Amiya Game Theory

Does Mario feel pain?

Over the last 40 years, he's been smashed by thwomps, burned by lava, and drowned thousands upon thousands of times.

But does he feel any of it?

The answer, loyal theorists, and I kid you not, might be the thing that finally redeems him in the eyes of game theory.

Hello internet, it's Amiya Game Theory, the show that's still working on their Italian accent.

Mamma mia.

I was never very good at accents.

Now, I know what you might be thinking.

Tom, why on earth would you be asking this question, does Mario feel pain?

Didn't Matt cover this in his theory about the Mario movie?

And yes, he did cover that.

I was actually the one who suggested that particular mini-theory.

But here's the thing, or actually, here are two things.

The movies are not considered canon to the games, and two, the original movie came out in April of 2023, and a year later, senior designer at Nintendo, Takashi Tezuka, was asked this exact question, and his response was unsatisfying.

Quote, it may be that Mario does feel pain.

I don't know about you, but that answer just isn't really great.

I know we're called Game Theory, but when it comes from the people who worked on the game, you'd expect it to be at least somewhat definitive.

Should we be feeling guilty for every painful death we put this guy through?

Or is Mario still the good-for-nothing plumber we've always suspected, hiding a dark secret from all of us?

Well, I have been racking my brain for two years trying to come up with an answer worthy of, well, me.