Mario Producer Settles Old Question: “It’s Not A Hat, It’s Their Head!”

Fans of the Super Mario franchise have long wondered whether the Toads are wearing hats, or whether the mushroom cap is in fact part of their heads; this overwhelmingly important question has now been answered by Super Mario Odyssey producer Yoshiaki Koizumi, although questions about Mario’s belly button remain unanswered.

Nintendo recently published a video in which the famed developer answered questions from fans, and one of the topics that came up was the age-old question of whether the mushroom caps on top of Toads‘ heads are items of headwear or genuine parts of their body.

The answer will no doubt come as a surprise to many, since American anime The Super Mario Bros. Super Show once showed a Toad taking off his mushroom cap:

Unfortunately, Koizumi was less forthcoming in response to some other important questions. He did not reveal any information about Mario’s nipples and famously non-existent belly button, and responded to a question about Mario’s relationship with Princess Peach and Pauline by coyly asking “if we could respect the privacy of those three at this time”. What the three of them are doing which requires such privacy is of course now a question for Comiket.

However, regardless of whether they supported the “head” or “hat” theory, fans can at least be happy that the Toads are not the victims of a parasitic, mind-controlling fungus in the style of The Last of Us.