Nintendo shocked the world when it showed shirtless Mario for Super Mario Odyssey. He has nipples but no belly button. What's up with that? In a new developer video, producer Yoshiaki Koizumi started off by saying the topic of Mario's nipples and belly button is something that he never expected players to discuss or be interested in.
Koizumi does not directly answer the question, "Why does Mario have nipples but no belly button?" unfortunately, but he still had more to say. Intriguingly, Koizumi said Nintendo thought about going back and potentially giving Mario a belly button.
"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," Koizumi said.
A belly button is what's left after doctors cut the umbilical cord at birth. You can have an innie or an outie. But Mario doesn't have either because he doesn't have a belly button at all. You know who also didn't have a belly button? Kyle XY.
Also in the video, Koizumi reveals that Toad's head is not a hat--that's just his head. He also talks about how the team added more coins out of "respect" for the testers. You can check out the full, albeit short, video embedded above.
If you're wondering, you can get the shirtless Mario outfit in Odyssey at the clothing store in the Cascade Kingdom for 1,000 coins.
Odyssey launched in October for Nintendo Switch. It has been a massive success, selling more than 9 million copies to become the best-selling first-party Switch game so far. It's also a critical darling, receiving high praise from critics and fans alike.
References: Gamespot
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