Many international Mario fans were confused by the design of the Angry Sun in the New Super Mario Bros. U style of Super Mario Maker 2, noticing how it appeared more stern than angry. This is due to the fact that "angry" is not part of the enemy's name in Japan, just being called "sun", meaning that anger is not an inherent part of the character and giving it a different expression would make more sense without knowledge of its localized name.
The new design of the "Angry" Sun seems to be based on pre-colonial mythology based on the sun, most particularly the Inca sun god Inti, a design inspiration that seems to exist in anthropomoprhic suns from multiple other Nintendo games such as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mole Mania, and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
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Prior to the official announcement of Yoshi's Crafted World's title, a fake leak was posted on 4chan listing off future Nintendo games, containing the title of Yoshi's Crafted World. This leak was humorous in nature, contrasting legitimate sounding titles such as Animal Crossing: Town Founder and Paper Mario: Clay Catastrophe with obvious jokes such as Metroid: Equestrian Races and Rhythm Heaven and Hell - this lead to a short-lived theory that the leak was indeed real and slid in the joke names for humorous effect. Over time, reveals of installments in other franchises featured in the leak that didn't line up would show that Crafted World was simply a lucky guess. However, some other articles from the leak, such as a multi-part DLC pass for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes, a Tokyo 2020 Mario & Sonic Olympics game (albeit without Pac-Man), a Switch port of Overwatch, and the at-the-time-believed-to-be-cancelled Pikmin 4 would come into fruition later by coincidence.
In the 2023 film "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", Mario and Luigi's family are prominently featured. This includes:
• Their Father, voiced by Charles Martinet (and bears a resemblance to Talon from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) • Their Mother, who previously appeared in "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!" and is voiced here by Jessica DiCicco • Uncle Arthur, voiced by John DiMaggio • Uncle Tony, voiced by Rino Romano (and was coincidentally mentioned in live-action segment "Glasnuts" from the TV series "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!") • Aunt Marie, who's presumably married to Uncle Arthur • An unnamed niece, who's most likely Marie and Arthur's daughter, being a first cousin once removed that's referred to as a "(second) niece" • An unnamed grandfather, who's implied by the co-director Aaron Horvath to previously have been a boxer and wears an outfit similar to Luigi in the 1983 commercial for the Atari ports of Mario Bros.
Interestingly, all of the credited voice actors for the family are all of Italian descent to stay true to the family's Italian heritage.
According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the design of the family were based on character design sheets that former Nintendo illustrator Yoichi Kotabe drew decades before the film began production.
An NPC appearing in Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II is potentially a reference to American domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. It should be noted that while his character portrait and overworld sprite look similar to Kaczynski, it is used for several different NPC characters in the game, so it's unknown if he was originally intended to physically resemble the real-life Unabomber. However, like the Unabomber this character is also named Ted, he moved to a cabin in the woods, and believes society is too reliant on industrial technology, even complimenting Vegeta on "blowing up" a neighbor's generator after he failed to destroy it himself. His dialogue is the following:
Ted: "I moved out here because society is too reliant on Capsule technology. Civilization is falling apart, and we've all filled our pockets with capsules, SUV's and capsule cappuccino machines. It is unnatural. It was very peaceful here - until that Vinnie guy moved in. He makes me sick! Listen to that music he is always playing:
"Feel the danger around you! The black darkness surrounds you!" "What are you going to do? The eyes of the lion!"
I can't stand that corporate pop music Vinnie is always playing: [same lyrics as above]
[After destroying Vinnie's generator]: You blew up his generator? I like your style! I would have done it myself, but I couldn't figure out his security code."
In the area beside The Watermill, there is a tree with a small low-poly representation of a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle attached to it. This pairs well with a bit of cut content recently found within the game's code for the same area, where Ico could have gained a secret weapon that took the form of an Insect Net.
How these two elements could have come together remains unknown, but it was likely part of a reference to Ico's voice actor, Kazuhiro Shindō, and his prior role as 'Boku' in the first installment of the Boku no Natsuyasumi series.
