Nah don’t worry Joyce. You’re not killing the Goombas. Behind the smoke puffs they leave behind, they just quickly bounce into the sky so fast and so far you can’t see them.
And just like Team Rocket, they come crashing down to live another day.
That’s what the narration wants you to think is happening. In reality, just like there were dozens of Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys, there were hundreds of clones of Jesse, James, and Meowth, and they are memories. They really would die when they blasted off, and then they’d be replaced by the next set of clones.
Or at least, that’s how it goes in my shitty grimdark AU, anyway.
Decidedly Orthogonal
That kinda reminds me of the effects of Howard Taylor’s Wormgates, an ‘original’ always ended up where expected on the other side, but another ‘original’ would show up elsewhere, to be a slave or food.
SeanR
They showed up elsewhere to be interrogated and then killed. I don’t think the gatekeepers ever ate them.
Jenn
Wow, that was supposed to say “they share memories,” not “they are memories.” My mental spell check missed that last night.
– Goombas are traitors and they die when you stomp them
– You also kill Bowser and Bullet Bill, but Koopa Troopas just “stop moving for a while”
– The “quiet, peace-loving Mushroom People were turned into mere stones, bricks, and even field horse-hair plants” by Bowser’s black magic. Yes, the bricks you destroy and question mark blocks you punch as Mario. You monster.
– Mario is “maybe” the hero of the story
– The fireballs that leap out of the lava inside castles are sentient beings called “Podoboo”
Ryek Hvek
That makes everything all better.
A Red Balloon
Nerf NOW!! has a nice strip explaining how lore is actually handled in games.
Mentioned this lower down, but the manual actually also says that if you find toads turned into bricks, they will reward you by giving you an item, and since none of the blocks you get items from can be destroyed, that means no toads are killed, and the breakable bricks are just normal bricks.
Assuming she can get past her likely instinctual reaction to the religious imagery in it (either finding it blasphemous or having an identity crisis or both) yeah I think she would
She’s like three seconds off of the God wagon. The cognitive dissonance is still incredibly strong, so blasphemy is going to make her feel the feelings. So yes, she probably cares, and it really bothers her that she cares.
Hell is basically just World 8 of Mario 3. Once you figure out the Hammer Brother hand traps, and that you can swim underneath the boats, it’s all gravy.
Clif
Let’s go back to piranha plants haunting toilets.
Somehow my Sunday school class never mentioned that.
motorfirebox
That’s because you went to the wrong church, the one that didn’t tell of our true savior—the one who will find us no matter which castle we’re in, the one who died three times (and possibly more depending on how many 1ups you collect) for our sins, the one who shows us that eternal life can be purchased if we collect enough coins.
Don’t go out and touch plants, some of them have teeth. And also don’t think staying away from them will keep you safe. Some of them breathe fire. And don’t think fireproofing will help you because some of them spit poison and don’t think you can just keep them away because some of them can stretch. And I hear tale of one in Super Smash Bros that can fucking walk. Always be afraid. Piranha plants can and will kill you and there’s literally nothing you can do.
196 thoughts on “Mushroom Kingdom”
Ana Chronistic
WELL THAT SURE WENT A PLACE
Murder TownMushroom KingdomA Red Balloon
Nah don’t worry Joyce. You’re not killing the Goombas. Behind the smoke puffs they leave behind, they just quickly bounce into the sky so fast and so far you can’t see them.
And just like Team Rocket, they come crashing down to live another day.
Clif
It’s a game. A game is not reality.
Except when it is.
Harmony
Wait, was the “murdering and murdering and murdering” talking about Mushroom Kingdom or the Bible? Because it can fit with both, honestly.
Jenn
That’s what the narration wants you to think is happening. In reality, just like there were dozens of Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys, there were hundreds of clones of Jesse, James, and Meowth, and they are memories. They really would die when they blasted off, and then they’d be replaced by the next set of clones.
Or at least, that’s how it goes in my shitty grimdark AU, anyway.
Decidedly Orthogonal
That kinda reminds me of the effects of Howard Taylor’s Wormgates, an ‘original’ always ended up where expected on the other side, but another ‘original’ would show up elsewhere, to be a slave or food.
SeanR
They showed up elsewhere to be interrogated and then killed. I don’t think the gatekeepers ever ate them.
Jenn
Wow, that was supposed to say “they share memories,” not “they are memories.” My mental spell check missed that last night.
Andrusi
I mean, in context, they’re memories now.
Needfuldoer
According to the original Super Mario Bros. manual:
– Goombas are traitors and they die when you stomp them
– You also kill Bowser and Bullet Bill, but Koopa Troopas just “stop moving for a while”
– The “quiet, peace-loving Mushroom People were turned into mere stones, bricks, and even field horse-hair plants” by Bowser’s black magic. Yes, the bricks you destroy and question mark blocks you punch as Mario. You monster.
– Mario is “maybe” the hero of the story
– The fireballs that leap out of the lava inside castles are sentient beings called “Podoboo”
Ryek Hvek
That makes everything all better.
A Red Balloon
Nerf NOW!! has a nice strip explaining how lore is actually handled in games.
https://www.nerfnow.com/comic/2442
superfroakie82
Mentioned this lower down, but the manual actually also says that if you find toads turned into bricks, they will reward you by giving you an item, and since none of the blocks you get items from can be destroyed, that means no toads are killed, and the breakable bricks are just normal bricks.
