Does Mario Headbutt Or Punch Bricks In Mario Bros.?

Mario has so many agile moves that it’s almost hard to count them all. From his normal jump to his reliable long jump to his trusty triple jump, the portly Italian plumber is definitely not lacking when it comes to being nimble and quick when he needs to be. But perhaps his most iconic jump is the one he always appears doing in covers. You know the one, Mario with his fist in the air, one leg higher than the other, and a joyful smile that greets even the sourest of Nintendo fans. That’s the one we’re talking about today, but more specifically, in terms of his second title with the name we know him as today, Mario Bros., from 1983. To be even more specific, the goal of this article is to attempt to figure out if the big red guy is headbutting or punching bricks in Mario Bros. It seems simple, right? Well, unfortunately, it’s not. Let’s get into why that is.

In order to put things into perspective, we first have to acknowledge just how extremely specific and stupid this question is. It’s peculiar in the sense that in the middle of gameplay, most people won’t be wondering that at all most of the time. Still, though, it is a fun question, and we’re going to discuss if Mario headbutts or punches bricks no matter what. So, let’s examine the facts. When looking at an image of the original Mario Bros game, you can see that Mario’s fist is raised in the air above his head with his head following behind. Then his legs spread quickly, followed by the guy in red plummeting down the blue pipe, with the process repeating itself until all the enemies were defeated. Or, at least, that’s what it looks like because, due to the limited amount of pixels displayed on the screen, it’s incredibly hard to tell what hits the pipe first. So that’s just not good enough!

Of course, when looking at Mario Bros. in a YouTube video, it’s easy to tell that Mario is lifting his fist and extending his neck at the same time, so with the lack of Shigeru Miyamoto’s mobile number, we’ll have to resort to personal opinion. What do I believe? Well, I believe Mario is doing a bit of both, and I know that’s an anticlimactic answer. But trust me, that’s better for everyone and will at least add some brevity to this article. As I mentioned earlier, due to the limit of 8-bit pixels and videogames collision physics and all that, it’s super hard to tell what Mario is even doing in this game, but yeah, he’s doing a bit of both. That’s because when I look at the modern jump render, Mario is both extending his arm and his neck muscles, and those details can’t be just a coincidence. If Nintendo wants us to think this has been the case ever since the debut title, then that has to be true for the title itself. However, I am leaning towards punching because of how high Mario is extending his arm in the render and the game, which has been true for all of his jumps, to be honest.

This also can’t be just a coincidence, and even though we can’t ask Mario, he still seems like the kind of guy who would only do something like stretching out his arm to punch bricks because he wants to. And wouldn’t it hurt to hit bricks with your head all day? I know it would hurt with your hands, too, but it at least seems like it would be a little less painful to use your fist rather than your head. We’re getting mighty speculative here, but there is no way that a company like Nintendo would subject its main guy to the pain that comes from head smashing. I’m still on team head and fist, though, because that manoeuvre seems significantly more practical. After all, it would do a lot more damage than compared to breaking bricks with only your hands or your noggin. Mario is a plumber, after all, and it just makes sense for him to want to get his job with as much efficiency as possible. He’s a show-up to work, get the job done, and go him kind of guy through and through. So, yeah, that’s my take on the matter, and while I agree that it’s a bit safe, it still seems the most plausible due to the practicality and overall safety of using two body parts rather than just one. The Mushroom Kingdom probably doesn’t want to have an injured Mario on its hands, and it doesn’t seem to have good healthcare anyways. We’ve come to the conclusion that our favourite guy in red hits question blocks with his fist and head — thank you for playing videogame Mythbusters with me.