Da Dude

Da Dude

[danintendude]

Happy 45th, Donkey Kong.

[thepipeplaza]

In Super Mario Galaxy, it is implied that Rosalina was a princess who once lived in the Mushroom Kingdom before leaving home to help Luma find his mother.

This may indicate that Rosalina's brother, whom she writes about in her storybook, is the direct ancestor of Princess Peach.

Source(s):

The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Cast of Characters: Peach & Rosalina

[danintendude]

This is Lunelio, my take on Rosalina's Brother. His family loved to stargaze. But Lunelio preferred to forage for his favorite mushrooms. After his sister left in a spaceship, he spent every night watching the skies until she finally returned on a special comet. After that, he grew up to be a strong ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. He lived for over a century and was able to see his sister one last time before he passed. Princess Peach is his distant descendant.

[somasoa]

The Two Temples of Time

Warning: This post will contain spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Please refrain from any further reading if you wish to avoid being spoiled on important story topics from this game. 

Hello everyone, today we’ll be discussing the Temple of Time, a sacred location in The Legend of Zelda series. Or, should I say, the Temples of Time, as there are actually several of them throughout the series, with different origin stories. However, there is a common misconception within the Zelda community that the “primary” temple - that is, the temple as seen in entries such as Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and the Sealed Temple in Skyward Sword, all exist in the same location, and are simply rebuilt versions of the same temple. This interpretation effectively means that the primary Temple of Time would just be a singular temple that is continuously updated over time as the passing of centuries takes its toll. I will be demonstrating the flaws with this misconception, and the facts showing that there are not one, but actually two separate "primary" temples that exist concurrently.

For brevity, I will be referring to the temple as seen in Ocarina of Time as the ToT(OoT), and the temple as seen in Twilight Princess as the ToT(TP), and I will expand in nomenclature from there.  We receive a very simple origin for the ToT(OoT) in Ocarina of Time, but we are provided further information in Twilight Princess and A Link Between Worlds that paint a clearer picture of the events leading up to its creation. As put bluntly in A Link Between Worlds, bloody battles were waged over the Triforce, which was kept within the kingdom itself.

We see this mentioned in Twilight Princess as well, as described by Lanayru. In Lanayru’s story, we see the Triforce in the distance, before “Link,” a stand-in for a Hylian of that era of Hyrulean history, kills “Ilia.” He then runs towards the Triforce in the distance, as Lanayru describes a cycle of conflicts ensuing over the land of Hyrule. He then describes the ancestors of the Twili, the people who excelled at magic and wanted to conquer Hyrule, as they appear on screen, standing in front of the Triforce and represented by Shadow Links. Indeed, this reveals that the conflict in which the ancestors of the Twili were sealed was one of the many conflicts over the Triforce that occurred in this chaotic era.

ハイラル王国にて語リ継がれる伝説 はるかなる昔・・・・・・ハイラルという王国にはトライフォースと呼ばれる聖なる三角形があリました 神から賜ったと言い伝えられてるトライフォースは、触れた者の願いを叶えると信じられておリ・・・・・・ 人々はその力を得ようとして争いが絶えませんでした

The legend passed down in the Kingdom of Hyrule. Long, long ago... In the Kingdom of Hyrule, there was a sacred triangle called the Triforce. It was said to have been a gift bestowed by the gods, believed to grant the wish of whosoever touches it... All the land sought to obtain its almighty power, and so quarreled and fought endlessly...

Prologue (A Link Between Worlds) - Translated by hwrdjacob

しかし、やがて聖地ハイラルを巡り争いが起こった人々の中に、魔術に長けた者達が現れ強力な魔力によって聖地を治めようとした

Before long, a cycle of conflicts arose over the Sacred Realm of Hyrule, and among the many peoples of the land, accomplished people with a deep mastery of magic materialized. With their powerful magic, they tried to rule the Sacred Realm.

