It is possible that the design of the Jizo statues in Super Mario Odyssey is based on a common misinterpretation of Statue Mario's sprite from Super Mario Bros. 3, whereby his mustache appears to some viewers to be a smile instead.
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
I feel like I often “read” sprites the wrong way, but I was so used to knowing where Mario’s mustache was in the NES games that I never saw the smile. It took me a minute to see it in the picture, even with the side-by-side.
I am terribly sorry, but as pointed out in the image and the alt text, the artwork used here is by Twitter/X user "kikaim". I do, however, sometimes use my own artwork in my posts, such as the one below! I hope this is acceptable!
Comments
But the final result is rather cute!
Now that I’m looking at it again, I’m prettyyyy sure the SMB3 sprite is flipping us off. 😂
cool that they managed to represent both
I think that those in the game are just a direct reference to them