One of the more interesting pieces of trivia from the video game world involves the reason behind Mario’s mustache: It turns out that the impetus for giving the Nintendo mascot his iconic facial hair is because it was a good way to add definition to Mario’s face in the original low-resolution games. What started as a technical and design necessity has turned into an iconic feature of one of pop culture’s most iconic characters. But what would happen if you stripped that ‘stache right off Mario’s face? One Twitter user dared to dream, and the results of his digital shaving are weird (via Mashable).
Thank you for 2,00 baldies!! Wow!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/B1O2QijZxH
— Justice for bald Mario (@yourfavisbald2) May 10, 2018
Like the shaving memes that say you look like a little boy when you axe your facial hair, Mario definitely looks younger without his mustache. The original image was posted a few days ago by @yourfavisbald2, but a repost by @november17 was what made the photo really take off. Of course, people have reactions: Shaved Mario has been compared to digitally shaved Superman…
— Peter Allen Clark (@peterallenclark) May 13, 2018
…and has otherwise been responded to disapprovingly.
— Morgan Shaver (@Author_MShaver) May 13, 2018
— James Wilcox (@James_Librarian) May 13, 2018
Goodnight to everyone except to who made this
— Samjam Robby (@RobJobby) May 13, 2018
As one user noticed, having a shaved Mario is a good opportunity to put other facial hair styles on him and wonder if he would have stomped as many Koopas with a goatee.
Decided to draw some Mario hair pic.twitter.com/m3koYbBzKD
— Darius Kazemi (@tinysubversions) May 13, 2018
As you might imagine from their handle, @yourfavisbald2 creates bald versions of a ton of pop culture characters, so feel free to browse his Twitter for other gems.
What do you think of mustache-less Mario? Do you like the world’s most famed plumber with a clean shave, or would you rather he stick with the ‘stache? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Featured image: Nintendo
More on Mario!
- 70 musicians create a Super Mario medley
- Enjoy the Mario feline fan film
- There’s one Mario level that speedrunners are obsessed with