Boku no Natsuyasumi had an extensive bug-catching and beetle fighting system. These features reappearing in ICO were potentially meant to be an elaborate reference, playing on the idea that Kazuhiro Shindō is once again voicing a young boy, who might refer to himself with the first-person pronoun 'boku', if he were to speak Japanese.
The credits for both ICO and Boku No Nastuyasumi show that both protagonists' voice actors have the same name. I have highlighted both names in a combined screenshot attached.
Additionally, Kazuhiro Shindō's Japanese Wikipedia article confirms his video game roles. Providing evidence that he really was the voice of both characters: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/進藤一宏#ゲーム
Pit was first depicted with blue eyes and a laurel crown in promotional artwork for Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, which was not released in Japan until 2012. If the eye color and crown of Pit's design in 2008's Super Smash Bros. Brawl was influenced by Of Myths and Monsters and wasn't simply a coincidence, that would make it the first and so far only instance of Super Smash Bros. referencing content from a game without any kind of Japanese release at the time within gameplay, and shared with a sticker originating from Of Myths and Monsters as the first representation of a game without a Japanese release whatsoever outside of the Chronicle (which is also technically tied with trophies in the same game from Elite Beat Agents, a heavily modified localization of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan).
Video game researcher Patrick Kellogg posited that Cube Quest was likely the inspiration for Polybius, an urban legend in which US government operatives create a Tempest-esque shoot-em-up of the same name that has lasting psychoactive effects on those who play it. In Kellogg's analysis, he notes that Cube Quest features similar Tempest-style gameplay and sports vibrant, surreal backgrounds like the kind described in the urban legend. The backgrounds in Cube Quest were reproduced by running a LaserDisc player installed in the game's cabinet; because LaserDisc technology is much less reliable than solid state media, the cabinet required constant maintenance from technicians, which Kellogg cited as the likely inspiration for the government agents who periodically harvest data from Polybius in the urban legend.
Though Donkey Kong's neutral special Giant Punch has no specific origin, Donkey Kong performs a similar wind-up punch in "Bad Hair Day", the first episode of the 1997 animated series "Donkey Kong Country", which first aired 17 months prior to the Japanese release of Super Smash Bros.
The title screens of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, with Sonic (a character known for his super speed) posing and waving his gloved hand inside of a ring lined with stars and a ribbon banner at the bottom, could possibly be taken from the logo of the 1981 anime "Dr. Slump" and its speedy protagonist Arale. It should also be noted that the ring surrounding Sonic has giant wings protruding from its sides, which appear to reference the angel wings on Arale's cap that also feature in the intros to the anime and some of the films.
While it's not known if any Sega employees have commented on this connection, it was acknowledged in the form of a small cameo appearance where Sonic gets outrun by Arale in the 1993 sequel manga "The Brief Return of Dr. Slump".
In a 1996 interview with Shigeru Miyamoto published in Super Mario 64's first Japanese strategy guides, he revealed that Mario's running animation, speed and movements in that game were influenced by Arale, the main protagonist of the 1980 Akira Toriyama manga/anime "Dr. Slump":
"The area around his hips is a big "joint" that controls which way his body moves. We created all his movements from that point of origin: when he accelerates and inclines forward, when he turns and leans left or right, etc. So Mario sort of runs like Arale-chan, with the correct sense of weight in the body."
However, Dr. Slump's influence throughout the Mario series could trace back even further. In particular, his running speed and animation and the Racoon and Tanooki Suits from Super Mario Bros. 3, the Wing Cap from Super Mario 64, the Cat Suit from Super Mario 3D World, and even traits of Mario's happy cartoonish personality, his short stature and gloves, and blue-red-overalls color scheme bear enough similarities that they all could have been taken from Arale's appearances and other elements throughout Dr. Slump. Despite this, outside of Miyamoto's comment, these connections are not known to have been elaborated on by any other employee from Nintendo.
In 2019, a YouTube user by the name of MickeySerbia posted a now-deleted video showing that Sans' voice grunting was most likely sourced from a snippet of Patrick Star saying "maybe it's the way you're dressed" in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Something Smells"; specifically, the grunt comes from the "ay" in "maybe." This information was further popularized when the SoundCloud account UNDERTALE OST: Recreated made and published the same discovery later that year, independent of MickeySerbia. While Toby Fox did not comment on the discovery, waveform comparisons between the SoundCloud post and Sans' voice grunting shows that the two are nearly identical apart from a slight delay in the former.
