In Donkey Kong 64, Diddy, Tiny, Lanky and Chunky are all unlocked by freeing them from cages. While DK appears to be unlocked by default, this is false: internally, the game only unlocks him by opening the door to exit DK Island. The entirety of DK Island is his personal cage.
Supper Mario Broth
When rumble is turned on in Luigi's Mansion 3, the controller will vibrate in the presence of a Boo. The vibration is actually in a rhythm that spells out "-... --- ---" in Morse code, which translates to "BOO".
Addendum: please note that this wording is only present in the English version, and absent in both the Japanese original and other translations. As such, the implication is clearly not intentional and is merely a bizarre choice on part of the English translator!
Announcement: it has come to my attention that a number of readers were not aware that the source links in my posts were also included in the ALT text, or would prefer them to be accessible in a different manner. As such, starting today, I will also add the links in a reply to the original post.
In Mario Party, minigame descriptions treat being eliminated merely as being out of the game, except for Bumper Balls, which drastically shifts the tone by stating the winner is the last one left alive. This implies that while other minigames might be for fun, Bumper Balls is to the death.
In Paper Mario: Color Splash, a Shy Guy is trapped in a water wheel after being bullied. The internal name for this pose is "crucify". This suggests that the original intent may have been for him to actually evoke a crucifixion before it was decided this may be in bad taste.
Links included in post: www.ndw.jp/mario-220913..., www.thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/special/mari...
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Supper Mario Broth
Super Mario Galaxy skyboxes use perspective tricks to reduce the number of polygons that would normally be needed. The Melty Molten Galaxy skybox appears to be two large spheres, but is actually an illusion painted onto the sides of a burger.
Supper Mario Broth
The Mosh-Pit Playroom minigame in Mario Party 8 contains generic books in the background. Unused textures for these books show they were originally meant to be a treasure trove of Easter egg references to other video games, including even some non-Mario ones like Mother.
Supper Mario Broth
In a 2010 interview, Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that the reason so many Mario enemies have repetitive names in Japanese (and by extension in English, e.g. Koopa Troopa, Cheep Cheep) is in honor of Takashi Tezuka, who calls himself "Ten Ten".
