I'm sorry, I just have to bring this one up-- It's a "Creepypasta" about the origins of the character of Mario. While not inheriently scary, it does provide a lot of interesting (albeit untrue) insight to the Super Mario universe...
http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Real_MarioHere's the text...
We have all heard of Mario. We know him as a heroic italian plumber, who fights Bowser to save Princess Peach, traveling across upbeat landscapes. But there is a darker side to his story, the one that actually concieved our view of him.
Mario was an Italian immigrant, his family moved to America in 1954. Like most people coming to America in those years, his family came through Ellis Island.
As Mario and his family were herded down the inspection line, it was discovered that his mother was afflicted with Trachoma. She was immediately marked to be deported. His Mother insisted that the family go on without her, and reluctantly, they did, and continued to New York. This experience was extremely traumatic for Mario, and he began to develop an eating disorder, he starved himself to a point of near death. Only through the support of his older brother Luigi was he able to recover, although his growth was stunted. This made him easily offended by comments about his height.
The next blow came when Mario was sixteen. His father was killed in car accident, and he immediately fell into another depression. This time, Luigi, who had moved away, was not there to help him through it.
Mario was on the verge of suicide, he began searching for suitable ways to end his life. He heard about an arms dealer who would be willing to sell him a revolver. He ventured into the ghettos and found the dealer, but was surprised when he was presented not with a firearm, but with a bag of brown and white mushrooms. He asked the man if they would kill him.The man said that the mushrooms wouldn't kill him, but would help him feel better.
Mario bought them, went home, and ate them. Immediately, he felt as if he was in another world, all of his troubles faded away. Little orange turtles rode smiley faced clouds, red mushroom head people praised him as their king. And his mother came back to him. Princess Peach, he called her, as he retreated into the depths of his psychadelic paradise. As Mario's grasp on reality shrank, his indulgence in mushrooms grew. He began growing them, as well as other exotic and illegal plants. Mario also began breeding turtles, for unknown reasons.
Time went on, and Mario began having to take more and more mushrooms to remain high. Eventually, the mushrooms began having a.....different effect. His world became darker, unrest among his subjects was evident. And reality began catching up with him, he was falling behind on his bills.
Finally, his world collapsed as he was kicked out of his house. Peach was taken from him once more, brown and white mushrooms viciously devoured his friends, the turtles and plants that he had once loved betrayed him, and it seemed like his world had met it's end.
That was, until, the return of his brother.
Luigi returned as soon as he had learned about his father's death, he knew that Mario wouldn't be able to handle it, and that he may attempt suicide, or worse. As he drove up to Mario's dilapidated, run down house. His fears were realized. A large "Foreclosed" sign was in the yard, he rushed past it and found the house empty, devoid of furniture with garbage strewn about to compensate.
Luigi was crushed at what he believed to be the death of his last surviving family member. He drove back to the airport, but along the way noticed something very peculiar. On the side of the road, a man was devouring huge amounts of what appeared to be mushrooms. He bared a striking resemblance to Mario, so Luigi looked way, not wanting to be reminded about his brother's demise. But then he realised, that was his brother!
He immediately pulled over to the side of the road, rushed to Mario, and pulled him into his car. He sped to the nearest hospital, while Mario convulsed in the back. Once he arrived, Mario was rushed to the emergency room. The doctors asked Luigi to leave, he agreed and vigilantly waited outside of the door. After several hours, one of them stepped out, and brought Luigi the news.
He was alive, albeit barely. But the dose of psilocybin mushrooms needed to cause an overdose was over two thousand times the dose needed to have hallucinogenic effects. Mario's mind had been irreparably damaged.
But Luigi refused to accept this, he hired all sorts of health professionals to aid Mario. However, it seemed as if all the Therapists and Psycologists in the world would not be able to help him. He began to have delusions of Mario making progress, and would gleefully present Mario with a sticker in the shape of a star, whenever he felt he had acknowledged reality.
Mario was happy with his new world, Princess Peach was back, as well as his brother. He felt like he could do anything, smash through brick walls, jump on top of people's heads. He neglected to give his brother credit for anything, and remembered it as if he was the older brother. Luigi began losing his grip on reality as well, he would play along with Mario at times, and become what many people would call overly absorbed in his brother's world.
Then, Luigi was brought out of this stupor when he was presented with a proposition. Hiroshi Yamauchi, the third president of Nintendo, posed as a reknowned psycologist. He claimed to have the perfect cure for Mario's insanity. Yamauchi said that Mario would be flown to an advanced healthcare center in Kyoto, Japan. Where he would recieve the most technologically advanced treatment possible. The only drawback was that Luigi would not be able to come.
Luigi agreed, said his goodbyes to his brother, and returned home. He felt his brother was safe, and would return soon, freed from his mental shackles. If only he could have seen what went on during those following years.
Yamauchi had Mario immediately brought to the Nintendo Headquarters, it was a failing business at the time, with a stock price of around ¥60. This was his chance. He began questioning Mario about his world, using it to get ideas for his games. This led to not only the Mario franchise, but others, such as Pokemon and Legend of Zelda. This was how Nintendo rose from a small card company to become one of the main game-producing companies in the world.
Perhaps Mario is still living there, generating ideas that create games that our children will play. Now, I need to ask something of you, whenever you see an episode of Pokemon, or buy one of those Super Mario games, remember The Real Mario, the one that made it all happen.