Mario and his Special Moves in this game are based off of the "Shoto" style of Fighting Game characters, most specifically the character Ryu from Street Fighter. For example, like Ryu, Mario has a Hadoken-like "fireball" attack with his Neutral Special (Fireball), A punching uppercut similar to the Shoryuken via his Up Special (Super Jump Punch), and a spinning tackle akin to Ryu's Tatsumaki Senpukyaku in the form of his Down Special (Mario Tornado). However, while Mario's moveset would change in later games to be less Shoto-esque, Ryu himself would be added into the Smash series and make his debut as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
The 3D portraits on the character select screen are based on character artwork from some of their home games. Mario's render is from Super Mario 64; Link's is from his artwork for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time; Donkey Kong's Donkey Kong Country artwork is the basis for his Smash portrait; Yoshi's comes from Japanese artwork for Yoshi's Island; Kirby's is from Kirby's Adventure artwork; Fox's is taken from Star Fox 64; Captain Falcon has a 3D realization of artwork from F-Zero X; Pikachu and Jigglypuff are 3D versions of Pokemon Red & Blue concept art; Samus Aran's comes from Super Metroid; Ness's is a redone done version of his EarthBound art; And Luigi's appears to be taken from Mario Kart 64.
The Conner android has several possible references to the Terminator film franchise. Conner is an "RK800" model, just as Arnold Schwarzenegger's character from the films is a "T-800" model initially. The name of the robot from the game is "Conner" which is very similar to the surname of two central characters from the films: Sarah Connor and John Connor. The Trophy for letting Conner die every way possible is called "I'll Be Back" which comes from Schwarzenegger's icon line from the first Terminator film.
Yagyū's name and eyepatch are likely meant to be a reference to Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyosh, a renowned swordsman from Japanese history, who was said to have worn a sword's arm guard as an eyepatch.
It's possible the NPC "Party Girl" is a reference to the character "Pinkie Pie" from the TV show, "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". Her hair style, color scheme, general demeanor and dialogue suggests a similarity between the two. Some of her potential names are "Trixy" and "Sparkle", possibly also referencing characters from the series.
Cait Sith resembles the Esper "Stray" from Final Fantasy VI, which was also called Cait Sith in the original Japanese version. The name itself comes from Celtic mythology, and means "faerie cat".
The character Utsuho Reiuji has several sprites and animations that bear resemblance to the character Thouzer/Souther from Fist of the North Star. This includes one of her Spell Cards in the game, which bears a resemblance to Souther's Fatal K.O., "Nanto Hō-ōh Ken Ougi: Tenshou Juuji Hou."
Alongside being in the same key, Ryu Hayabusa's theme music "The shooted" and Ein's theme "Vigaku" both feature a recurring guitar solo. While "Vigaku" plays a few different arrangements of its solo throughout the song, the solo as heard in "The shooted" is played the same way throughout the majority of the song except for the very end, where a different take on it is played. When comparing the primary solos in both "Vigaku" and "The shooted", while both solos play through a similar scale of notes, there are some individual notes in each solo that are different to distinguish them from each other rather than fully recycling them. In the game's soundtrack released on CD, "The shooted" is placed ahead of "Vigaku", suggesting that the solo heard in Ein's theme is meant to be an interpolation of the solo in Ryu's theme. As such, it appears the entire point of these solos being so similar is to highlight the connection between Ein and Ryu as friends that the amnesiac Ein forgot in the game's storyline. The solo that is repeated in the same way in "The shooted" seems to represent who Ryu is, while the different interpolated versions of the solo in "Vigaku" may represent Ein trying to remember his past or Ryu's role in doing so. In Ryu's Story Mode, he knocks Ein out of the tournament, causing him to regain some of his memories including who Ryu is, and he eventually regains the rest of his memories after battling Kasumi at Ryu's request.
Many international Mario fans were confused by the design of the Angry Sun in the New Super Mario Bros. U style of Super Mario Maker 2, noticing how it appeared more stern than angry. This is due to the fact that "angry" is not part of the enemy's name in Japan, just being called "sun", meaning that anger is not an inherent part of the character and giving it a different expression would make more sense without knowledge of its localized name.
