The Super Mario Bros. is such a popular game series that even your grandparents might have played some of its games. Making his debut appearance as "Jumpman" in the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong, It wouldn't be until the release of Super Mario Bros (1985), that would set the red plumber towards international success. It is now considered to be Nintendo's landmark series with nearly 600 million sales. While the majority of the series' games are aimed at the general public, some of its contents remain somewhat disturbing for the younger audience.

As such, we will take a look at weird things that you might not have noticed in the Super Mario Bros' series. Mario definitely has a lot of secrets that fans don't know. Nintendo hasn't kept the famous plumber as wholesome or normal as you might expect. Between cultural differences, and the march of time, there's no denying how creepy and bizarre some of the plumber's exploits look in a modern context.

18 Just How Many People Has Mario Destroyed?

Ok, so Mario may not be represented as an assassin, as in Assassin's Creed II, but that doesn't mean that he's a clean guy in his world neither. In fact, Mario's body count may be the most out of any character in the video game franchise.

The Super Mario Bros' instruction booklet explains that the Koopas conquered the peaceful Mushroom Kingdom and turned its inhabitants into stones and bricks, mostly. In other words, every time Mario is breaking a block, he's destroying one person. Amount it to the number of games he's featured in within the Mushroom Kingdom (Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64, etc.), and you got a rather dark number.

17 Secret Levels In Super Mario Bros.?

Whether you've finished Super Mario Bros. or not, every gamer will mostly notice the level's design that is easily a visual landmark in the Super Mario series. What gamers don't know is that other levels are "hidden" in Super Mario Bros.

These secret worlds are glitch levels that the player can access in multiple ways. The most known way to access it would be to perform a crouch back jump at the last pipe of the 1-2 level. By doing it, the player will be able to walk through the wall and access the warp room. If the player takes the only visible pipe, then they'll end up in the rumored glitch level. Commonly named the "Minus World," there's not much to do here, except swimming underwater endlessly, while observing the different glitches in the level. Fortunately, the glitch is still present in the Virtual Console on Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. Give it a try!

16 Superhuman Mario Bros. Or Different Species Mario Bros.?

Super Mario Odyssey may be a success, but it is the first game that raises questions about Mario's place in the human world. First, it is the first game that features regular humans, most commonly known as New Donkers. Though series creator Shigeru Miyamoto has said many times that Mario was human, we still find It questionable that he doesn't share the same physical traits as the New Donkers.

Mario seems very small and more cartoonish than the New Donkers; he physically looks like a middle-aged man (though he's only 24 years old) and his vocabulary is very limited. On the other side, Mario's physical level surpasses any Olympic athletes. Whether to consider Mario a superhuman or not, is definitely up for debate.

15 Is Mario's Relationship With Yoshi Rocky?

It's only right to say that Yoshi is Mario's most trusted companion. Mainly serving as Mario's mounted dinosaur, Yoshi also saved Baby Mario a few times, in his Yoshi's Island series. With that much history, It's only right for players to assume that Yoshi will forever be Mario's "BFF." Unfortunately, It hasn't always been the case.

While Yoshi is featured as a playable character in Super Mario 64 DS, Yoshi makes a cowardly appearance in its original Nintendo 64 version. If players manage to get the 120 stars and defeat Bowser, they will unlock a cannon outside of Peach's castle. Should they propel Mario to the top right side of the castle, they'd see Yoshi walking around. Though he greets you with a special message from the staff team and 100 extra lives, we still can't forgive him for not assisting Mario at the very beginning of the game!

14 Luigi Was Once Contracted By Dracula

Part-time plumber and Part-time ghostbuster, we sometimes feel that Luigi is not properly credited. After all, he helped Mario save the kingdom a few times, and he even rescued him on many occasions. Despite that, It seems that Luigi's will forever be second to Mario, a position that also lands him with the worst contracts of the plumbing company.

