I gave a 1-up to my Mario 101 project!

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Princess Peach’s missing dad, Bowser’s dead wife, and the infamous field horsehair plants

Hello, website friends. This email brings news that 1) I have freed myself from the shackles of Mailchimp, which sucks balls and which doesn’t do anything that I wasn’t already paying for with Squarespace, as we all as the fact that 2) I have released an exciting eighth part to my Mario 101 project, comprising a lot of bits that didn’t make the cut for the first go-around. That might sound like leftovers, but I promise you it’s a quality read if you enjoying going deep on this kind of stuff the way I do.

May I present Mario 101, Part Eight?

If you’ve enjoyed the other installments of this series, then you know the drill for this one. Yes, I do talk about how Foreman Spike looks like a gay leatherman. Otherwise, I’d also like to point out that I’ve made a few podcast appearances discussing this work. Do check me out, if you’re curious, on Nintendo Cartridge Society, Still Loading, Tokyo Game Life and, most recently, Retronauts.

While this is the biggest post I’ve done recently, I’ve gotten a few smaller ones up as well.

Ganon’s Mysterious Origins Revisited

Another look back at how we don’t know for sure where Ganon gets his name, but maybe the Japanese series Kamen Rider has a clue?

Why Do Video Games Associate Mice With Bombs?

From Mouser In SMB2 to Mappy Land, there’s a weird tendency for Japan to make mice throw bombs. Why the hell?

Waluigi’s Wikipedia Weirdness

What started as an online theory that might explain Waluigi ended up with me debunking an online urban legend… and wondering why people believed it in the first place.

Is There a Disney Reference Hiding in Golden Axe?

The rando new Golden Axe cartoon includes Chronos “Evil” Lait from Golden Axe 3. I think Beauty and the Beast might help explain that weird name.

And that’s it! Don’t forget you can always subscribe to the RSS feed as well.