In the 2023 film "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", Mario and Luigi's family are prominently featured. This includes:
An NPC appearing in Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II is potentially a reference to American domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber. It should be noted that while his character portrait and overworld sprite look similar to Kaczynski, it is used for several different NPC characters in the game, so it's unknown if he was originally intended to physically resemble the real-life Unabomber. However, like the Unabomber this character is also named Ted, he moved to a cabin in the woods, and believes society is too reliant on industrial technology, even complimenting Vegeta on "blowing up" a neighbor's generator after he failed to destroy it himself. His dialogue is the following:
In the area beside The Watermill, there is a tree with a small low-poly representation of a Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle attached to it. This pairs well with a bit of cut content recently found within the game's code for the same area, where Ico could have gained a secret weapon that took the form of an Insect Net.
Though Donkey Kong's neutral special Giant Punch has no specific origin, Donkey Kong performs a similar wind-up punch in "Bad Hair Day", the first episode of the 1997 animated series "Donkey Kong Country", which first aired 17 months prior to the Japanese release of Super Smash Bros.
The title screens of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, with Sonic (a character known for his super speed) posing and waving his gloved hand inside of a ring lined with stars and a ribbon banner at the bottom, could possibly be taken from the logo of the 1981 anime "Dr. Slump" and its speedy protagonist Arale. It should also be noted that the ring surrounding Sonic has giant wings protruding from its sides, which appear to reference the angel wings on Arale's cap that also feature in the intros to the anime and some of the films.
In a 1996 interview with Shigeru Miyamoto published in Super Mario 64's first Japanese strategy guides, he revealed that Mario's running animation, speed and movements in that game were influenced by Arale, the main protagonist of the 1980 Akira Toriyama manga/anime "Dr. Slump":
Yagyū's name and eyepatch are likely meant to be a reference to Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyosh, a renowned swordsman from Japanese history, who was said to have worn a sword's arm guard as an eyepatch.
It's possible the NPC "Party Girl" is a reference to the character "Pinkie Pie" from the TV show, "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic". Her hair style, color scheme, general demeanor and dialogue suggests a similarity between the two. Some of her potential names are "Trixy" and "Sparkle", possibly also referencing characters from the series.
Cait Sith resembles the Esper "Stray" from Final Fantasy VI, which was also called Cait Sith in the original Japanese version. The name itself comes from Celtic mythology, and means "faerie cat".
The character Utsuho Reiuji has several sprites and animations that bear resemblance to the character Thouzer/Souther from Fist of the North Star. This includes one of her Spell Cards in the game, which bears a resemblance to Souther's Fatal K.O., "Nanto Hō-ōh Ken Ougi: Tenshou Juuji Hou."
Lightning's hairstyle resembles the shape of the crystallized Cocoon. This can also be seen in the game's logo.
Alongside being in the same key, Ryu Hayabusa's theme music "The shooted" and Ein's theme "Vigaku" both feature a recurring guitar solo. While "Vigaku" plays a few different arrangements of its solo throughout the song, the solo as heard in "The shooted" is played the same way throughout the majority of the song except for the very end, where a different take on it is played. When comparing the primary solos in both "Vigaku" and "The shooted", while both solos play through a similar scale of notes, there are some individual notes in each solo that are different to distinguish them from each other rather than fully recycling them. In the game's soundtrack released on CD, "The shooted" is placed ahead of "Vigaku", suggesting that the solo heard in Ein's theme is meant to be an interpolation of the solo in Ryu's theme. As such, it appears the entire point of these solos being so similar is to highlight the connection between Ein and Ryu as friends that the amnesiac Ein forgot in the game's storyline. The solo that is repeated in the same way in "The shooted" seems to represent who Ryu is, while the different interpolated versions of the solo in "Vigaku" may represent Ein trying to remember his past or Ryu's role in doing so. In Ryu's Story Mode, he knocks Ein out of the tournament, causing him to regain some of his memories including who Ryu is, and he eventually regains the rest of his memories after battling Kasumi at Ryu's request.