Lanayru (Twilight Princess) - Translated by hwrdjacob

While Twilight Princess doesn’t take this moment to elaborate on the creation of the ToT(OoT), A Link Between Worlds, and, by extension, Ocarina of Time do. The war culminated in the Royal Family calling upon the Sages of Hyrule, who sealed the Triforce in the Sacred Realm. As we learned in Ocarina of Time, this also involved the creation of the ToT(OoT), where we learn that the Ancient Sages also created the Temple of Time, and it was the Door of Time itself which was used to seal the Sacred Realm’s entrance along with the Triforce which resided inside of it.

王家はすさんだハイラル王国を憂い七人の賢者を集めトライフォースを聖地に隠しました

The Royal Family feared that the Kingdom of Hyrule would be laid to waste, so they gathered the Seven Sages, who hid the Triforce in the Sacred Realm.

Prologue (A Link Between Worlds) - Translated by hwrdjacob

そこで、いにしえの賢者達は心　悪しき者から　トライフォースを守るため　時の神殿を造られました。そう…　時の神殿とは、この地上から　聖地へ入るための入口なのです。でも、その　入口は「時の扉（とびら）」と　呼ばれる石のカベで　閉ざされています。

And so, the Ancient Sages constructed the Temple of Time to defend the Triforce from those with evil hearts. Indeed... the Temple of Time is the gateway to enter the Sacred Realm. from this world. However, that gateway is closed off by a stone wall known as "the Door of Time".

Zelda (Ocarina of Time) - Translated by hwrdjacob

In summary, when putting together the information presented in these three entries, we have a clear story for the ToT(OoT): The Triforce was kept in the young Kingdom of Hyrule, in which people lived in peace and harmony. However, desire for possession of the Triforce grew within the hearts of men, and battles were fought over it, the war against the interlopers being one of the most prominent of these conflicts. To end the bloodshed, the Royal Family called upon the Seven Sages, who sealed the Triforce away in the Sacred Realm via the creation of the Temple of Time, utilizing the Door of Time, the Master Sword, and the Spiritual Stones to prevent entry to the Sacred Realm. 

This story for the ToT(OoT) on the surface may not seem to have any conflict with the ToT(TP), but, in reality, it conflicts in several ways, even down to the people who created the temples. 

In Twilight Princess, we learn about the Oocca, or the Sky Folk. While their modern appearances are that of strange bird-like creatures, we learn in-game that, many centuries before the events of the game, they were actually the ancestors of the Hylian people, as told to us by Rusl and Ooccoo, a member of the Oocca.

聖なる力で護られた森の奥深くに　悠久の時を眠る神殿があると言われている . ハイリア人の祖先によって造られたその神殿には、今もなお古代の優れた文明が遺されているらしい

It is said that deep, deep in the woods, there is a temple, protecting a sacred power that slumbers eternally. Constructed by the ancestors of the Hylians, even now that temple holds remnants of their ancient, outstanding civilization.

Rusl (Twilight Princess) - Translated by hwrdjacob

ハイラルは最も神に近い種族のハイリア人が創ったってのが通説だけど実は大昔には、ハイリア人よりもっと神に近い種族がいて、彼らが創ったという説もあるんだ

そして彼らは、ハイリア人の誕生とともに新しい都を創り、都ごと天に浮かべて

そこで暮らし始めたらしいしかも学者の間では、今でも彼らは大空の何処かに浮かぶ都で生きているって言われてる 

It is the prevailing view that Hyrule was created by the Hylians, the closest race to the gods. However, there's a theory that as a matter of fact, there was a race even closer to the gods than the Hylians, and THEY created Hyrule. It seems that they created a new capital when the Hylians were born, and launched the city into the sky in order to live there. Furthermore, the academic world says that even now, they still live in a capitol floating somewhere in the heavens.

