Super Mario Odyssey

I like the Super Mario series a lot. But my best friend Eddie is probably the biggest Mario fan on the planet. He buys all the games, he watches that old cartoon with Lou Albano as Mario, he even still sleeps with his Mario plushie. His favorite character in any form of media was Mario. He'd always play as Mario in all the games he's playable in. Mario Kart, Mario Party, Smash Bros, Super Mario 3D World, New Super Mario Bros U. If you could play as Mario in a game, he would play as Mario in that game, no matter what the other choices were.

He died a couple of months ago. It wasn't the easiest thing to stomach. He was a nice guy and all. To honor him, his funeral was themed entirely around Mario. His Mario plushie was put in his coffin, Mario was put on his tombstone and Dire Dire Docks from Super Mario 64 played as he was buried.

His Mario collection went to his family as he trusted they wouldn't sell those games. I asked them if I could play some of those games as I'm also a Mario fan. They said I could as long as they were still there. So I borrowed his Switch and decided to boot up his favorite game of all time, Super Mario Odyssey.

Mario was in the Metro Kingdom when I booted up the game. So I decided to play the game from there. I went about and collected a few moons. But Mario sounded a bit different. He sounded more like Eddie's impression of Mario then Charles Martinet's normal Mario voice. I shrugged that off as still missing him and continued to play.

I decided to replay the New Donk City Festival, seeing as it was a happy event to take my mind off all this sadness. When Mario went into the 8-bit pipe to start the Donkey Kong homage, the screen went black.

An image of Mario popped up under the words "You shouldn't be playing this game. You weren't meant to continue this legacy"

I grabbed a quick screenshot to show you fellow Mario fans. This whole thing was odd. Not only was this image of Mario not one that appears in Odyssey (it's from New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe), the text didn't even match the font the rest of the game used.

Still, it was cool I unlocked a feature Mario superfan Eddie hadn't.

The screen went back to the normal Super Mario Odyssey, back at the festival right where the message left off. I continued the festival as normal. When Mario arrived at the recreation of 25m, another message popped up

The same New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe image of Mario, but with a new message.

"Why are you still here"

It was as if I shouldn't be playing this game. As if the only one Mario wanted to see was Eddue.

...but that would be weird right? I mean, it was sort of our inside joke he simped for Mario, but surely it didn't go that far.

The message went away and I continued the festival. After I left and returned to the normal New Donk City, it looked... different.

The sky had gone all black, almost as if nighttime had came on the city. But the only time the Metro Kingdom went to nighttime was when Mario first arrives and the city is under siege, which clearly wasn't the case.

If Super Mario Odyssey didn't have a day/night cycle, what was THIS all about?

I decided to go somewhere else. I went to the Odyssey and decided to go to the Mushroom Kingdom.

As soon as Mario exited the Odyssey, another message popped up.

This was where I REALLY began to freak out.

As you can see, Mario kinda looked different.

His eyes were almost entirely black, save for the blue part in his left one, which somehow made it MORE uncanny then if both were entirely black.

And that god darn smile. Maybe if it were under a different circumstance, it wouldn't be all that terrifying, but it looked so uncanny, especially combined with Mario's eyes.

And that message

"Refusing to listen, huh? Good thing you're acting normal."

What did Mario mean by that?

The message continued from there.

"Last warning. Let this legacy be continued by someone worthy or you will suffer."

Clearly Eddie put this in there to stop people from tampering with his save file. I didn't think he needed it because I was sure I was the first person to touch his save file besides him. Besides, who could be more worthy to continue his favorite game of all time then his best friend. He knew I was a fellow Mario fan and that's why we were friends. SURELY, that made me worthy.

I went up to Peach's Castle to see if Mario could get any moons from there.

Biggest mistake of my life.

As Mario entered, another message showed up.

Learned why I wasn't worthy? Despite being Eddie's best friend and a fellow Mario fan? This had better be good.

The game went to a cutscene I knew wasn't in Odyssey, or any piece of Mario media for that matter.

It showed Mario and Bowser as best friends, hanging out, playing games, all the stuff I did with Eddie.

It then showed Mario saying something and Bowser laughing. I couldn't hear what Mario said because he didn't speak loud enough.

Then it showed Bowser showing some enemies a thing whilst Mario was walking past. The enemies began to laugh at Mario. Mario looked noticeably hurt.

Mario then distanced himself from Bowser. The next part showed Mario and Peach hanging out when some of those enemies that had laughed at Mario before came over and began to mock him.

Mario said goodbye to Peach and went home. The next part showed Mario holding his ears whilst dozens of enemies said things about him. The last part showed Mario doing a Long Jump off the edge of the Mushroom Kingdom map.

This was clearly evident of something that had happened in real life, only represented with the Mario cast. Eddie was represented by Mario, obviously. But who did the other characters represent.

Thinking back, Peach was represented by another friend Eddie had began to hang out with more. They liked Mario too and they would talk loads about it.

That meant Bowser was me? Mario and Bowser were arch enemies, while Eddie and me were besties. Why would that be the case.

But then I thought back to that cutscene. It was representative of real life!

Mario and Bowser as best friends? Me and Eddie hanging out.

Mario saying something and Bowser laughing? Eddie saying he simped for Mario, probably the reason I couldn't hear what Mario was saying.

Bowser showing enemies something whilst Mario was walking past? Me showing my other friends Eddie simped for Mario (he put it on his Discord About Me and everything).

The enemies mocking Mario and hurting his feelings? Those same friends giving Eddie a hard time about simping for Mario.

Mario distancing himself from Bowser? Eddie not talking to me as much after I did that

Mario hanging out with Peach when the enemies began to mock him. Eddie and his other friend hanging out and talking about Mario when those friends mocked him for simping for Mario.

That one actually really annoyed me. Why'd they go and give Eddie a hard time over a joke. Because Mario is a video game character? Because Mario is a boy? Because Mario is a boy AND a video game character?

Or because Eddie had genuine feelings for Mario and those guys hated it.

Mario holding his ears whilst dozens of enemies said things about him? Those friends continuing to give Eddie a hard time.

Mario Long Jumping off the edge of the Mushroom Kingdom? Eddie ending his life because he couldn't take it anymore.

As soon as I'd pieced all of this together, a new message popped up.

Mario then got closer to the camera, like he could reach out of the game.

The pause menu popped up, with only two options

The pause menu having the same text as the messages rather then the rest of the game wasn't surprising, given it was in the same context as the messages. What was surprising were the options.

"I'm genuinely sorry I made this happen" and "You couldn't do it if you tried"

I was sorry I had made this happen, but I knew Eddie couldn't kill me, even if he had Mario's strength.

I selected the second option and the last message appeared.

Then, by some magic of the universe, Mario's fist came out of the game and punched me.

I was knocked back so far I fell over the back of my chair and dropped the Switch.

Eddie's family came over at that point, as they had gathered the rest of Eddie's Mario collection and just needed the Switch.

It was still on the chair, and what was on it.

Mario standing there, idly, waiting for someone to control him again.

I thought that it was fine when I went home. The game was normal again and everything's fine.

I decided to boot up my Wii and play Super Mario Galaxy instead. Still honoring Eddie by playing a Mario game.

What was there when I booted up the game shocked me.

Uncanny Mario, saying this.

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