There is a lot to unpack about Mario's entire media empire, no doubt about it. But we tend to write off games like Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. as non-canonical, "pretend" side games that don't really count and aren't meant to be scrutinized—such as questioning why Mario can peacefully co-exist with Bowse༺r in a race or how Luigi can have a fist fight with Pac-Man.

As it goes with a lot of other game franchises that have a "main series" and various side games, the core Super Mario line of platform games is gen🧔erally meant to be the official universe of Mario and company. The rules tend to be more defined, the characters all play roughly the same role from one game to the next, and there are even sometimes references back to previous adventures, seeming to acknowledge that they have all actually taken place within the canon.

That makes the following list of errors, inconsistencies, and other mysteries focusing just on the core Super Mario series all the more interesting, as that is usually where Nintendo keeps things more focused and consistent. But there's really only so much you can do to keep such a bizarre central foundation sensible and without mistakes, we suppose. It's obviously best to just play the Super Mario games and enjoy them for what they are and not question how a chub♑by-but-nimble plumber found his way to a magical kingdom of mushroom people led by a princess who is constantly being captured by a bipedal dinosaur/turtle beast. But some things are just impossible to gloss over, even under those circumstances.

26 💛 The Yoshi Paradox 💞

One of the big innovations introduced in Super Mario World—besides tꦜhose fancy-pants 16-bit graphics and that hard-to-mas𝔉ter cape—was the introduction of a dinosaur sidekick that Mario could ride on named Yoshi. The game sets things up to imply that Mario and Yoshi are meeting for the first time—something that is immediately undone by that game's sequel.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is all about Yoshi interacting with Mario as a baby... but how could that be?

Why does Yoshi seem to show zero knowledge of his previous adventures with Mario? And sure, Mario isn't going to remember being a baby, but how did he then go all those years before so m🍒uch as crossing 𝓰paths with a Yoshi again?

25 𝓀 Caps Fo🍸r Sale

Super Mario Odyssey setting up the ability for Mario to buy a variety of different outfits💃—some to match a given world, and others just for fun—has been an aspect of that game that players have really enjoyed. In fact, Nintendo has continued to dole out outfits over time to get people to dust off the game and put a few more hours into it.

There's a big problem♊ with being able to buy new hats, however. Cappy's whole deal is that he can change into any kind of hat, as he immediately does when he becomes Mario's iconic red cap. Why, then, do we have to pay thousands of coins for "new hats" when Cappy can seemingly just change into them at will?

24 ꦡ Toadstool Before Peach

Peach has become quite the iconic character, probably as popular and recognizable as any Disney princess or even real-life royalty. But long before she was the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, pink-dress-wearing Peach, she had a much different look and name.

Old-school Mario fans remember that his love interest used to be known as Princess Toadstool, and had red hair and a white dress.

Various incarnations of the character even showed her as having brown or black hair, 𒉰and dresses of varying colors, before her blonde locks and pink dress was finalized as her official look in the mid-90s. And what of h💙er name? Is her full name actually Princess Peach Toadstool, then?

23 𝓡 Where's Luigi?

Not counting Donkey Kong, Luigi has been by his brother's side since Mario's very first headlining game. After all, the original game was called Mario Bros. And although he was just a palette swap in that and Super Mario Bros., he soon developed his own look and personality.

That said, Luigi has seemingly sat out several entire Mario adventures. Where was he while Mario was rescuing Peach during the events of Super Mario 64? And why does Luigi wait until Mario completes his quest in Odyssey bef❀ore he shows up just to stand around and play with balloons? It seems like a given he should juওst permanently be fighting at his brother's side—so why isn't he? Does Daisy keep him on lock down?

22 🌳 Bowser, You ARE𝓰 The Father

Since making his debut in Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser Jr. has been a mainstay in the Mario series as his dad꧅'s right-hand villain. But the immediate question we all had i🍸s how could possibly be Junior's mother?

Junior confronts Peach and calls her "mama," to which she acts... strangely.

As a woman, you tend to know if you gave birth to a child or not. Peach should immediately know that she isn't Junior's mom, unless... she is. Eww. And this doesn't even address the Koopalings that debuted in Super Mario Bros. 3, which were initially positioned as Bowser's children until Nintendo backpedaled on it. So who are their parents, then? Does Bowser have siblings, and if so, where are they? We ne𒆙ed you on this on𒀰e, Maury.

21 Fly Like 🔥A... Raccoon?

While Peach could float for a few seconds in Super Mario Bros. 2—and Luigi could jump so high it was almost like he was flying—the introduction of actual flight in Super Mario Bros. 3 completely changed how we played a Mario game forever.

So what power-up enabled Mario to take flight for the first time? A raccoon tail and ears, for some reason.

Rather than just picking an animal that actually has the power of flight, Nintendo opted to have Mario stretches out his arms and flap his raccoon tail in order to ta﷽ke to the skies. Sure, why not.

20 🍨 Yoshi's Back

Yoshi is obviously meant to be a dinosaur. Between the prehistoric tribal-style music that kicks in when you're riding him to just his basic overall design, there's little question that he is the interpretation of what a dinosaur would look like in the world of Super Mario.

If that's the case, then what's on his back? Initially, it seemed like maybe it was just a saddle—except that later designs of his character made that reꦐd, white-ringed thing on his back look an awful lot like a shell, similar to a Koopa shell without the lines. So is it a saddle permanently grafted onto his back, or is he a dinosaur with a turtle shell? That debate rages on.

19 🍸 Don't Hold Your Breath

While water𝄹 levels in platform games have gotten much better over the years, in the 8- and 16-bit days, seeing that a level was going to take place primarily underwater typically had gamers rolling their eyes. Water stages often just felt like an excuse to inflate the difficulty by forcing your character to move in slow motion, have awful controls, and depending on the game, have a limited air supply.

Unlike the Sonic the Hedgehog games, Mario could indefinitely hold his breath under water... at first.

Then, in Super Mario 64, he could🥀n't anymore. And then he could again. And then he couldn't. There seems to be൲ no rhyme or reason to why his lung capacity goes from realistic to infinite from one game to the next.

18 Mario The Copyc🦩at ﷽

A lot of Super Mario games are built around a specifically gameplay gimmick. Sunshine had the F.L.U.D.D., Galaxy had funky gravity, and Odyssey had Cappy's capture and possession ability. Much praise was heaped upon the inn♐ovative gameplay mechanics of Cappy, with people pointing out how cool and unique it made the game.

There's just one small problem: That'sℱ literally what Kirby had already been doing for like the last 25 years. We suppose it's fair since it's Nintendo stealing an idea from Nintendo, but still—for Mario to take Kirby's whole 🙈shtick and hog all the glory for it is more than a little sketchy.

17 Jus𝔉t Say No

Nintendo has long prided itself on—and subsequently taken a lot of heat for, especially in recent decades—being the video game company that makes products for kids and families. In spite of the occasional detour into Conker's Bad Fur Day and Bayonetta 2 type ♕territory, Nintendo games are generally safe for gamers of all ages to play.

However, the entire Mario franchise is built around messaging that should never be put in front of children—or even adults, really.

And that message is that ingesting a mushroom gives you fun, crazy powers. Couldn'ꦓt Nintendo have chosen a food that isn't also used for less-than-innocent purposes in real life?