Shad (Twilight Princess) Translated by hwrdjacob

We learn from Shad that, upon the birth of the Hylians as a cultural group, the Sky Folk departed from the surface. They created a city which they used to ascend to the sky, and remained there, leaving the kingdom of Hyrule they created to the newly birthed Hylians, with the Royalty of Hylia taking the reign of the kingdom. 

Since the Sky Folk left the surface upon the birth of the Hylians, this necessitates the ToT(TP) as having been built before the Hylians came to be. This is a very important detail, as this would mean that the Royal Family of Hyrule, who are Hylians, would not be in power, and thus they would not have been able to command the sealing of the Triforce, which resulted in the creation of the ToT(OoT) by the seven sages. Furthermore, they also appear in completely different locations in what is otherwise a mostly consistent map of Hyrule between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, with the ToT(OoT) appearing west of Death Mountain and ToT(TP) appearing deep within the Faron Woods. Even the interiors of the temples themselves are wildly different, featuring different architecture and aesthetics.

Finally, when Link enters the past ToT(TP) in Twilight Princess, we see that the pedestal of the Master Sword is empty, when by all reasonable metrics the Master Sword should be resting in the pedestal if this is the same temple as the ToT(OoT). This was commonly refuted by pointing out that since Link was already wielding the sword, it would temporarily disappear whenever Link entered the temple, due to how time travel would then affect the blade. However, Tears of the Kingdom disproves this notion.

In Tears of the Kingdom,  we observe the Light Dragon possess the Master Sword for tens of thousands of years, restoring it into its revitalized form we acquire in the game. During this time, the pre-time travel Master Sword is not affected by its duplication through time travel, meaning that, based on the mechanics we can see in Tears of the Kingdom, the presence of a second Master Sword through time travel should not affect the Master Sword that should be in the past ToT(TP).  What this means is that the Master Sword is in a different location in the time of the past ToT(TP), and, considering the sword went unused following the sealing of the Sacred Realm until the events of Ocarina of Time, its location was likely tied to its sister temple - the ToT(OoT), and this is further reinforced by the dungeon in the ToT(TP).

We enter the dungeon of the ToT(TP) through a secret entrance, revealed from behind the Master Sword’s pedestal through the stained glass. Despite also simply being called the Temple of Time, this dungeon is covered in Light Medallions, the symbol of the Sage of Light, and seems as if it’s in an almost dream-like, separate land. Even the in-game map depicts the Light Medallion on the Temple of Time. Interestingly, this dungeon is shown to not exist at all in the present era, showing that the dungeon is indeed in some kind of other location separate from just the Light World. Given all of the above, we can very easily determine it is the Temple of Light, especially due to the Temple of Time’s association with the Temple of Light - in fact, it’s even likely that this association with the ToT(TP) is why they chose to build the ToT(OoT) as a way to protect the Sacred Realm (and thus the Temple of Light.)

However, notably, the Triforce isn’t present in the ToT(TP)’s dungeon, which means that the era of the past in Twilight Princess is before the Triforce was sealed in the Sacred Realm, but it’s after the Master Sword was already moved from the temple. Why would the Master Sword have been moved? As we know, the ancient sages of Ocarina of Time created the ToT(OoT) to protect the Triforce, and sealed the Sacred Realm’s entrance using the Door of Time and the Master Sword. In Twilight Princess, we can actually observe a statue of Rauru in Chudley’s Fine Goods and Trinkets Emporium, or, in other words, the shop Malo takes over when he establishes Malo Mart in Castle Town. And coincidentally, we see this statue of Rauru holding the Master Sword using its design from Ocarina of Time!

Because of this, we can presume that Rauru had taken the Master Sword from the ToT(TP) at some point, and held onto it, likely because the ancient sages had agreed on the idea of using it to help sustain the seal on the Triforce while they were constructing the temple. In summary, this would put the past era of Twilight Princess in the era where the ToT(OoT) is in the act of being constructed, and, ironically, this would also put the pst around the same era in which the interlopers, the ancestors of the modern day Twili, were sealed in the Twilight Realm. 

