![]() ![]() If asked about various Mario characters, Kinopio-kun would give his opinion of them. The fungal origins of the Goomba got a minor viral moment again in 2015, when an automated bot speaking as Kinopio-kun, the mascot for Nintendo’s LINE account, identified Goombas as being mushrooms and not chestnuts, to the surprise of some Japanese Nintendo fans. Iwata: It's a shiitake? (laughs) So it's not a chestnut? Iwata: By the way, is it a coincidence that the Goomba looks like a mushroom? ![]() In fact, during a 2012 edition of Nintendo’s Iwata Asks feature, then-president Satoru Iwata was surprised to learn from Takashi Tezuka, senior Nintendo officer, that despite how he’d always viewed these characters, they’re supposed to be shiitake mushrooms. However, people in Japan have always thought these little guys look like chestnuts. The character’s Japanese name, Kuribō (クリボー), comes from the Japanese word for “chestnut,” kuri (栗), and bō (坊), an affectionate suffix essentially meaning “guy” or “boy.” If you are reading that and feeling surprised that the character’s name doesn’t mean “mushroom,” you’re not alone. The story behind the Goomba’s Japanese name is complicated and seems confusing for non-Japanese people and Japanese people alike. Rather than chop any of this out, I figured I’d just toss up a mini post all about the lowliest character in the Super Mario games. We may have some bad news for that last guy….For whatever reason, I try to keep the bits in the miscellaneous notes on the shorter side. “No way! Next thing they’ll tell us is that Princess Peach isn’t actually a peach!” “Well, I guess they do live in the Mushroom Kingdom, so it makes sense.” ![]() But still, for Japanese netizens who grew up thinking they were stomping on chestnut people this whole time, it was like learning that the “Super Mario Brothers” were actually just similar-looking neighbors. Of course when you think about it, very few of the Mario enemies’ names make sense to begin with. Iwata: “What? Shiitake mushrooms? (Laughs) They’re not chestnuts?” Tezuka: “Oh, they’re actually based on shiitake mushrooms.” Iwata: “By the way, is it an accident that Goombas look a lot like mushrooms?” Here’s a translation of their conversation: Of course this isn’t news to anyone who subscribed to the “Ask the President” column on the official Japanese Nintendo website, during which the late president of the company Satori Iwata and general manager of development Takashi Tezuka discussed this exact question some time ago. He let me ride him the other day.Ī: They’re not actually chestnuts. ![]() He’s not me, but he’s my friend, so don’t get us mixed up!Ī: Our green friend. 最後とんでもない新事実が判明してしまったんだけど /aJwU0vMPLt- イズナウェイ September 29, 2015Ī: I heard he won last year’s red light/green light national championship.Ī: The one with the red spots. Little did the Twitter user know what was in store… (translation below): One Japanese Twitter user discovered that if you just start throwing Toad a bunch of Nintendo character names, he’ll tell you what he thinks about them. The idea is that users are talking to one of the game’s mushroom-headed Toads, and he’ll respond to pretty much anything you say. Recently, Nintendo released an automated bot to respond to messages people send via the popular Japanese smartphone messaging system Line. Read on and see for yourself the aftermath that shocked Japanese gamers all over the internet. Thanks to the official Nintendo Line Messenger bot, Japanese netizens have learned the shocking truth about Mario’s oldest enemy: they’re not chestnuts, they’re shiitake mushrooms! For example, did you know that in the Japanese versions of Mario, Goombas are called “kuribo,” which translates to “chestnut guy?” For three decades now, it has been widely believed in Japan that the Goombas are, indeed, chestnuts. Japan may love Mario, but they have a couple wrong ideas about the series. ![]()
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