He might be the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, but don’t let that adorable mustachioed
smile fool you. Mario’s a good guy, for sure, and he might just be one of the most kindhearted
heroes out there–but if you dig into his past, you’ll find some less than favorable
deeds under his belt…I mean, buttons. I’m Kyle with WickedBinge, and this
is Mario’s Deeds: Good to Evil. Here-a-we-go! We’ll start off with the more
well-known side of Mario: The Good Deeds. We’ll start with the lesser good accomplishments
and work our way up to the most heroic deeds. First up is Mario Inviting Everyone to Party,
Play, Go Kart–you name it, Mario is there. The Mario spin-offs are just as beloved as his main
series outings. When the subject of gaming with friends comes up, Mario Party or Mario Kart are
practically guaranteed to be recommendations. While there’s nothing WRONG with knowing how to
have a good time, it’s not necessarily enough to make you an upstanding citizen. But what
makes this a good deed on Mario’s part is just how inclusive he is. He doesn’t just limit his
guest list to his friends and family like Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi; he also invites his frenemies,
rivals, and even enemies. Donkey Kong, Wario, and even Bowser and his troops are always allowed
to join them in races, parties, and sporting events. The guy’s nice enough to give Monty Mole
an invitation to his parties. Half of you probably didn’t even know who Monty Mole was before we
said that, right? Seriously–what a nice guy! Rescuing both friends and enemies from boredom
is pretty great–but it’s not the only time Mario’s saved someone. There was also the time
he Rescued Daisy from Tatanga. In Super Mario Land for the Game Boy, Mario proves that
he doesn’t mind traveling outside of the Mushroom Kingdom when his help is needed.
In this game, he sets out for Sarasaland to rescue Princess Daisy from the alien Tatanga.
We’d say this mission was pretty successful, since Tatanga hasn’t been heard from once–except
being fought in space in Super Mario Land 2–and Daisy has been hanging around with the gang
ever since. She races, plays sports–she’s even in Smash Bros. with them now! As for why this
deed isn’t higher, well…we’ll get to that later. For right now, let’s go back to the very first
rescue mission Mario went on--Rescuing Pauline from Donkey Kong. It’s relatively common knowledge
among Mario fans that he debuted in the classic Donkey Kong arcade game as Jumpman. The chubby,
middle-aged man was on a mission to rescue his girlfriend, Pauline, from a gigantic ape called
Donkey Kong while dodging the many obstacles thrown in his way, from barrels to inexplicably
sentient fireballs. Like the previous entry, this is another case of Mario being a
brave man who’s willing to rescue those in need–and also like the previous entry,
we have reasons we’ll discuss later for why it isn’t higher. As for why we
put it higher–well, for one, there’s more than just ONE instance of Mario rescuing
Pauline. But even more so, this was before Mario was really a hero. He hadn’t even
seen the Mushroom Kingdom at the time of Pauline’s first kidnapping, so the fact that
he was brave enough to risk his neck on a construction site to rescue his girlfriend
from an ape is all the more admirable. But…come on. When it comes to rescuing
princesses, it doesn’t get more iconic than Mario Rescuing Peach repeatedly,
and protecting the Mushroom Kingdom. It’s Mario’s most frequent good deed, and
definitely his most well-known. It’s not just well-known–it’s kind of infamous, to an extent.
Fans often question why Mario always rescues Peach any time she’s in danger. It’s happened, like…20
times, right? Maybe even closer to 30? Kidnapping her seems to be both a hobby and a way of life
for Mario’s arch-enemy, Bowser, so it’s not like there’s ever much downtime from his rescue
missions. Mario has to save Peach pretty darn frequently, and he never complains even
once–he’s always happy to go after Bowser any time he kidnaps the princess, no matter the danger.