To put the timeline of the two temples together, it would look like this:

In the infancy of Hyrule, the Sky Folk, using their advanced technology, created the ToT(TP). Eventually, the Sky Folk created the City in the Sky, and departed for the heavens, in which the Hylians emerged as a cultural group, and were given control of the kingdom by the Sky Folk. At some point in the distant future, terrible conflicts occurred in an attempt to gain control over the Triforce. To end this bloodshed, the Royal Family of Hyrule commanded the seven sages to seal the Triforce away. The sages determined they would build a new temple, the ToT(OoT), which they would use to seal the Triforce away. Rauru claimed the Master Sword before the temple was built, to ensure all the pieces were in place when the temple was complete. It was at this time that Link would return to the past in Twilight Princess and acquire the Mirror Shard from the ToT(TP). Shortly after this, the sages would finish completing the ToT(OoT), and seal the Sacred Realm away using the Master Sword and the Door of Time. Considering the Sacred Grove, the present version of the ToT(TP), has no entrance to the Temple of Light, it’s also likely that upon completion of the ToT(OoT) the sages removed or closed the entrance to the Temple of Light that Link used when he entered the past, so as to ensure complete protection of the Triforce. As for why the Master Sword would be moved back to the ToT(TP) between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, this was likely on the part of the Hero of Time, as we know that the Skull Kid - the good friend of the Hero of Time from Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask - is now the protector of the Sacred Grove and the Master Sword.

This creates a strongly chronology of the two different temples and shows how they relate to each other. However, how do these temples relate to other temples - or, the ruins of temples - in the series? I will be exploring that in Part 2 of this post, which focuses on how the ToT(OoT) and the ToT(TP) connect to other locations in the series. 

[seandwalsh]

Is it possible that Madame Clairvoya from Luigi’s Mansion is actually a Shaman from Super Mario RPG?

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the Shamans from Super Mario RPG, which went on to play a major role in Paper Mario, Paper Mario: the Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario. These odd folk are are depicted as magicians and fortune tellers. Many use Crystal Balls to predict the future and guide Mario on his adventures, usually by reading the Stars.

In Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, we received some elaboration on who these Shamans are:

About Merlon on the east side of Rogueport and Merluvlee underground... Ol' Wonky hears they're from a strange tribe that names people by profession. So, for example, if someone did the same work as Merlon, they'd have the same name... So there could be Merlons all over. Don't you find that strange? Wonky does!

[Source: Wonky, Info guy, Non-player character in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, October 2004]

Meanwhile in Super Paper Mario, Shamans became the focus of the game, where they are revealed to be the descendants of the Tribe of Ancients, a people who had magic powerful enough to predict the distant future and transfer spirits of the dead into “Thinking Tools” called Pixls.

So yeah, ever heard of an advanced civilization called the Tribe of Ancients? They were, like, a thousand times smarter than you or me.

[Source: Garson, Owner of The Underwhere, Non-player character in Super Paper Mario, April 2007]

So yeah, you meet Merlon and Merlee yet? They're descendants of the Ancients and distantly related to each other, I hear.

[Source: Garson, Owner of The Underwhere, Non-player character in Super Paper Mario, April 2007]

So do you know how the Pixls came to be? A powerful magician among the Ancients created them about 3,000 years ago. He did it by transferring a spirit into a vessel he created for that purpose. He's said to have created 12 Pixls like this before he passed away. But his apprentices kept researching Pixls after his game ended... They learned to create many more Pixls based on his original 12. These Pixls became widely used as 'thinking tools' for the grateful Ancients. Through the work of many Pixls, the Ancients prospered as they never had before.

