Yoshi's tongue to shoot out in surprise rather than responding to a verbal command.

The original setup showed Mario punching Yoshi with the character's tongue shooting out as a reaction, accompanied by a bob sound effect.

Many players believed Mario was pointing his finger forward while saying 'Go,' and Yoshi's tongue came out as a response to the command.

This revelation challenges long-held assumptions about how Mario and Yoshi interact, adding evidence that things in the Mario universe are not always what they seem.

After 200 episodes, the show emphasizes that viewers should not take everything at face value and understand that good and evil are not always black and white.

• Mario is presented as the hero, but morality depends on perspective • Bowser could be seen as a hero to those who believe in his cause • Players only see one side of the story as presented by the game

The importance of questioning what we're told and why we're being told it, whether in video games or real life.

There exists a character in Mario who is pure evil, someone who creates chaos for personal profit and aligns with no one—a true war profiteer.

Professor Elvin Gadd is revealed as the Mario universe's biggest threat—a war profiteer who creates conflict and sells solutions to both sides.

E. Gadd is known for providing Mario and friends with helpful, wacky inventions, appearing as a benevolent scientist helping the heroes.

Behind his helpful exterior, Gadd orchestrates chaos to increase demand for his inventions, selling problems and their solutions for profit.

In Super Mario Sunshine, E. Gadd created both the FLUDD (the solution) and the magic paintbrush Bowser Jr. uses to destroy Delfino Island (the problem).

Bowser Jr. uses a magic paintbrush bearing E. Gadd's logo to paint the town red and trash Delfino Island throughout the game.

• Mario receives the Flash Liquidizer Ultra Dousing Device (FLUDD) upon arrival • FLUDD comes with a note: 'Thank you for purchasing this item from Gadd Science, Incorporated' • The device is Mario's primary weapon against the chaos

E. Gadd created both the weapon of destruction (paintbrush) and the solution (FLUDD), profiting from both the problem and its resolution.

Bowser Jr. admits a strange old man in a white coat gave him the paintbrush, despite E. Gadd knowing from Luigi's Mansion that the Bowser family is dangerous.

• Vacuum Orb (Gadd-designed) is exclusive to villains Wario and Waluigi • Magic Orb wand (granting invisibility) only usable by Boo and Dry Bones, recurring enemies • All Gadd-logo items in the game are designed to help villains

E. Gadd creates a time machine and sends Princess Peach alone in it as a maiden voyage, claiming 99.99999% certainty nothing will go wrong. She becomes trapped in the past and kidnapped by mushroom aliens.

During the Partners in Time crisis, E. Gadd remains at the castle researching the aliens but finds nothing useful, actively doubting help from other characters.

After the final boss is defeated, E. Gadd lures players into a trap where they find Bowser possessed by evil mushrooms, as if Gadd orchestrated the encounter.

In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, King Boo—defeated and trapped in a painting in the first game—was freed when E. Gadd 'accidentally' sold the painting in a garage sale.

• E. Gadd previously claimed: 'I'd wager dollars to donuts nobody but me has such lovely paintings' • He was so eager to keep his paintings that he delayed rescuing Mario until all ghosts were captured • He then 'accidentally' sold the most expensive and dangerous painting

Of 23 main ghosts in Luigi's Mansion, only 4 are hostile before Luigi attacks. E. Gadd directed Luigi to capture all of them, suggesting orchestrated ghost management.

E. Gadd controlled the entire story in Luigi's Mansion, narrating Mario's disappearance while allowing him to enter a dangerous mansion he knew was haunted, without warning.

E. Gadd possesses a machine that transforms physical beings into paintings and paintings back into physical beings, yet the game never explains how ghosts escaped their paintings.

Given E. Gadd's ability to reverse the painting process, he may have helped ghosts escape their paintings, creating the original problem.

• E. Gadd states ghosts came from paintings by the ghost artist Van Gore • Van Gore brought ghosts to life using a paintbrush • A paintbrush that brings things to life appears elsewhere in E. Gadd's inventions (the Sunshine paintbrush)

E. Gadd may have helped create the ghosts, captures them for living, supplies them with magical items in board games, and orchestrates their release to restart the cycle.

E. Gadd serves one master: not good, not evil, but money. He helps whoever pays him regardless of their alignment.

• Create problems using inventions (paintbrush, time machine) • Charge the good guys for solutions to those problems (FLUDD, Hydrogush) • Supply villains with tools to create more chaos and increase demand

In Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga, an unprompted Easter egg shows E. Gadd rambling about needing fat stacks of coins for research, managing the Starbeans Cafe for secondary income.

• The Greed Wallet appears in Superstar Saga, doubling money earned after battle • FLUDD's purchase note states: 'Thank you for purchasing this item,' showing Gadd sold the solution to Delfino Island

In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, E. Gadd tells Luigi: 'Once all of this is over, you'll finally step out of your brother's shadow and be recognized as a true hero. Heh heh...' while laughing under his breath.

E. Gadd plays on Luigi's feelings of inadequacy and poor emotions while laughing about it, revealing calculated psychological manipulation.

Beyond being an absent-minded professor, E. Gadd is revealed as a calculating mastermind deliberately orchestrating events for profit.

• Creates problems (paintbrush, time machine, Portraficationizer) • Manufactures solutions (FLUDD, Hydrogush, Poltergust) • Fuels feuds between warring factions while hiding in the middle raking in profits

E. Gadd is the real villain of the Mario franchise, driven entirely by greed rather than any ideological alignment.

While Wario is known as the money-grubbing character, E. Gadd's eyes are actually green with dollar signs, making him the franchise's most consistent profit-seeker.

His villainy is more dangerous than Bowser's because it's systematic, hidden, and perpetuates endless conflict from which he benefits.

This is just a theory—a Game Theory—encouraging viewers to reconsider everything they thought they knew about the Mario universe and question what they're told.