In Castlevania: Lord of Shadows - Mirror of Fate, there is a Luigi easter egg that can be found in the castle's sewers. In the note, Luigi is disgusted by the look of the gutters and even describes the decaying way of the castle's pipe as something that "would perturb even my dear brother Mario." There is also a clin d'oeil to the powered mushroom from Mario, in which Luigi is curious to try them. We hope you'll make the right decision, Luigi.

13 Mario Wasn't Always A Good Guy

Mario first appeared in the arcade game Donkey Kong. Initially referred to as Jumpman, Mario must save his girlfriend Pauline from the hands of his ape pet Donkey Kong. Though the player casts Mario as a hero, the backstory of the game is entirely the opposite. It is revealed that DK was motivated to kidnap Pauline as revenge for being mistreated by his master. Mario deserved this situation, and yet, we helped him without even questioning his intentions.

Following the events of Donkey Kong, Mario is officially introduced as a villain in the sequel, Donkey Kong Jr. Having locked Donkey Kong in a cage, Mario must be defeated by the new protagonist, Donkey Kong Jr, to complete the game. While we prefer to have Mario on our side, we sure hope players would think twice about helping Mario in his next game.

12 Super Mario Bros. 3 Was Just A Play

Despite the popularity of the original Super Mario Bros., retro Mario Bros. fans would consider Super Mario Bros. 3 as the best entry in the series. The gameplay and presentation are simply an enriched version of the previous Super Mario games at the time.

What's most surprising is that Super Mario Bros. 3 is not even a "game," itself. From the game's intro to the object's shadows, many fans theorized that the game was simply a stage play instead of a full-fledged adventure. It would take more than three decades for Miyamoto to finally confirm this fan theory, while promoting Super Mario Maker, in 2015. Quite the idea, Nintendo! If all theatre was this entertaining, we'd never leave the playhouse.

11 Using His Fist For Fury

Whether it was the original Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario 64, we've always had the impression that Mario was knocking the blocks with his strong head, due to the game's emphasis on jumping.

During a promotional video for Super Mario Maker, Super Mario series creator Shigeru Miyamoto took time to answer a few myths about Mario. When he was asked If Mario was breaking the blocks with his fists, Miyamoto confirmed by putting his fist in an arc position.

10 Super Mario Bros. Was Initially Supposed To Be The NES' Last Game

The mid-80s were a dark period for the video game industry, due to the 1983 video game crash. Partially because of the saturation of the entertainment system, many video game companies had to close shop. Miraculously, Nintendo emerged as the leader in the video game industry with the NES being the most popular console. What people often don't know is that Super Mario Bros. was initially supposed to be the last major NES title.

Nintendo was already on the verge of replacing the NES with the Famicom Disk System. The game was supposed to be the last title that would showcase the power of the console. Instead, Super Mario Bros. became one of the most successful games in video game history, with more than 40 million sales, and It helped popularize the 2D side-scroller genre. Talk about luck.

9 You Could Return To Where You Died In Super Mario Bros.

Except for a few titles, most NES games weren't able to save their progress. Though most games would be short to complete, It was still frustrating for players to lose their progress, after a game over. The original Super Mario Bros. was no exception to the rule; only skilled players were exempted from it.

However, it is possible for players to resume their game back to where they initially died.

If players were to press the A button plus Start button after the game over screen, the game would revert to the stage they died along with three lives.

8 Super Mario Bros. 2 Was Inspired By Another Game.

We can understand the stress that many video game companies have to deal with while making a follow-up to a successful game. It might have been the case for Super Mario Bros. 2. While the initial build of the game was to be similar to its predecessor, the programmers scrapped it, as the levels were deemed too complicated.

While developing Super Mario Bros. 2, Shigeru Miyamoto was also helping to develop a Japan-only game called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic. This very game would serve as the pillar of Super Mario Bros. 2, as the stages, gameplay, and main foes, were directly taken from it. The programmers simply adjusted the difficulty to make the game easier and replaced the main protagonists with Mario's crew (Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad). Also, Shy-Guys and Birdo, two of Super Mario series' most recognizable foes, were initially introduced in Yume Kojo, before finding fame in Super Mario Bros. 2.