[Source: Carson, Owner of The Overthere, Non-player character in Super Paper Mario, April 2007]

In Luigi’s Mansion, Madame Clairvoya is a fortune teller who uses a Crystal Ball to read Mario’s items and guide Luigi. Her senses from reading the Crystal Ball are incredibly similar to those of the Shamans, with both seeing locations and people from the present or near future within their Crystal Balls and interpreting what they see into advice for the heroes. It’s also stated that Madame Clairvoya can see nearly 49 days into the future thanks to her close connection to the spirit world.

Madame Clairvoya actually wears similar clothing to many Shamans, particularly Shaman women, such as long robes, a headscarf and a veil covering her mouth. While the Shamans have largely been covered by shadows throughout their appearances thanks to their outfits, they are described as humans several times in Super Paper Mario, which aligns with Madame Clairvoya’s clearly human appearance.

Madame Merlar from Paper Mario and Merlumina from Super Paper Mario both return as ghosts long after their deaths and continue to serve as helpful guides, as is the case with Madame Clairvoya.

Madame Clairvoya also describes the Crystal Ball she uses as a "symbol of [her] clan”. This clan could very well be the Tribe of Ancients, whose descendants are shown to consistently use Crystal Balls to perform their work.

Finally - and this is what really got me to consider this possibility in the first place - the Japanese name of every member of the Tribe of Ancients and their descendants follows the same naming conventions, with all of their names being a play-on-words with the addition of the endings "ēru", "āru" or simply "ru", originating from the Japanese name of the Shaman species in Super Mario RPG, "Supēru". This also applies to Madame Clairvoya, whose Japanese name is “Madamu Miēru”.

What do you guys think? Could Madame Clairvoya actually be a descendant of the Ancients? If so, this is certainly a very interesting connection from Luigi’s Mansion back to Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, though it wouldn’t be the first!

[seandwalsh]

Where do the characters get the stuff they use In the Mario Kart Games from? And did the characters design the tracks that have their names?

I’m not quite sure what stuff you’re specifically referring to, but regardless, the answer is quite complicated. Assuming you’re talking about Karts and Items, the answer is “various places”.

Back in Super Mario Kart, while Mario was likely the one who organised, funded or at least initially proposed the event, Lakitu was the coordinator of the event, and ran the tracks. In the beginning they had more conservative rules surrounding the vehicles in use on the courses:

Hi everybody! Thanks for dropping by the Super Mario Kart race track. My name is Lakitu, I run this track. If you need my help, I'll be around. We race one seater, metal pipe frame go carts here. There are two engine sizes to choose from: 50cc or 100cc.

[Source: INTRODUCTION, Page 2, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Kart, September 1992]

Mario Kart stated out a a fun recreational event with a handful of trophies. That’s the main reason the characters take part, and it has been the reason since the very beginning, in Super Mario Kart. Each one of the characters is competing due to their connection to Mario.

An adorable little kart racetrack has been built in the Mario world! Mario and his happy-go-lucky friends have gotten so enthusiastic about kart racing that they're already causing a ruckus! Even now, they're smack in the middle of a race! Let's take a quick peek at how it's going, shall we? Oh, it's just about to start! Even the usually cute characters look a little tense. Let's watch Mario and friends fight hard!

[Source: Intro, Japanese Store Promo for Super Mario Kart, August 1992]

However, in the years since it has become the Mushroom Kingdom’s premiere racing event and grown significantly. Racers from various Kingdoms take part resulting in an incredibly diverse audience. Mario Kart now has dozens of sponsors for each Grand Prix, extended tournaments, its own television network, branded tracks and inter-dimensional courses and guest racers.

Mario Kart 64 was the first major step in this direction, but Mario Kart: Double Dash!! brought things even further. From its manual:

THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM’S PREMIER RACING EVENT IS BACK! HOWEVER, THERE’S BEEN ONE MAJOR CHANGE TO THE RULES OF THE ROAD… THERE ARE NOW TWO RIDERS PER KART! NOW, RIDERS FROM THROUGHOUT THE LAND HAVE COME TOGETHER NO TEST THEIR DRIVING SKILLS. WHICH PAIR WILL PROVE THE FASTEST?

