Here are the most-read posts on this blog, per February 2025.

1. A Complete History of Birdo’s Gender

2. Where Did You Go, Ms. Pac-Man?

3. If His Name Is Blanka, Why Is He Green?

4. Did Super Mario Bros. 3 Change Our Understanding of the Tanuki?

5. Super Mario Bros. 3 Happened Before Super Mario Bros. 2

6. How Popeye Changed Video Games

7. Sci-Fi Stripteases in Barbarella, Metroid and Mach Rider

8. You Cannot Grasp the True Form of Giygas!

9. A Short History of Street Fighter II Character Names

10. Bowser vs. Koopa

The video game series this blog most frequently posts about are Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter and Castlevania. You can see links to posts grouped by series below.

Super Mario

• Searching for Signs of Super Mario Bros. 2 in Mario Kart World

• Pauline: A History of Nintendo’s First Leading Lady

• Was the Zelda Fairy Fountain Music Inspired by a Track from Super Mario Bros. 3?

• Long Live Wart!

• Is Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga One Big Fart Joke?

• How One Weird Little Guy Connects Yoshi’s Island to Donkey Kong

• Are Mario’s Mushrooms a Reference to Hallucinogenic Drugs?

• Organ Grinders, Kongs and Super Mario Monkey Business

• Did Time Magazine Declare Birdo Trans?

• How WarioWare Brought the Satanic Panic to Nintendo

• The Devil in the Mushroom Kingdom

• Is There a Wizard of Oz Reference Hidden in Super Mario Galaxy?

• Does the Tower of Babel Make a Cameo in Super Mario Bros. 3?

• A Complete History of Birdo’s Gender

• Princess Peach Can’t Get a Break

• The Legend of Bowser’s Dead Wife

• Is Valentina from Super Mario RPG a Jimmy Buffett Reference or Not?

• Localization Strangeness in the Super Mario RPG Remake

• Hard Hats in the Mushroom Kingdom

• Koopa vs. Kappa

• Bowser vs. Koopa

• Mallow’s Name Is a Better Pun in the Japanese Version of Super Mario RPG

• Princess Daisy’s Long Road to Becoming Playable in Super Mario Bros. Wonder

• Is Super Mario Wonder’s Prince Florian a Nod to the Mario Anime?

• Secrets of the Super Mario RPG Shaman

• Why Did Nintendo Change Foreman Spike’s Name?

• Foreman Spike Was the Original Wario

• A History of Toad’s Gender… One Way or Another

• Did Super Mario Bros. 3 Change Our Understanding of the Tanuki?

• The Indie Pop Legacy of Super Mario Land 2

• Yoshi vs. the Loch Ness Monster

• The Story Behind Super Mario RPG’s Valentina

• A Parade of Princess Peach Prototypes

• What Is the Etymology of ‘Goomba’?

• Dogs, Popeye and the Super Mario Bros. Anime

• How Popeye Changed Video Games

• Super Mario Bros. 3 Happened Before Super Mario Bros. 2

• Who Put the ‘P’ in the P-Wing?

• A Short History of the Goomba

• Why Is Super Mario Bros. 2 Missing a Level?

• Birdo Was Yoshi Before Yoshi Was Yoshi

• The Enemies of Super Mario Bros. 2

• The Legacy of Super Mario Bros. 2

Street Fighter

• How Eagle Became Street Fighter’s First Gay Character

• The Mystery of the Brainwashed Blondes

• Did Akira Nishitani Lie in the 1994 Capcom vs. Data East Lawsuit?

• Apparently ‘William F. Guile’ Is Street Fighter Canon?

• Don’t Call Her ‘Titty’

• Fighter’s History: Legally Not a Street Fighter Clone

• Street Fighter’s Surprising Crossover With Red Earth

• Why Does Street Fighter Have a Character Named ‘Sodom’?

• Ryu and Ken No Longer Practice Shotokan Karate

• Sheng Long, Street Fighter and the Legacy of W.A. Stokins

• If His Name Is Blanka, Why Is He Green?

• The Legend of Zubaz

• A Short History of Street Fighter II Character Names

• Is Terry Bogard in Street Fighter I?

Final Fantasy

• A Speculative Origin for Final Fantasy’s Tonberry

• The Chocobo Was Not Inspired by Nausicaä, Apparently?

• Does Aerith Make a Stealth Cameo in Final Fantasy V?

• Final Fantasy vs. Dungeons & Dragons

• Why on Earth Was This Final Fantasy Monster Named ‘Veteran’?

• How Final Fantasy Taught Me the Word ‘Jihad’

• Bahamut and Behemoth: One and the Same?

• Sea Hag or Sahagin? A Quick History of an RPG Water Monster

• Cliff’s Notes for Dante: Final Fantasy IV’s Elemental Fiends

Legend of Zelda

• Hylian 101: The Secrets Hiding in the Language of Zelda

• Was the Zelda Fairy Fountain Music Inspired by a Track from Super Mario Bros. 3?

• How Impa Jumped From Background Lore to the Zelda In-Game Canon

• We Don’t Know Where Ganon’s Name Comes From

• There’s a Piranha Plan in my Zelda Dungeon!

Castlevania

• Localization Drift and Hidden History In Castlevania: Nocturne

• Is There a John Candy Joke in the Ending to Castlevania?

• The Many Mysteries of Castlevania’s Sypha Belnades