Just Google 'Toad Super Mario' and one of the top searches poses 'without hat'. Like, we obviously understand that he's meant to resemble a toadstool, but is the red and white blob on top of his head a hat or merely an extension of him?
In a recent video interview, Super Mario Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi agreed to sit down and address some of the longstanding mysteries about the cult game - including whether or not Toad's head is a hat or, indeed, a head?
"So that, as it turns out, is actually Toad's head," he reveals.
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He adds: "I'm going to have to leave it to all of you to figure out exactly how that works out. Maybe there's something inside..."
Credit: Nintendo/YouTube
Dorkly writer Tristan Cooper took it upon himself to delve into the logistics - referencing dialogue from 2017's Mario Party: The Top 100, where Toad says: "I'd tip my hat to you, but neither of us wants to see that."
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Cooper explains: "The surface-level reading of this line would indicate Toad is indeed wearing a hat and is ashamed of the unseen horrors underneath it.
"Then again, in this scenario you might say Toad is stating that 'neither of us wants to see' him rip off the top part of his head and expose his brain, which would also be accurate."
He also refers to a late 1980s clip from Super Mario Bros Super Show, in which Toad reveals that his mushroom is actually just a cap, which he takes off and wrings sadly.
WATCH THE INTRO TO SUPER MARIO BROS SUPER SHOW:
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In the same video, Koizumi addresses other fan concerns like why Mario has nipples, but no belly button.
"To be perfectly honest, I didn't really expect that to be a topic among fans," he says.
"Once I heard people were talking so much about Mario's belly button, it made me start to think about whether we should revisit the topic on the design side."
Bit of a non-answer, that one, but fair enough.
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He also talks about Mario's relationship with Peach and, now, Pauline ("I would appreciate it if we could respect the privacy of those three at this time") and what his high score is for the volleyball activity ("I had to work hard to get the Power Moon for 100 on that one"), before explaining how he chose which elements from other games were to be featured in Super Mario Odyssey.
"It's not just Super Mario 64, but there are a lot of other different previous Mario games that we discussed with staff on how we can bring up interesting nostalgic callbacks from.
"But because Super Mario 64 is very important as kind of a spiritual predecessor to the concept of 3D Mario games, I think we went particularly heavy on elements from that one."
Featured Image Credit: Nintendo/Super Mario OdysseyTopics: GAMING, Entertainment, Super Mario, Nintendo, Technology