[Source: The Double Dash Grand Prix!, Page 6, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003]

When Mario Kart started out, standard Pipe Frames were the only legal builds for the Mario GP. These models were likely built by Mario and his friends themselves.

However, with Mario Kart: Double Dash!! the Pipe Frames were retired in favour of a variety of Karts. Many of these karts were custom-made or modified pre-existing cars. Take Luigi's kart of choice in Mario Kart DS, for example: the Poltergust 4000. This Kart is part of the Poltergust series, a line of inventions created by Professor E. Gadd.

Another pair of examples are the Wario Car, which Wario makes use of in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Mario Kart Arcade GP 2, and the Wario Bike, which Wario makes use of in Mario Kart Wii. These are Wario's personal car and bike, which he uses in the Wario Land and WarioWare titles, and both were built by Wario's friend Dr. Crygor:

I AM DR. CRYGOR, THE GENIUS SCHOLAR. OTHERS HAVE SAID A "DANGEROUS" SCHOLAR, BUT I PAY NO MIND TO THEIR OPINIONS. MY LABORATORY IS SET UP TO FURTHER MY EXPERIMENTS IN REALITY GAMES. FEEL FREE TO STOP BY AND CONTRIBUTE TO MY RESEARCH. IT IS QUITE FUN. DID YOU KNOW THAT I WAS THE ONE WHO CREATED WARIO'S CAR? WHAT? YOU DO NOT KNOW? DO YOUR RESEARCH!

[Source: The Laboratory Authority - Dr. Crygor, Page 21, Instruction Booklet of WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, May 2003]

This odd genius lives in seclusion. He built Wario’s bike. Mona’s moped, Kat’s sword, and Jimmy’s cell phone. He wears a cryogenic suit that doesn’t protect his head.

[Source: Dr. Crygor's character profile, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!, April 2004]

The Standard Kart series of builds was then introduced as a replacement for the Pipe Frame in Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 and carried into tournaments from Mario Kart DS onwards. As a result of this, in later tournaments, custom or pre-existing vehicles were allowed to enter the tournament upon being modified to be legal for the Grand Prix. The Pipe Frames did eventually return in tournaments from Mario Kart 7 onwards, which featured more in-depth kart customisation.

Speaking of which, the Mario Kart events are sponsored by other brands Mario owns, such as the aforementioned Mario Motors, Mario Star, etc. These sponsors, as well as the many others not otherwise connected to Mario, likely fund the events and even provide them with parts and supplies.

It stands to reason that Mushroom Piston Engines provides engines, Fuzzy Battery provides batteries, Bob-omb Plugs provides spark plugs, Dream Gliders provides gliders, 1-Up Fuel provides fuel, Bowser Oil provides oil, 100% Organic Antifreeze provides antifreeze, etc.

Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 makes reference to a Grand Prix Committee, which sends letters to Cup winners to invite them to the Cup’s special Challenge stage. Their letters are closed with an “M” stamped seal. This would imply Mario is at least on this committee, if not the head of it. This is presumably the committee that organises the events and decides which participants to invite, what items will be used, etc.

As mentioned previously, all of the participants either know Mario directly or have connections to people who know Mario. The Super Mario Kart manual seems to call attention to how each of the participant racers connect to Mario specifically.

MARIO & LUIGI The Mario Brothers have pretty much the same abilities in cart driving. Mario and Luigi have had a friendly rivalry that goes back to their childhood.

[Source: THE 8 CART DRIVERS, Page 21, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Kart, September 1992]

PRINCESS & YOSHI At first, you might think that The Princess and Yoshi would have nothing in common (except their fondness for Mario).

[Source: THE 8 CART DRIVERS, Page 22, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Kart, September 1992]

BOWSER & DONKEY KONG JR. These two drivers have long been Mario's arch enemies.