7 Mario Almost Became A Gun Slinger

Before there was Wing Caps, FLUDD, or Cappy, Mario's offensive moves consisted of jumping or throwing fireballs. While these are commonly known as Mario's signature moves, you'd be shocked to know that his original was significantly different than his current look.

During an interview with Famitsu, Miyamoto revealed that Mario was initially supposed to jump into a cloud while shooting a gun to attack his enemies. The gun would have shot in an 8 axis radius, too. However, the idea was dropped as he wanted to keep the jumping aspect of the character. Somehow, we find It hard to think that our favorite plumber could've been a cloud commando.

6 Wario Once Tried To End It?

Everybody knows Wario as one of Mario's rivals. While Mario is portrayed as the morally good character, Wario seems to be the perfect opposite of him. Although we thought it would only apply personality-wise, we never thought It would go beyond extreme.

There is an alarming scene, in Super Mario Strikers, in which a distressed Wario attempts to end his life with a Bob-omb, following a loss. Though it only results in Wario being knocked out with smoke in his face, this losing sequence comes a bit as a shock, knowing that Nintendo is known for creating friendly games.

5 Luigi Almost Perished From Sadness

Being Luigi is not an easy life; he is called continuously "Green Mario," and he continually lives in his brother's shadow. Despite that, Luigi harbors an unconditional love for his fraternal twin and will do anything to save him. When Luigi gets his leading role in Luigi's Mansion, his primary objective is to rescue Mario in a haunted mansion.

The developers initially wanted Luigi to fall into terrible, should he fail to save Mario. The idea was even presented in an earlier beta of the game. However, the game programmers instead opted for the "Good Night" game over scene, as people deemed the original idea too scary.

4 Waluigi's Super Mario Strikers Motion

Waluigi may not be as popular as his rival Luigi, but he's probably on our top list of controversial characters. His appearance in Super Mario Strikers is a perfect showcase of what we mean. If a player were to win a game with Waluigi's team, the character would then celebrate with a provocative x-shaped-chop. It sure comes as a surprise; knowing how Nintendo keeps most of its content, G-rated. However, we're not sure If Nintendo knows the origins of Waluigi's gesture.

Veteran gamers would most likely remember the old WWF days when the wrestling crew D-Generation X were dominating the ring. Their signature moves were also the"x-chop." We don't need to explain further what Waluigi meant with this gesture.

3 There Was A Horrible Movie About Super Mario

Super Mario Bros. is often credited as the first movie to be based on a video game. With the hottest video game at the time being translated into a film. Released in 1993, the movie was a box office bomb and was widely panned by critics. In summary, the acting was terrible, and the movie plot didn't even concord with the original Mario setting. To top it off, the enemies look nothing similar to their video game counterparts. This was definitely a swing and miss.

2 Assassin Mario!

Assassin's Creed II features Mario Auditore, mentor, and uncle to main character Ezio Auditore da Firenze. Born as an Assassin, Mario was known to be a skilled mercenary and has eliminated many people throughout his lifetime. Though he is a full-fledged character, he seems to be a clin d'oeil to Mario Bros. as they do share the same Italian ethnicity and they do look similar. They do also share the same intro quote when players first get introduced to the characters. Sadly, Auditore was slain while trying to defend his town from the Borgia family.

1 RIP Luigi

We have to admire Luigi for overcoming his fears to rescue his brother, in Luigi's Mansion. Being left in a haunted mansion with a simple vacuum would scare even the toughest of us. While we got to follow Luigi on his journey, one scene particularly grabbed our attention. While there's a blackout in the mansion, Luigi must get to the Telephone Room, where he must answer to a panicked Toad. Upon talking on the phone, a bolt of lightning will light up the room, which will, in turn, reveal a shadow that depicts Luigi's own self seemingly hanging. Whether the intention of putting the shadow in the game has been much disputed, many fan theories were made to give sense to it. While some fan's interpretations make a lot of sense, others seem to be too far-fetched.