To add to this, Mario hardly gets anything from it–maybe a “thank you” and a kiss on the cheek,
but nothing too extravagant. Fans often ask why Mario bothers to keep saving her, and the answer
is quite simple: Mario’s a good guy. He cares about Peach as a close friend, whether or not he
gets a whole parade thrown in his honor or even a cake for his efforts. Whether he’s rewarded for
it or not, Mario is always willing to rescue Peach no matter how many times it requires kicking
Bowser’s tail–and no matter how dangerous it is. Well…sure, saving your OWN kingdom is
impressive–but what about Saving the World Multiple Times? Saving the Mushroom Kingdom
is just another random Thursday for Mario; where it really gets interesting is every time
he goes beyond that. He’s not averse to helping rescue other people and species, like when he
and his friends worked to rescue the Sprixies in Super Mario 3D World, for instance. He’s also
been a big help to multiple galaxies and planets in the Super Mario Galaxy games, even stopping
Bowser from harnessing the Grand Stars’ power to build his own galaxy in the center of
the universe. In the Mario & Luigi series, he’s even helped stop the invasion of the Shroobs,
an alien race who knows nothing but destruction. There’s more, of course, like him stopping
Count Bleck’s evil plan in Super Paper Mario, which saved the ENTIRE universe, but if we were
to talk about every time Mario has saved the world from Bowser and other brands of impending
doom, we’d be here all day. But consider this an umbrella entry, and let it convince you
that Mario is a standup guy on the whole who’s always willing to save the world
like it’s just another brick to break. Now, honestly, that last deed seems like it should
practically guarantee the Gold Medal of Good, so this may be controversial–but we’re giving the
Gold Medal of Good to Helping Bowser Junior Save Bowser. In Super Mario 3d World + Bowser’s Fury,
Bowser Junior is distraught by his father being possessed by black goop that’s turned him more
gigantic, powerful, and evil than ever before. He goes into an uncontrollable rage whenever storms
roll in, and attacks indiscriminately–not even Junior is able to talk him down. While Mario
stopping Bowser’s rampage here could have, on the surface, be counted as just another
instance of him defeating his nemesis as usual, here he’s actually saving Bowser himself more than
anyone else. When Bowser Junior asks–or more so, tells–Mario to help him, Mario is actually happy
to oblige. Despite some initial annoyance–which is totally understandable, given these three’s
history– the two team up to collect Cat Shines and cleanse Junior’s beloved dad back to his old,
lovable, still-evil-but-slightly-less-evil self. Anyone can help their friends out, and that’s
great–but Mario’s kindness even extends to his enemies, and that’s a sign that he’s a pretty
great guy. Even though Bowser Junior is a kid, he’s caused Mario his fair share of trouble–even
being the main one to kidnap Peach in New Super Mario Bros. DS and Wii. So the fact that Mario was
willing to team up with one foe to save another is extremely admirable–we don’t even have to EXPLAIN
why him wanting to save Bowser, of all people, is a great deed. This deed is where Mario goes
beyond being a hero to being a downright saint. But–oh-a-no!--we still have to
cover The Bad Deeds, and despite how much of a good guy Mario is,
there are actually a decent few. But don’t worry; we’re going to start slow and
kick this next stage off with one of Mario’s less egregious sins: Overshadowing Luigi. There’s
no doubt that Mario loves his brother. He always lets him tag along on his adventures, invites him
to all his events, and has even saved him every so often. But there have been a few instances
where Mario has contributed to Luigi’s reputation as the overshadowed brother. In the ending
cutscene of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, he has no problem leaving Luigi behind as he
takes a hot air balloon ride with Peach–which Luigi arranged for all of them, mind you. Sure,
he didn’t intend for the balloon to take off, but you could show SOME concern. At least
a wave wouldn’t hurt. There’s also the infamous celebration cutscene in Mario Power
Tennis, where Mario interrupts his victory by stepping on his foot, leaving him unable
to move. None of this was outright evil, and it doesn’t seem to go beyond brotherly
teasing. There’s also NO doubt that he cares about and respects Luigi–just look how proud he
is in the ending cutscene of Luigi’s Mansion 3. But really, we only mention his occasional
mistreatment of Luigi as a formality. Everyone makes mistakes–but we’re not going to call a
Possible Affair a mere mistake. Heading back to Mario’s time in Sarasaland in Super Mario Land,
we now re-examine the part where he kindly rescued Princess Daisy from Tatanga. Now, we don’t want
to assume anything here. But…those hearts are totally implying a kiss, aren’t they? Okay, we’ll
acknowledge first and foremost that Mario and Peach have never been EXPLICITLY stated to be a
couple, but the two have very obvious feelings of affection for each other. If they are a couple
at this time, then Mario could have cheated on her with Daisy here. Still, while we felt it
right to mention it, this is all speculation. This could’ve just been a nice kiss on the cheek,
and not something that would crush Peach’s heart. Apparently, Mario also doesn’t have any objection
to False Medical Practice. We really aren’t sure what exactly to say about Mario’s alter-ego,
Doctor Mario. Is he a distant cousin? Is he the fabled third Mario brother? Is he just Mario
in a lab coat with some questionably-obtained pills? To our knowledge, we have to assume number
three. Now, on one hand, he is presumably helping a lot of people by destroying plenty of nasty
viruses. But, on the other hand, Shigeru Miyamoto himself has confirmed that Dr. Mario is not an
actual doctor, and has no medical license. That means all of those pills he chucks in the Dr.