[Source: THE 8 CART DRIVERS, Page 23, Instruction Booklet of Super Mario Kart, September 1992]

While Toad and Koopa Troopa's descriptions don't specifically connect them to Mario, Toad is of course a long-time friend of Mario and servant to Peach, while Koopa Troopa is a minion of Bowser:

Usually a faithful underling of Bowser, [Koopa Troopa] shows even the big boss no mercy during a race.

[Source: Characters and Special Items, Page 20, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003]

Koopa Troopa, of the Turtle Tribe. Usually one of Bowser's minions, but as far as races go, it's a different story!?

[Source: Characters, Mario Kart Wii, Nintendo Co., Ltd. website]

In short, Mario is what brings them all together - and in turn they each bring their own special items. The iconic Banana Peels thrown by racers in the Mario Kart series are actually from the Kong's Banana Hoard on Donkey Kong Island, having originally been brought to the races by Donkey Kong Jr. back in Super Mario Kart:

Because of Donkey Kong Jr.! He likes bananas, and the peels are slippery, so they got the okay.

[Source: Tadashi Sugiyama, Director and C.G. Designer of Super Mario Kart, Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES developer interview – Volume 4: Super Mario Kart, September 2017]

In the original game, the only CPU-controlled character who throws banana peels is Donkey Kong Jr., which was a way to characterise the characters.

[Source: Hideki Konno, Director of Super Mario Kart, Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES developer interview – Volume 4: Super Mario Kart, September 2017]

Despite Donkey Kong Jr. not appearing in tournaments after Super Mario Kart, it seems his son, the current Donkey Kong, continued to supply Bananas from Mario Kart 64 onwards. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong even brought along some Giant Bananas in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart: Arcade GP 2 and Mario Kart Tour:

Special Item GIANT BANANA Only DK and Diddy know where these monstrous fruit can be found.

[Source: Characters and Special Items, Page 19, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003] From this we can speculate about the origins of other items. Shells are common clothing/armour worn by Koopas, but seeing as the shells in Mario Kart are standard Koopa Troopa Shells, it stands to reason that the Koopa Troopa racer or perhaps Bowser brought the Red Shells and Green Shells originally used in Super Mario Kart.

These shells are worn by Koopa Troopas, both within and outside of Bowser's Army. We can even see one of Bowser's Airships in Super Mario Galaxy equipped with a shell dispenser:

The Green Shells and Red Shells even function how you'd expect - with Green Shells flying straight forward and Red Shells heading towards the nearest target!

However, with the expansion of Mario Kart in later titles the shells, which are mass-produced, appear to be provided by a company, with sponsors for "Green Shell Strike Equipment" and "Red Shell Strike Equipment" making appearances:

Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa seem to have their own supply in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!:

Special Items TRIPLE SHELLS (GREEN / RED) Don't let Koopa and Paratroopa worry about not having enough shells.

[Source: Characters and Special Items, Page 20, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003]

Bowser also provides his own shells for the tournaments in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Mario Kart: Arcade GP 2 and Mario Kart Tour:

Bowser's Shell This big ol' shell on loan from Bowser will crash any karts it hits and keep on going. It can only be thrown forward.

[Source: Items, Tips and Tricks, Mario Kart Tour, September 2019]

On the topic of items, Super Mario Kart used ? Panels to dispense its items. These panels are likely made by the same people in the Mushroom Kingdom who make ? Blocks. While they weren't used in later Mario Kart tournaments, they have still made a few other appearances since, such as in Mario Party 9.

From the Mario Kart 64 Mario GP onwards the ? Panels were replaced with the iconic Item Boxes, which were likely much more convenient for transportation and addition to the racetracks. But it wasn't until Mario Kart Wii where we actually learned where these come from, through the course Toad's Factory.

