Super Mario Odyssey Producer Confirms Toad Isn’t Wearing a Hat, Discusses Mario’s Lack of a Belly-Button

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A new Super Mario Odyssey developer video talk with game producer Yoshiaki Koizumi has the Nintendo boss responding to even more fan questions for the series and its latest iteration.

When asked “is Toad’s head a hat or a head,” Koizumi has finally ended the speculation that came about since the The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 cartoon (where Toad removed the top part of his ‘head’ as if it were a hat).


“So that, as it turns out, is actually Toad’s head,” Koizumi said. “I’m going to have to leave it to all of you to figure out exactly how that works out. Maybe there’s something inside…”

The producer was asked “why does Mario have nipples but no belly button?” by a fan. Unfortunately, the producer somewhat dodged the question.

“Well to be perfectly honest, I didn’t really expect that to be a topic among fans,” he said. “Once I heard that people were talking so much about Mario’s belly button, it made me start to think about whether we should revisit the topic on the design side.”

With Odyssey featuring full-sized humans existing alongside the cartoonish Mario in his regular design, this answer simply raises more questions as to whether or not Mario is human, and what his origins are.

Finally, Koizumi was asked to explain Mario’s relationship with Peach and Pauline, and once again he dodged the question. “I would appreciate it if we could respect the privacy of those three at this time.” He also answered a few questions about the game’s design, as well as some Easter eggs hidden within – these are naturally spoilers so beware.

Super Mario Odyssey is now available for the Nintendo Switch. In case you missed it, you can find our review for the game here (we highly recommend it!).

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