Mario Is a Polytheist, According to Nintendo-Licensed Quiz Cards

Obviously we're being a little tongue-in-cheek here, and knowing what we know about Nintendo, it would never actually go out of its way to give Mario any kind of religious affiliation on the record. Alas, in the images above you can see Mario praying before the Koran, reading the Bible, and gazing adoringly at a menorah. These images were brought to our attention this morning by ResetEra member "Zan," who has revived these fun little quiz cards from yesteryear.

The images above are taken from three separate quiz cards asking, "What is Islam?" "What is Christianity?" and "What is a menorah?" I had never seen these cards before, so I decided to read up on them. The following excerpt is from mariowiki.

"The Mario Quiz Cards are a set of informational quiz cards licensed by Nintendo and published by Atlas Editions in the mid 1990s. They follow a specific format that usually features an illustration of a Mario franchise character with a word bubble that asks a multiple choice question. A separate illustration follows that features some of the characters and is related to the question."

The interesting thing, and the point of the entire thread, is that these cards apparently reveal certain facts about the Mario Bros. characters featured on their faces. The wiki explains that the cards show these characters doing things or showing sides of themselves that "Nintendo (particularly Nintendo of America) would never allow them to do in games."

We're offered a list of examples, most of which are pretty funny:

• A card asking who Cyrano de Bergerac was shows a more romantic side to Mario's personality than is shown in games.
• Mario shows himself to be capable of playing kendo in a card asking what weapon that martial art uses.
• On a card asking why it is important to know one's blood type, Dr. Mario reveals Princess Peach to be blood type O positive.
• Two religion-related cards, one shows Mario reading the Quran and praying to Allah (God in Arabic), and the other shows Mario reading a Bible.
• A card asking what Greenpeace is shows Mario and Luigi protesting against nuclear weapons.
• Luigi is shown reading a history book in a card that asks when the Nazi German dictator Adolf Hitler rose to power.
• Princess Peach is shown attending an organized rally for the Equal Rights Amendment.
• A card asking when Prohibition was shows Mario chasing a Goomba toting around a bottle of alcohol.

• One of the cards has Mario listening to the Fab 4, a supposed parody of The Beatles, while Mario himself sports a bowl-cut similar to one of the band members of the Fab 4.

Well, now you know. People have been dying to learn more about Mario, apparently. We assume nipple-gate is to blame.

(Source / Context)