Mario games are being carelessly and randomly distributed by a man with no medical training.
Heck, if you’ve played the Dr. Mario games, he just chucks random pills into a jar and
sees what sticks! There’s only three colors, dude–you’re being outclassed by children. What
makes this even more terrifying is the fact that in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, the viruses from
the Dr. Mario games are much larger and act as enemies. How did he let them get so bad? Who knows
how many other travesties Dr. Mario has caused?! But, if nothing else, we don’t place Dr. Mario
higher because he didn’t mean any harm. Then again, Mario also didn’t mean to be a Big Bully
to Wario. While Bowser is Mario’s MAIN rival, Wario and him actually go back way further.
A series of Nintendo Power comics pit the two against each other, going over their history
as childhood friends…or if you ask Wario, childhood rivals. Mario’s ignorance often led
to Wario being hurt and mistreated in childhood, and when they played Cowboys together, Mario
always made Wario be the criminal–never letting him be the cowboy. It’s really hard to blame
Wario for the antiheroic path he went back, considering his closest friend literally forced
him into playing the role of villain in their childhood playtime. When Wario finally opens up
to Mario about his past trauma in these comics, Mario doesn’t even apologize–he just tells
Wario to toughen up and let it go. If these two’s relationship is anything to go by,
Mario is FAR from a mental health icon. This doesn’t excuse Wario stealing Mario’s
castle, but we can’t say we feel too bad for Mario considering how badly he treated
Wario–and how little his pain mattered to him. And Wario isn’t the only big, lovable,
antiheroic guy Mario has been a total jerk to: we can clearly see him Laughing at Donkey
Kong Senior(AKA young Cranky Kong) during his time in the circus. The first chronological
piece of DK and Mario’s history we know of is in a Game & Watch game simply titled Donkey Kong
Circus. Here, we see a young Cranky Kong balancing on a barrel and catching pineapples while avoiding
fireballs falling from barrels of oil. The poor guy is already being forced to perform painful
and straight-up dangerous tricks in a circus, and to make things worse, whenever he screws
up, Mario pulls out his inner Duck Hunt Dog and laughs mercilessly at him. What kind of
sicko gets pleasure out of torturing a poor animal like that? Did we mention that this
was the prequel to the original Donkey Kong? A little bit harder to blame him now, isn’t it?
Worse still, it’s often speculated that Mario was the ringleader of the circus. Granted, this is
just a rumor, but it’s highly likely considering that he later recaptures DK Senior in a cage–and
assuming it’s true, it makes him even more cruel. But any way you slice it, he’s basically stripping
DK of his free will here. Of course, though, that isn’t as bad as him literally stripping
people’s free will away by Possessing Objects. If we ever wanted to meet Mario in real life,
Super Mario Odyssey chased that desire right out of our hearts. In this game, Mario teams up
with a ghost named Cappy inside his hat to possess objects like electric balls of energy, tanks,
stone tikis, and more. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there–Mario also possesses a LOT of different
characters over the course of the adventure. From adorable little frogs to innocent Cheep Cheeps to
even Bowser’s troops, Mario is more than willing to strip these poor creatures of their autonomy to
help him on his own mission. Perhaps creepiest of all, he even possesses humans. Yes, humans.