This is actually the Item Box Factory, as we can see not only from the trackside banners with the Item Box logo and giant sign of Toad with an Item Box, but from the shipping containers items ready to go into the Item Boxes:

Inside the factory, we can even see the process of how Item Boxes are made. The Items are put inside standard Brick Blocks, before the Brick Blocks are placed on a conveyor belt with stamps of some sort. These stamps appear to be filled with some sort of magical rainbow liquid, likely sourced from Power Stars, which transforms the Brick Blocks into the Item Boxes, giving them their translucent rainbow appearance and their ability to float:

Circling back to the Kongs for a moment, Funky Kong is actually the one responsible for the construction of the DK Barrel Cannons featured prominently throughout Mario Kart courses.

We learn this when Donkey Kong mentions Funky in the context of their creation in Mario Super Sluggers:

Oooook! (Looks like Funky Kong has been busy.)

[Source: Donkey Kong, Best Friend of Funky Kong, Playable Character in Mario Super Sluggers, August 2008]

This isn't all too surprising though, given Funky Kong's previous barrel-based mechanic work and his appearances in Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart Tour, as well as the barrel-inspired Funky Stadium which he presumably also built:

Speaking of which, it's about time I discuss the stadiums, circuits and other courses and where they came from!

Mario is world-famous and incredibly wealthy from his adventures, businesses and sports stardom. Multiple of the circuits in the games are also clearly built by him or at least in honour of him. He‘s the only character with actual circuits named after him in Super Mario Kart:

State-of-the-art racetracks in the Mario world that are rich in variety. The effectiveness of the pipe obstacles is the key.

[Source: Mario Circuit's description, Japanese Store Promo for Super Mario Kart, August 1992]

Mario Circuits have also been described as the primary circuits of their respective Grand Prix:

Mario Circuit This is the main circuit in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Familiar denizens of the Mushroom Kingdom can be spotted here and there. The road's filled with curves, so this is a good place to practice drifting.

[Source: Courses, Page 31, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, November 2003]

It stands to reason that most characters had a hand in designing the tracks that bear their names. In fact we know that's the case for several courses, such as N64 Wario Stadium:

That rascal Wario was in charge of the design and construction of this course. A fan of motocross races, he brought in major amounts of sand to fill this huge stadium in an attempt to build a course more suitable to bikes than Karts. Each lap's distance is extremely long, making it difficult to stay concentrated on the race.

[Source: MARIO KART 64 COURSE MAPS, Page 30, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart 64, February 1997]

Meanwhile the Bowser's Castle courses are modified from or otherwise based on the real Bowser's Castle:

Surprisingly, the Bowser's Castle has been transformed into a race ground! Because it's inside the building, most of the corners are tricky right angles. However, the most difficult part of the course is where the Thwomps are. They will block your path, and if you run into one, you will spin out. Should you be stepped by one, you'll find yourself squished flat as a pancake.

[Source: MARIO KART 64 COURSE MAPS, Page 31, Instruction Booklet of Mario Kart 64, February 1997]

Bowser typically designs his courses with the help of his minions to be filled with traps in the hopes of beating Mario. This goes beyond the Mario Kart tracks and also applies to his Tennis Courts, Golf Courses, etc.:

Lord Bowser designed his course to defeat Mario, so it’s kinda full of lava and bombs and stuff like that.

[Source: Spiny, Minion of Bowser, Non-player Character in Mario Golf: Super Rush, June 2021]

Bowser enlisted his minions to create this course in hopes of defeating Mario with all the traps and hazards.

[Source: Koopa Troopa, Minion of Bowser, Non-player Character in Mario Golf: Super Rush, June 2021]

However, this isn't universally the case. For example, Peach Beach is merely Princess Peach's favourite beach resort in the Southern Isles, while Toad's Turnpike is on a public road in Toad City!

I could go on and on about the Mario Kart series and the depth to its worldbuilding, but I think that's quite enough for today. Thank you for reading!