Reltzik
TBF, most video games go to the same place.
…. er, wait, no, most of them DON’T go to Mushroom Kingdom.
Clif
I hear the road to the Mushroom Kingdom is paved with mushrooms.
Enkrod
I’m pretty sure it’s a rainbow road.
Spencer
Joyce would really like Undertale.
Thag Simmons
It’s a likeable game.
Prince Mech
Assuming she can get past her likely instinctual reaction to the religious imagery in it (either finding it blasphemous or having an identity crisis or both) yeah I think she would
Mano308gts
I mean, they could subject her to The Binding of Isaak…
A Red Balloon
I don’t think she’s quite ready for THAT yet.
The Binding of Isaac is definitely further down on the path of possible stepping stones.
Besides reviving the rogue-like genre, Isaac’s niche is basically that it’s one of the most blasphemous games ever made.
zee
Does Joyce care about blasphemy anymore?
motorfirebox
She’s like three seconds off of the God wagon. The cognitive dissonance is still incredibly strong, so blasphemy is going to make her feel the feelings. So yes, she probably cares, and it really bothers her that she cares.
Doctor_Who
Someone should introduce her to Doom. You murder, but they’re all demons, so it’s okay!
Clif
Not for the demons.
I am Nothing
Those demons had demon families, you monster.
Who was the real demon?
Clif
I blame all the demonizing of demons.
deliverything
“No, John. You are the demons.”
MaximumZero
Also, Diablo!
Ed Rhodes
My kid was playing “Wolfenstein,” had no problems gunning down Nazis, but didn’t like having to kill the dogs!
Ghastly
You doin’ alright there Joyce?
Doctor_Who
I think the answer became definitively “No” at some point between glassing a rapist in the face, and being kidnapped by her best friend’s father.
Thag Simmons
I don’t think anyone is doing alright.
Doctor_Who
Danny is getting to 0.75th base, that’s pretty alright.
Clif
To be fair, it’s less Dan getting to 0.75 base than Sal placing him at 3/4th base.
Amara Rezby
It’s more like Sal’s going to bases and taking Dan along for the ride.
JBento
The bike ride.
Needfuldoer
She dragged him to the base, returned to the previous one, then made her way back again.
Deanatay
Danny got a walk, then Sal RBI’d him in.
Tan
The straights are not okay, and the gays aren’t doing much better. The bi’s are a coinflip.
Nono
Okay but piranha plants would have been a scary thing to be told were real when you were two?
Yumi
More or less scary than Hell?
Zach
They haunt toilets. You tell me.
Doctor_Who
Hell is basically just World 8 of Mario 3. Once you figure out the Hammer Brother hand traps, and that you can swim underneath the boats, it’s all gravy.
Clif
Let’s go back to piranha plants haunting toilets.
Somehow my Sunday school class never mentioned that.
motorfirebox
That’s because you went to the wrong church, the one that didn’t tell of our true savior—the one who will find us no matter which castle we’re in, the one who died three times (and possibly more depending on how many 1ups you collect) for our sins, the one who shows us that eternal life can be purchased if we collect enough coins.
All praise Prosperity Mario!
Doctor_Who
Fuck piranha plants, I’d be afraid the frigging sun is going to come charging out of the sky to murderize me!
Rayndel
That’s just called Arizona.
Jamie
True fact. Visited Arizona once. Nearly died by sun.
Clif
I thought only mad dogs and Englishmen visited Arizona.
Yotomoe
Don’t go out and touch plants, some of them have teeth. And also don’t think staying away from them will keep you safe. Some of them breathe fire. And don’t think fireproofing will help you because some of them spit poison and don’t think you can just keep them away because some of them can stretch. And I hear tale of one in Super Smash Bros that can fucking walk. Always be afraid. Piranha plants can and will kill you and there’s literally nothing you can do.
Clif
As long as plants aren’t code for genitalia, it’s all good.
Yumi
And then Joyce goes on a real life murder spree.
Doctor_Who
“Victims were found with their genitalia severed and nailed to wooden boards that had been painted white. Police are calling the killer…”
Clif
But they never answer.
Neither their phone, nor the ding-dong of their doorbell.
BarerMender
Why, oh why must we say “genitalia?” What’s wrong with plain-English “genitals?”
Clif
It’s not Latin enough. If you can’t say it in a dead language, it’s not scientific.
BarerMender
Gotcha.
Stanistani
Sic est ita!
Khyrin
I always figured it was sort of genitals (singular, as in a given person’s ‘set’, mix and match to your pleasure) and Genitalia (plural).
Decidedly Orthogonal
Hey now. genitalia is plain english. If you start throwing out all the adopted, outsourced or other loan words, we’re not going to be able to talk.
John Campbell
Sprece for þin selfe.
BarerMender
It isn’t plain English. It’s affected English. Kill it to death.
Jamie
There’s no such thing as Plain English.
Clif
True. It is well known that what they speak on the plains is not really English.
BarerMender
There is plain English, and I’ve made good money revising overblown business writing for plainness.
BarerMender
By “plain” I mean clear, not bland.
Thag Simmons
Joyce develops video game opinions.
butts
y’know, just like god
misanthropope
kill one and you are a murderer. kill millions and you are a conqueror. kill all, and you are god.
Mr. Random
Kill all + one and you may have taken things a wee bit too far.