You, there–you, watching this video? You’re NOT safe from Mario. This guy just thinks he
owns everything–he may still be trying to save Princess Peach, but that doesn’t mean he can just
manipulate everyone in his path to his devices. But hey, we can at least say Mario wasn’t
outright hurting anyone there–unlike his habits of Attacking Non-hostile Enemies. Which
gets our Bronze Medal of Evil. We can’t really fault Mario for stomping Goombas and Koopa
Troopas. Sure, getting crushed to death might not be the most pleasant way to go out, but
they are Bowser’s troops–and they’re trying to kill Mario. The same can’t be said for the
more peaceful enemies in the Mario universe, however. Take Wigglers as one example. They’re
adorable, aren’t they? Walking along with big smiles on their faces…that is, until Mario
steps on them and they understandably fight back. There are also the Cheep Cheep in the water
levels of the series. You know the old saying: There are plenty of fish in the sea…that is,
until Mario swims there and they mysteriously disappear. These guys are literally just
minding their own business. We get that they hurt if you touch them, but–hear us
out, Mario–maybe just don’t touch them? The only thing worse than hurting innocent animals
is hurting innocent animals that you’re friends with. Enter The Yoshi Dilemma. Which gets our
Silver Medal of Evil. Now, we’ll use this entry to acknowledge that not every bad deed under Mario’s
cap is a canon event, so to speak. Technically, you could beat a Mario game without hurting any
Wigglers or Cheep Cheeps. And a lot of Mario fans remember dropping that poor baby penguin from
Super Mario 64 off a cliff after returning it to its mother. Not us, though…we have hearts. The
overarching point is that Mario is controlled by us, so a lot of the deeds he commits–we are
fully responsible for. But the most infamous deed in this category, and probably the one
that nearly EVERY Mario player is guilty of, is the old “Sacrifice Yoshi to get an extra jump”
move. Sometimes in the 2D Mario platformers, Yoshi acts as Mario’s reliable steed–but it’s
possible to reduce him to a bit of extra jump height. This can result in Yoshi being dropped
off a cliff just so Mario can get a little higher. He could get a powerup like the Cape Feather or
the Propeller Cap, but when push comes to shove, Mario’s willing to sacrifice a Yoshi’s life
to get what he wants if it’s necessary. Now, some would argue that, while Yoshi’s death
is tragic… It saves lives. And Mario’s actions, while grotesque and incomprehensible… saves lives. This is made even worse by the fact that Mario was
saved by Yoshis, and carried safely to his brother by them–whose life they also saved from Bowser.
Mario owes Yoshis as a whole big time–and while this deed is more in the players’ hands than Mario
himself’s, there are many levels with bonuses that downright encourage dropping poor Yoshi.
. But going back to the totally canon side of
things, we’ve gone as low as Mario has ever gotten. Our Gold Medal of Evil goes to Mario’s
most utterly infamous deed: Capturing Cranky Kong and trying to Kill Donkey Kong Junior.
After the torturous circus acts, Cranky Kong decided he’d had enough, and escaped the circus
once and for all, kidnapping Mario’s girlfriend, Pauline, on the way. We get his anger, but he’s
still a total villain for that–so we don’t blame Mario for kicking his butt and rescuing his
girlfriend. Had this been the end of it, maybe things could’ve been A-OK between the
two…but Mario just couldn’t let the grudge go. In the arcade game Donkey Kong Junior, Mario captures
Cranky in a cage for unknown reason–but quite possibly to take him back to the circus where
he can be tortured again. Whatever the reason, this is already a terrible deed, but it gets worse
when you consider DK Junior’s side of the story. This is a literal baby animal desperately trying
to rescue his father, and Mario isn’t moved at all–the only thing he’s moving is obstacles into
DK Junior’s way to try and kill him for the horrid crime of trying to save his dad. He’s literally
caging a father and trying to murder his son–who’s DESPERATELY trying to save his Papa–in front of
him. It doesn’t get much more evil than that. But, hey–as absolutely horrid as this deed was, it’s
at least a fantastic showcase of how much Mario’s grown over the years. He went from a monster who
would kidnap his arch enemy and attempt murder on his kid for trying to save him to a guy
who was willing to help his new arch enemy’s son SAVE his arch-enemy. And it also seems like
Mario and DK Junior have put aside most of their differences in the later games, racing karts and
throwing parties together. We’re not quite sure if Cranky’s over it, though…in fact, maybe that’s
why the guy’s so cranky. What do you guys think?
